Nobsound springs - load range

Most people wind up with a lot of springs left over. They fit perfectly into a 1/4" hole. This makes it real easy to DIY extra ones. Simply drill 1/4" holes in some wood, MDF, acrylic, etc and put em together. Experiment to get the holes the right depth, maybe use some hot glue, you could do really light components with just one or two springs per pod. Another option, even easier, add weight. I have used a 5lb dive weight on my CDP for years.

All of audio is trial and error. Test and evaluate, tweak and evaluate some more. This is no different. Anyone things a system is plug and play, sorry. This one thing more than anything else will hold you back.

Corollary: learn to listen, don't waste time measuring. 

Time spent writing down kg and measuring compression is time that could have been spent listening, which is the only way you get anywhere. The sooner you figure this out the faster you go.

Granted, not as great a waste of time as reading people arguing about it not being a waste of time without giving so much as a single reason why such calculations are useful. But still a waste of time.

Because it takes far less time to try and see. Which in the end is what must be done anyway. No calculation known to man will tell you what will sound best under every single component. The only way to find out is to try and listen. Therefore, as a matter of simple air tight logic, waste of time.

That said, I encourage some of you to do so anyway. Better use of your time than opining here.

Tweak1 has nailed it. All the calculations are a waste of time. Even the bit about being compressed half way is just a guide or starting point. Another guide or starting point, the component should bounce very slowly, around 1 to 3 Hz. Just a guide. Only thing that really counts is the sound. There is no substitute for listening.

Most components have weight unevenly distributed. Springs don't have to be placed symmetrically. Don't have to be 4 per component, 3 might work better. Only one way to find out.

The main reason for all this trial and error tuning is Nobsound are not damped. Because of this they have a resonant frequency that changes with load. The same springs can give an extended top end, or big bottom end, or be tuned for a balanced sound. All just by changing the number of springs. Or adding weight. Mahgister does that, tunes his to within 1/4 pound.

Also the Nobsound design is more vertical isolation, with not much in other planes. That is the tradeoff for having terrific performance for cheap. 

Townshend improves on all this, with damping that improves performance as well as flexibility. Height adjusts by turning the top of the Pod. 

steakster, if you like piano on your system with springs, you should see the video where they put a piano on Pods! 

 

Granite rings like a bell. How you managed to get some and set it up and not notice, ... wait a minute. Dude the vibrations?!?! Nevermind. The dude abides.

Must be jelly, jam don't move like that.

Reading that first post all I could think, imagine how much better that guys system would sound if he put all that effort into trying springs and LISTENING to them instead of wasting it measuring dead weight.

Oh well. Maybe next time....?

Under large speakers, no problem. Depending on the size and shape you might want to put them on a platform ala Townshend Podiums for improved stability. My Moabs are plenty tall and narrow and no worries on springs here.

As for lighter stuff, the springs themselves are rather small and only 1/4" diameter. To use them one per corner, three to a component, would need to hot glue to the component or they would likely tip over. Or you could drill a 1/4" hole part way into MDF, which is what I did to make more footers using extra springs.

Nobsound springs really aren’t that good. Each spring is way too small, narrow, and stiff. What we really want is a spring like in Townshend Pods that when compressed is wider than it is tall. This gives stability. It also needs to provide freedom of movement in all planes. Nobsound really work great vertically but have a lot of lateral resistance. Another reason Townshend are a whole lot better.

If you experiment and listen instead of weighing and measuring you will notice the sound can be tuned to ear by simply removing one spring or even moving them around. Closer to corners increases effective stiffness, closer to center decreases, a difference you can see in how it bounces and hear when playing music. You can even remove or add a spring to just one at a time, and compensate (fine tune) by moving it around. Finally you can fine tune by adding weight, usually on top of the component. That’s what mahgister did, tuned his to perfection with tiny little adjustments just like these.

And all by ear.