vibration control

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.

09-06-11: Geoffkait
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.

i don't understand these comments at all. let's say that a wire or cable does indeed vibrate: so what? are you suggesting that you believe that these presumed vibrations will somehow affect electronics signals as they travel through the cable/wire? if so, what is the basis for such belief?

the only case in which i can even remotely see a potential legitimate reason for using "tweaks" that lift the cable/wires off the floor is if the cable/wire is running over carpet, because in this case it is possible that the carpet can accumulate static charge, which would potentially induce an interfering electric field within the cable. but even there, if you have a problem like that, then your cable if probably poorly shielded, but at the price of audio cables, you have a right to get well shielded cables. furthermore, if you've got poorly shielded cable, the bigger problem that you are likely to face is that adjacent cables are going to cross-induce interfering electrical fields.

you write of "the effects of the floor's vibration on the sound". i certainly can believe that the floor (and walls and ceiling) can have an impact on what you hear, but the vibrations in the floor/walls/ceiling are the result of energy from the acoustical wave (i.e. sound) produced by the speakers. so i can believe that the vibrations in the wall affect the sound that you hear. what i don't believe is that the vibrations in the floor affect the electronic devices. if that is what you believe, then would you explain exactly how this is supposed to work?

An electromagnetic field is subject to a number of things, including as you suspect, static electric fields. But we have learned that the electromagnetic field - the audio signal carried through wires and cables is also subject to magnetic interference as well as mechanical interference.

On need only look at vibration isolation of turntables, CD players, DACS, solid state and tube amps to conclude that the seismic type vibration - due to Earth crust motion, subways, trucks, etc. - that affects the entire house is making its way up into the component and degrading the sound (without vibration isolation). When the component is isolated from the structural vibration one can appreciate that the vibration must have been degrading the sound.

Perhaps you've seen the experiement when a magnet is shaken the magnetic field lines that normally appear stable and uniform around the magnet become disturbed and move around and can even become detached from the magnet.

In normal operation a capacitor vibrates, thus damping the capacitor reduces the vibration, resulting in better sound.

So, we have acoustic vibration from the speakers to worry about, also vibration generated by the component - motors, transformers, capacitors, etc. - and structureborne vibration that vibrates the walls and floor. The structureborne vibration is a form of mechanical feedback when it makes its way from the floor to the component. Footfalls on wood floors are a good example of this mechanical feedback, or a bus passing over a manhole just outside that causes the needle on the record to jump out of the groove. The vibration of the walls and windows is another problem, producing acoustic signals that interfere with the primary signal from the speakers.

I undestand the need to isolate a turntable, and to properly seat a speaker to a solid stand or the floor. But I do not understand how an amplifier will be affected when almost every speaker company uses a passive crossover in an environment with constant vibration, and exposure to the electromagnetic field of the drivers and the wire in the speaker.