I use an old pair of skivys to suspend my amplifier off the table ... keeps nosey animals away ... and looks good
Have you ever solved a high end audio issue using non-audio technology? Or, visa versa?
Sometimes we just have to be creative to fix a problem. Our "bag of tricks" may go well beyond the usual "audiophile grade" tools of the trade to produce a positive result.
Here's one:
Years ago, I acquired a little British sports car. This, itself is an unusual story. I'm a performance car enthusiast with a 835HP vehicle is parked in my garage.
At any rate, the little 4-cylinder "tractor motor" had solid lifters that sounded like a Singer sewing machinegoing down the road above 3,000 RPM. It distracted from the driving experience. I was thinking how nice it would be to quiet them down a little.
Then I remembered the can of Acoustical Magic material I had in the basement. For those unfamilar with this material, it's used to dampen the vibration/resonance of turntable platters. I pulled the aluminum valve cover, cleaned and degreased it thoroughly, then applied a generous portion of Acoustical Magic. After a little curing in the oven and allowing it to set for 24 hours, the valve cover was reattached.
If I had it do over again, I would have measured before/after with a spectrum analyzer. But, my best guesstimate is that there was a 6-9db drop in the tapping sound, and I could hear the sounds around me while cruising. The driving experience improved exponentially. Thanks to Acoustical Magic for a cheap, effective solution to my "acoustical" problem.
I have to admit that a year later the true "hot rodder" in me required that I add a turbo to the little engine. The sound of the off-throttle blow off valve is music to my ears. And, driving something resembling a real sports car, as opposed to a British commuter car was a plus.
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Don’t knock @hilde45 room until you hear it. I’ll bet it sounds amazing ! Happy listening! |
AUDIOPHILE RIDDLE What's better than a hockey puck? (drum roll please - cymbal crash) Two hockey pucks!!
I discovered this by accident after installing two new amps. I was moving a speaker switch to a new location on my rack. It was previously under one of the amps which I had elevated with double HP to create the requisite space. The other amp had my standard one HP for mechanical isolation. For some perverse reason I installed extra HP under the amp with only one. I went into the other room to listen and make sure I had wired everything correctly. I was greeted with a sound that I did not believe these speakers capable of delivering (brand and model shall not be revealed, too embarrassing!). Off to the sporting goods store to buy a few extra bags of HP. Six HP in stacks of 2 under a component's chasse, not under the footers, but please experiment. Six under the preamp, amps, universal player, tuner, turntable isolation platform. Eight under my subwoofer spikes, I use two on top of my fiber optic converters, and five on top of the woofer cabinet of a speaker to quell some resonances. I have a single one under each leg of my steel equipment racks. I put 5 1/2 HP between the platter and tonearm of my Pro-ject RPM 10 and quelled some subtle resonances that I am sure they addressed in their subsequent redesigns. While I am at it I have found folded doormats without backing are ideal for light weight pieces like linear power supplies and Furman power conditioners. I have 90 HP and four folded rugs at work. Visually inconspicuous, effective, and dirt cheap. My kind of tweak! |
On a lark I bought some vibration pads a friend had recommended from Diversified Products like you'd use for HVAC work mainly looking to use them under my vinyl turntables. I thought I'd try them under a CD player that skipped on loud bass notes and they worked fine. For only 66 CENTS per pad....LOL...far cheaper than more expensive vibration pads sold specifically for audio equipment... |
@thecarpathian "I have no idea what that means" Okay. See if this helps: We use subwoofer enclosure software to design custom subwoofers (in this case a bandpass enclosure). There's a lot of math going when parameters are keyed in. You get the expected frequency response, power handling, port diameter and length, etc. Another interesting goodie that is extracted is the speed of the air in the port(s). In our case -- 76MPH!! When the bass hits hard, the fire in the pit gets quite energized. A bit like pointing your leaf blower at the fire and pulsing the trigger. It's a lot of fun -- until all the firewood is consumed. Does that do it for you? |
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