Mapleshade Isolation: Does Nothing?

Oh no madivid0!

1. Was the fingernail sound louder, less loud, or the same in the rack versus the block?  IE, was the block doing anything as far as you can tell to reduce vibration from getting to your pick up?

2. More importantly, can you tell any difference between the sound of your turntable and your system with the Mapleshade gear in place versus placing your tt directly on the rack?  If not, stop, you’re done.

Now discussion.  My experience with large wood blocks is: SS amp, no/little difference; CDP, noticeable but small improvement in focus and clarity; turntable, big improvements across the board.  YMMV.

Theory.  You are not looking at the right thing in your test.  The main point of the wood block and brass footers is to drain vibration away from your tt chassis and dissipate it as heat in the fibers of the wood.  So the fact that scratching the surface of the wood transfers to the needle is actually ok and even expected indicating a tight mechanical coupling between the tt and the block surface.  The transfer of scrathing from the rack to the needle is less good because the iso blocks are supposed to isolate.  But this may not be fatal either, if no one is scratching your rack while you are listening, and room vibration from music, passing trucks etc. are actually getting isolated to some degree from your cartridge.

A better test might be to tap your turntable very lightly while it is playing a record (maybe an old one) with and without the “isolation” system in place and see how quickly any resonance gets damped out.  The system sound should recover faster with the wood and footers in place.

Again, how does it sound to you in general?  If not better with your specific tt, then skip it.  My experience is that you shouldn’t have to come on here and ask - it is quite obviously better.  Maybe if you are only using headphones, the improvement is much less than with room speakers?

Happy Holidays and a scam free New Year.

kn

Good point @mr_m. Also madavid0, is your butcher block made from smaller laminated pieces or a single block of wood. I have found that a single chunk of wood is more effective at improving sound than laminated butcher blocks which are more commonly available. I would assume because a single piece of wood more effectively dissipates vibration than smaller pieces glued together.

After providing input on this thread and elsewhere based on experience with non Mapleshade solutions and “theory”, I just set up a full Mapleshade vibration control system ( brass footer, wood block, isoblocks) under my turntable replacing a DIY set up. It sounds way, way better. See more here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/mapleshade-tweaks

I have not found isolation/vibration control to be particularly helpful for solid state electronics, with the exception of a slight improvement for CDPs. I have had success with speakers, especially on wooden floors, and turntables are another story entirely, where getting vibration drained away from the tonearm and chassis quickly and efficiently seems to be particularly helpful.

The result of applying Mapleshade vibration control systems for my turntable  was exactly as advertised and better than I anticipated, especially their Triplepoint footers. YMMV.

kn

Ha bsimpson, funny story (except for the damage and ER).  I think the results of vibration control tweaks are highly gear dependent both within a catagory (e.g. between preamps) and across categories.  Undoubtedly, some gear has better designed and executed internal vibration control measures, and for them, big chunks of wood and brass footers are redundant or worse.  

For my turntable with internal suspension, the added value of the full Mapleshade set up is undeniable.  This might seem surprising since the footers and wood block are essentially draining vibration from the outer chassis while most of the business end is separated by internal springs.  But all the spike/wood solutions I have tried to date have had some effect on the sound of this table.  Perhaps the spring suspension has some resonace that is reduced or eliminated.  

In anycase, the benefits of the Mapleshade system are realized at all volume levels, indicating successful internal vibration control, and there is a big improvement in presence and clarity at high volumes, indicating some success at isolation.  For this old Thorens turntable and AT cartridge combination, on this shelf, in this listening room, I am totally sold.  Dramatic, dramatic improvement.