vibration control

09-05-11: Roxy54
Paperw8,
I think that what is ridiculous is making the comments you make without having tried any of these devices. It isn't always possible to explain why something works, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work. That isn't to say that there isn't good science behind some of these devices.
Anyway, why don't you give it a try? You may have a pleasant surprise.

believe it or not, i actually have experimented with different components (although not "tweaks") and have found that there wasn't a lot of difference. on the other hand, i have made substitutions where i was able to tell a difference, really served to establish in my mind that there is a difference between high end audio and some run-of-the-mill audio equipment. but in general, my take on high end audio is that you rapidly get to a point of diminishing returns to scale.

for example, last year i bought a wadia 381 cd player to replace a krell kav-300 cd player. since i decided to sell the krell, i felt that i owed it to a potential purchaser to send the unit to krell for reconditioning. when i got the unit back and did side-by-side comparison between the wadia and the krell, i had a hard time telling much difference. in fact, if it had been a blind test, i don't know if i would have guess correctly which was which.

but my experiences, and general way of looking at stuff, leads me to discount statements that rely upon "magic" for their operation.

I don't believe in magic either Paperw8, and I have tried several tweaks that yielded little or no positive result for me. It is really too bad that we need to waste sometimes substantial amounts of money to find out that it was for naught. I have had sidesteps as well as backsteps with amps, speakers etc., but we were talking specifically about isolation/vibration devies here, and I was saying that I have had very positive results in some cases.
The most extreme case for me was Starsound platforms underneath my speakers. Expensive, but worth every cent.

09-05-11: Roxy54
I don't believe in magic either Paperw8, and I have tried several tweaks that yielded little or no positive result for me. It is really too bad that we need to waste sometimes substantial amounts of money to find out that it was for naught. I have had sidesteps as well as backsteps with amps, speakers etc., but we were talking specifically about isolation/vibration devies here, and I was saying that I have had very positive results in some cases.
The most extreme case for me was Starsound platforms underneath my speakers. Expensive, but worth every cent.

speakers are mechanical devices, so i can believe that vibration control devices can be useful (i don't know this for a fact, but i can see some plausibility in that case). so let me revise my previous remarks to include both turntables *and* speakers. i guess what i am getting at is that i just don't see any reasonable explanation as to why vibration control devices would have any impact on a purely electronic device like a solid state amplifier. some have claimed that tube devices are influenced by vibrations, but i don't know enough about the matter to debate it one way or the other.

It seems pretty clear than any wire or cable or electronic element such as a capacitor or resistor is subject to vibration. Tonearms and cartridges as well as the platters of turntables are also subject to vibration, since they resonate at their natural frequencies. The chassis of any electronic component is also subject to vibration. It is less obvious that transistors, ICs, the CD disc itself as well as CD laser assemblies are also subject to vibration. A spring system is used to provide some level of vibration isolation for the laser assembly but the spring system is not a perfect. Lifting cables and power cords off the floor is often effective in reducing the effects of the floor's vibration on the sound. Isolating a solid state amp will usually produce better sound, a rather unexpected result compared to tube amps, which seem like an obvious candidate.

Vibration control consists of two elements- isolation and dampaning. Isolation, as it implies means putting barriers between the source of the vibration/sound and the component. Stacking components on rigid and massive platforms are a good way to isolate them from the floor. Cones are also a form of isolation. They also have the added feature of being like a diode- vibrations can travel in one direction, but not the other. Cones are a good way to sink motors and transformer vibrations into the floor. (Speakers are motors too.)
Dampening, converts vibration energy into something else, such as heat. Dampening materials such as rubber and constrained layer dammpening material convert vibrations into heat. Applying both of the methods in strategic ways on all components can produce satisfying results.