Tube vibration control

My experience is they all 'damped' down the sound to some degree, less freq. extension, micro dynamics impacted, all took the 'life' out of music to some degree.. Purchase quality tubes, no microphonics, take care of vibrations elsewhere such as quality feet and platforms/stands.

I still use Herbies Tube Dampers on all my tubes.  I have used them for many years and really don't think they hurt anything and do more good than bad.

YMMV...

Both responses below have good points.  Think about where the vibrations are coming from, which seems more likely from the floor, the equipment stand, sound pressures in the room, IOW mostly external to the tube.  Good support and damping of the equipment chassis will probably do more to mitigate those than tube dampers.

However, I am thankful that I kept my tube dampers from way back since next week I will be getting the first tubed gear I have owned in many years.  I do suspect the tube dampers can help with microphonics of the tube glass, sort of like putting a brass weight on top of a component chassis.  I never noticed an adverse effect when I used them and you can still purchase tube dampers.

Of course these thoughts are all speculation on my part and not based on measurements or listening tests.  As pointed out in a thread a couple of weeks ago, I have not really seen any consistently reliable or uniformly applicable vibration measuring protocols for audio equipment.

All the small tubes on my contemporary Audio Research gear have two dampening rings. I have three components with these rings. That would be 19 tubes.

Many decades ago I did a fairly quick comparison with and without, and it made a small improvement. 

I've never used tube dampers but about a year ago I experienced a microphonic tube in my preamp. I had done some re-arranging and never put any footers back under the preamp. As soon as I put a set of Gregitek Aries footers under it the microphonic noises stopped.

Every situation is different, but I prefer just to put the amps/preamp on some isolation feet or platform.  Like "sns", I found that those tube dampers damped the magic out of the tubes.  

Ive bought both rubber rings and metal “heat Dispersion” jackets.  Tried the rubber rings on small and big tubes on preamps and amps and didn’t really hear any difference. But I have stayed with the metal jackets as I have sensed some differences;  no technical tests just my own ears.

Having been around the hobby for a while, I've collected many tools. Tool dampers are one. After a change, I'll try stuff to see if I hear an improvement. If I don't, it goes back in to storage. Currently in my system I have 15 tubes and not one damper. 

Thanks - those are sensible answers, on both sides. I think I will first play with support of the electronics. I have three kinds - Brass cones, Cardas wood blocks, and the rubber/cork sandwich. I'll get the preamp/amp well situated before I decide how to deal with the tubes themselves. Thanks for thinking with me.

David

I've finalized my approach to vibration with a Quadraspire Reference X stand for equipment.  I've moved through several different stands and found this one most effective using tube and/or SS gear;  providing lowered noice floor, cleaner more open reproduction and better attack.

Townshend platforms do the work for my floor standers.  Before that, Gaia footers. It's really not imaginary as the positive effects stand out clearly.  The move from Gaia to Townshend reflective of price performance.

I tend to be more critical before immediately accepting change as improvement.

Everything should vibrate in a right way. You do tuning and fine tuning. I wouldn't even think about putting that stuff on tubes. Yeah, you need the right tubes and work on finding the best stand for each piece of the equipment, starting with the source. A lot of work and a lot of critical listening.

I agree. If you experience microphony place the offending component in a different location or replace the tube. Now placing the component on a "special" stand or blocks, etc is a different thing.