SVS Subwoofer Isolation feet. Will I lose bass?

The Mana from U.K. employed a great many glass shelves. The more the better so they said. Nirvana dual layer platform is a product. Hence the naming of it. But everyone knew it as Nancy. Building more than two heavy mass-on-springs layers wouldn’t work. It would be very unstable. The idea is to construct one dual layer device the right way. Sub Hertz performance. Hel-loo!

My Nirvana Platform is a dual layer heavy masses on springs system that employs a second mass-on-spring system on top of the first mass-on-spring system. But the two systems would interfere unless their individual resonant frequencies Fr can be separated by X number of Hz. It would be like driving down the road with a double identical springs in series for each wheel. It would be a very rough and chaotic ride. For heavy masses I use 2” thick bluestone slabs that are around 25 lbs each and my cryo’d springs. If you do it right you can get down below 1 Hz with ease. This one of the isolation concepts employed by LIGO project to detect gravity waves.

I already explained why carpets are bad Gnus. 🐃 🐃 Besides, this discussion is really about isolation vs spiked or soft, not spiked vs soft. If the SVD isolation feet are some kind of rubber they aren’t providing real isolation, anyway. A lot of companys call their feet isolation feet but they are really dampers of some sort. What I call real isolation is mass on spring devices, you know, air springs, air bladders, even squash balls, inner tubes, but especially steel springs. So, in that light I’m not surprised by the YouTube test. I would not say SVS are comparable to real isolation devices. Get real.

dtximages OP
@geoffkait then how do you explain significantly less db at 20hz - 80 hz? That’s not "better" it’s just quieter. So of course there’s less perceived boominess and distortion.

>>>>I prefer not to try to explain things that don’t make sense. What would be the point?

The missing “chest rattle” people report is the lack of boom and distortion when the sub is properly isolated. Key word: properly. When a speaker or sub is properly isolated the bass frequencies are lower and more articulated with more slam. Everything is better and it’s the same for any speaker. Hel-loo! What’s the hang up? Talk amongst yourselves. Smoke if ya got em.

Ack-chew-ally the video I posted was actually more to the point concerning cement floors. Yours was good too. 😬 As I previously pointed out damping the springs hurts the isolation and - more importantly - is audible. 😩 The video I posted also shows that damping the speakers or mass loading is not necessary once the speakers are isolated. 

bdp24
@pmg1223, in one of the Townshend Audio YouTube videos, Max explains the design and demonstrates the effectiveness of his Seismic isolator. Just do a search for the company name on YouTube, and all the videos will be made available for viewing.

>>>>The Townshend video answering the questions inherent in the OP was posted yesterday morning at 10:14 by your friend and humble scribe.

Good illustration of how carpets act as springs. Two spring systems one on top of the other is bad news. It’s like driving down the road in a car with two springs one on top of the other for each wheel.. It will be a very b-b-bumpy ride.

It’s par for the course to have more bass than is actually on the recording. Hel-loo! But this is not the 1980s, guys, mc apparently thinks it is.

Huffing Clorox again, mc? 

It doesn’t make sense and if it doesn’t make sense it’s probably not true. Now if the sound was less boomy, which one would expect, maybe the guy interpreted that as less output. Who knows?

twoleftears
I don’t see why a gizmo designed to impede the *transmission* of bass frequencies would necessarily dampen those frequencies in the room in which they’re being generated. After all, there’s a big difference between the subwoofer’s feet and its driver(s).

>>The gizmos don’t dampen the frequencies generated into the room by the speakers. If anything they increase them, by making the speakers perform more efficiently. That’s one reason everything should be isolated. Isolation of electronics is a two way 🔛 street. It blocks floor generated vibration AND reduces vibration on the “top plate” of the isolator, including airborne vibration. It’s two, two mints in one! 🤗

The funny thing is if you weren’t so “cheap minded” you could have correctly isolated your entire system for what you paid for your homemade devices. Do you see the humor? 😀

Cheapness is not a virtue all of the time. - Pee-wee Herman 

Sorry to disappoint but unless you are isolating with spring type devices you’re not blocking seismic vibrations. The very low frequency seismic type vibrations 0 to 20 Hz can ONLY be blocked or attenuated by decoupling - mass-on-spring isolation. I apologize for having to be the one to tell you. 😢 Your isolation club credit card has been declined. - Regards, the management.

“As you can see nothing gets through.” 

Max Townshend video demonstrating speaker isolation, AND it’s on a cement floor! Hel-loo!!  🤗

https://youtu.be/BOPXJDdwtk4

We’ll see if mc wants to dance. I doubt it. 🕺🏻

Up your nose with a rubber hose, 🍑🤡 No offense.

Actually the speakers move more without isolation. The very low frequency seismic type forces are causing the entire building to rock back and forth. The idea that speakers rock back and forth on springs or wobble is a f-f-fallacy. It’s the opposite. That’s the whole point of isolating anything. Hel-loo! That’s why electron microscopes are isolated on spring systems, so they won’t move whilst photos are taken of the sample. It’s a mass-on-spring SYSTEM. It’s not rocket science, guys. 🚀 That’s how they were able to detect gravity waves with the amplitude of an atomic nucleus - by isolating the optics and electronics so they wouldn’t move.

It might not be obvious to the casual observer 👀 but there is a limit to how big and heavy speakers can be due to center of gravity issues. BUT those limitations don’t apply to subwoofers which have relatively low centers of gravity. So, springs can go directly under the sub without all the rigamarole needed (a la Townshend Iso device) to get the springs in a wide pattern so the speaker will be stable.

Thousands of audiophiles isolate their speakers and subs with spring-based iso devices. And guess what, they ain’t amateurs. This isn’t the 1980s any more, guys. Wake up and smell the coffee! ☕️

Good comeback. Did your mother write that for you?

Hey, mc, are you huffing Clorox again? No offense intended.

No. The (appropriate) springs have very high lateral stability for subwoofers, as we say in the trade. Stiffness to any civilians out there. No wobbling.

The primary reason to isolate the subwoofer is to eliminate mechanical feedback to the system via the floor. The secondary reason is to reduce subwoofer cabinet resonance. It’s two, two mints in one! 🤗

I thought you promised to spend some time in the library, mc. By their nature springy iso stands ARE anti-gravity devices. Hel-loo! The best performance for a sub would be place it on a set of springs. Awesome bass! Goes lower and more dynamics. You can forget everything else.