The problem is this. Everything is relative. Basements are more stable, generally speaking, than upper floors, which get progressively less stable going up, for very low frequencies of vibration. And cement floors are generally more stable than suspended floors or whatever. However, seismic vibration comes in waves, so when they do they physically move the entire building including cement slabs and everything else. Up, down, sideways. That’s why it’s necessary to decouple everything completely from the building structure.
Vibration isolation an issue in a concrete basement
Do I need vibration isolation if the room is seriously stable? If so what would I try? My listening environment is a nicely finished basement that is 22 X 26 X 8. Concrete floors and 3 of the walls are concrete. There is a mix if gypsum ceiling and suspension ceiling with heavy acoustic tiles. Insulated 2x4 wall construction with gypsum board and thick carpet on the floor. Speakers are spiked thru the carpet. My stereo cab is a very heavy wooden media unit. You can jump up and down on the floor and pound on the walls and no vibration seems to be generated. At least none that that anyone can hear so far. In my last house the floors were weak and caused problems. Isolation was key. It feels weird not to have any now. Should I be looking elsewhere for areas to tweak In this house? I have not explored much in the way of room acoustic treatment yet but I have stuff on order. I'm in love with the sound but always looking for improvements. You all know that addiction I'm sure. Advice is appreciated.
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I am tackling the room acoustic issues next. It sounds like the siesmic vibration issue would be difficult to address given the low frequencies that are involved. Isolation effective down to 1HZ could be a challenge. That's if the info I found on the interweb is correct anyway. Maybe after acoustic treatment I can look at cleaning up the AC. Those might be easier improvements for me to accomplish. Gotta tinker when not listening. Thanks for the advice. |
Without promoting myself too much 😛 my company specializes in vibration isolation solutions at down to Earth prices. For turntables, CD players, subwoofers, etc. Just determine number of springs required according to total mass. 40-50 lb takes 4 Springs. Will yield about 2 Hz performance ideally. Same basic idea for any audiophile type iso stand. http://machinadynamica.com/machina25.htm |
Hello vinylfan62, We recommend addressing the AC as a priority otherwise you may never know what the sound system is actually capable of in performance. Installing acoustic products can easily devalue performance much the same as improve the environment where if not careful you could find yourself navigating a two Way Street blindfolded. Clean power increases dynamic headroom across the entire electronics package. Headroom relates directly to increasing component operational efficiency resulting in a greater presence of musical qualities. We have no skin in the game when it comes to power related products - only hands on experience and a willingness to share information. Concentrate on the audible portion of the system prior to the inaudible seismic thing that always shows up on this forum. Inaudible mini earthquakes are not the largest of issues concerning environmental sound quality. Increasing the operational efficiency of your components and loudspeakers first and foremost will lead to lesser monies spent on other issues that may or likewise - may not exist. Disclaimer: I am not here to debate anyone, especially those who are concreted in the old seismic ways of understanding sound reproduction as that topic has been beaten to death many times over on this forum. Our solution is much simpler than pounding the computer keyboard in argumentative fashion. Anyone can telephone us and ask any questions concerning sound. We will provide answers based on engineers opinions, testing methodologies, product knowledge and nineteen years experience speaking to listeners on a daily basis. We learn from sharing the wisdom of others and are skillful at solving audio and audible related issues with a focus on sonic improvement. AC distribution is extremely vital for good sound. Thank you for your time, Robert Star Sound |
audiopoint wrote, ”Disclaimer: I am not here to debate anyone, especially those who are concreted in the old seismic ways of understanding sound reproduction as that topic has been beaten to death many times over on this forum.” >>>>Send in the 🍑🤡 Hey, whatever became of your “seismologist,” Bobby? My guess is she ran as fast as her little legs would carry her. 🏃♀️Seismic vibration has been discussed here many times. And still you didn’t learn anything, |
Vinylfan62, Having my system in the basement has presented benefits and challenges. One benefit being the background noise level, or absence of such. While the concrete floor has been covered with hardwood nailed to 3/4" plywood and the walls with sheetrock the reflective nature on the room was still an issue. I will say that Robert's Sistrum Platforms cleared up quite a bit of noise, settled down things if you will. As Robert mentioned the AC power is a critical factor in good sound. Many ways to skin this cat and after quite a bit of research I have employed isolation transformers. I was able to find a Balanced Power Technologies BPT 3.5 Sig+ for my front end and the result was dramatically evident. I had run six dedicated lines a few years ago and the BPT unit is on one of these. Recently though, I came across an Equi Tech wall unit with enough power to run my amps, ran all the dedicated lines through this. Actually plugged the BPT unit into it as well so the BPT unit has balanced power input as well as output. Dramatic difference. I suggest you look into isolation transformers, Torus being probably the best out there at this time regarding component like transformers. . As for wall units, Equi Tech has long term experience. I will say the combo, for me, has been a dramatic improvement in sound quality. Look up "balanced power" in this forum, plenty of info. |
The BPT unit has two outlets specifically for digital, I only have CD running through this. No other digital. The BPT unit being plugged into it's own dedicated line coming from the EquiTech unit gives two layers of balanced power to the front end. I will say there has been a significant improvement with the NAD M5 CD sound quality. Hard to tell if improvement overall is from running the BPT unit in line with the ET unit or the implementation of the ET unit on the amps. The ET unit weighs around 300 lbs but if I move it goes with me. That should tell you something. Since putting the BPT unit in a few years ago made such a dramatic difference the focus in my system has been noise reduction and room treatment. I can't really say others will reap similar benefits. The effect of this is probably increased due to having very high efficiency speakers. Hope this helps someone. The technical advice gained on this site from other posters is largely responsible for the improvements. Thanks to all. |