Vibration Control


I have always been skeptical about the effectiveness of under component vibration absorption/control equipment. I can't say that I have tried all of them but the ones I have,  I found them to have little effect or adverse effect on the music. Furthermore I have always expected that a good rack should do the job just fine and I use Finite Elemente reference equipment to do just that.

Well to my amazement I recently had the opportunity to try out a product from Zanden Audio. Yes Zanden audio  the master Japanese electronics Guru who gave us 5000 Dac and the great 1200 Phono stage. A new product ZVA-1 ( Zanden Vibration Absorption).  These little round rubber like material with a steel disc atop sit underneath the feet of your components. I am told they will even work under speaker but I did not attempt to shift mine.

I placed these under my Phono, Line stage and power amp and put on an LP. I was amazed at the impact on the sound. If I am to summarize the impact,  the whole sound just cleaned up and not by a small margin,  it was considerable. 

I was won over and purchased the 12 I listened to and as an owner of a fairly expensive system the few hundred dollars I spent on the 12 discs was the best value for money upgrade I have made in some considerable years.

For anyone that does not have any Vibration treatment under their components I would highly recommend you check these out.

For those of you that have something I would be interested to hear their experience with whatever they have.
rainteaut

Showing 2 responses by hifiman5

There is often talk here of "repeatability" when folks try different tweaks.  By changing the footers in my arsenal, I can always detect sonic changes.  The trick is finding the best combination of footers and mass loading of the component chassis to yield the most desirable results.  

I am having best results with a combination of Herbie's Audio Labs regular Tenderfeet and Firm Tenderfeet.  Years ago I went all in with Black Diamond Racing cones and pucks but have found them, with my current upgraded system, to impart a hardness to the sound.  Going back and forth between them and Herbie's the problem area for the BDR stuff is in the upper midrange.  Here is where my personal listening tastes come in as I cannot tolerate an emphasis in that frequency range.

Bottom line...I cannot see how any system can reach its full potential without dealing with floor and air borne vibrations/resonances.  It takes trial and error and considerable patience but the efforts will be rewarded with a more satisfying system.  🎼


@lowrider57  Are your questions referencing my post above?  If so, what product do you want info on?