Audio Equipment Isolators

[robwpdx]

You can get no name sorbothane pucks for audio gear cheap enough. They do absorb vibration whether it matters or not. And they won't mar your gear with one piece sitting upon another. So while I might not buy some of the claims, they are pretty good for not crazy money. Or you could use hockey pucks though they are pretty hard likely not absorbing much vibration. Maple also absorbs some vibration and maple blocks can look nice. So another option.

Amazon.com

I would vote for this. If you want looks, you can put this

https://www.crateandbarrel.com/french-kitchen-marble-platter/s555205

under your Blu-Ray and on top of the pucks. You can find all kinds of stone tiles and stone baking sheets in sizes that match your setup.

You could also just get a 2 inch thick concrete paver from Home Depot and wrap it in velvet.

I would agree with other commenters, if your Blu-Ray isn't skipping / or your analog turntable isn't reproducing sound that is not in the grooves, it doesn't need an isolator.

 

[OldHvyMec]

Way too expensive for my blood!!

Isolation can cost very little to a whole lot. Look at Townshend pods, crazy money but one of the best on the market. Personally, inner tubes, springs
and a few other gadgets work fine for me. 4 for 16 dollars or Nobound for 26-35.00. Not as pretty but that is what paint and imagination are for.

 

[fieldcar]

Thanks that won’t work I don’t want fans blowing I sit close to the AV rack

Fair point. It's potentially still worth checking out since it's variable speed, not just a leaf blower when it gets slightly hot. You can also set it at an inaudible fixed speed. I understand if you still think it's not for you though. My Denon AVR cooks without it during loud listening sessions.

 

[Chrispy]

Seriously?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Hocky pucks.
Cheap, durable, look good. (smell bad for a few days though!)
1" high x 3"diameter.
$40 for 25 on amazon. All you'll ever need.
If you're really ambitious you could use a forstner drill bit and counter bore them so that stock feet fit within them.
Then they will look like the came with the equipment.
I put felt feet on the bottom of mine so they don't mar the wood top of my cabinet.

Hey you can get glow in the dark pucks for that trippy vibe.

Amazon.com

 

[Mart68]

with the sad demise of proper 'Japanese' equipment feet I use these ones designed for washing machines https://www.amazon.co.uk/VIBIRIT-Vi...&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584001421255023&th=1

Providing the equipment is black they look integral to it and raise it up enough to give air circulation space between components.

Even large amounts (earthquake level) vibration has no effect on the output of solid state equipment, this has been demonstrated more than once (the March Audio bloke did it years ago now). if a CD player is not skipping then it's also fine.

 

[restorer-john]

if a CD player is not skipping then it's also fine.

Not true. Your CD audio may be seriously degraded (outside the bounds of error correction) right up until the point of muting (what you are labelling skipping). Interpolation causes distortion and some interpolation rolls off the high end as well.

And electronic components can produce noise themselves, especially amplifiers with pushing high currents. If you haven't heard a heatsink reproducing a 1kHz tone when driving an amp, you won't understand. Plenty of phono stages are microphonic.

 

[Zek]

Why not switch places and put the blu-ray player under the preamp - it would have the extra weight of the preamp to reduce any vibrations.

 

[Mart68]

Not true. Your CD audio may be seriously degraded (outside the bounds of error correction) right up until the point of muting (what you are labelling skipping). Interpolation causes distortion and some interpolation rolls off the high end as well.

And electronic components can produce noise themselves, especially amplifiers with pushing high currents. If you haven't heard a heatsink reproducing a 1kHz tone when driving an amp, you won't understand. Plenty of phono stages are microphonic.

Not saying you are wrong but by what mechanism does interpolation introduce distortion or HF roll off?

I don't see how a solid state phono stage can be microphonic?

No, I have never heard a heatsink make a 1Khz tone and my 'daily driver' amp is covered in them. How do you get that to happen?

 

[Freeway]

I was amazed to find, just this week, that there is a whole industry devoted to inexpensive isolation feet for audio. Washing machines, too.
Just google 'isolation feet'.
Scroll down/around this -

Amazon.com : Isolation Feet

 

[kemmler3D]

The spinning disc would represent the biggest moving mass in a player that was operating.

Not the motor spinning the disc?

Anyway, if you just need ventilation and not some specific vibration-damping performance, you can use anything that looks nice to you, it doesn't need to be audio-specific.

You could 3D print something, or you could get napkin rings at the dollar store and sit your gear on those. Take a swing through IKEA or a hardware store and see if anything looks suitable.

I sit my speakers on some things like this, they seem to help (I guess, with what? Vibrations? Placebo?) but they are simple and unobtrusive. https://www.amazon.com/Hemisphere-Isolation-Turntable-Amplifiers-Subwoofer/dp/B0B63BJD5T/

 

[Speedskater]

For units that have CD/DVD players, hard drives, big fans or motors, I use:

Sorbothane Hemisphere Bumpers

Hemisphere Foot (Package of 4), Sorbothane Bumpers | Edmund Optics

Sorbothanereg mounts used in optics and photonics applications are available at Edmund Optics

www.edmundoptics.com

Because sometimes the shelf acts as a sounding board.

 

[krabapple]

HIs bluray player works. If vibration was a problem, it wouldn't . He doesn't need isolation. He needs ventilation. Stop recommending nonsense, people.

OP, any nearby housewares or kitchen store probably sells a small elevated cooling rack ('trivet') for a <$20. Or a metal pot stand for flowerpots.

e.g

https://www.amazon.com/2Pcs-Stainless-Steel-Trivet-Instant/dp/B01MQTF00A

 

[kemmler3D]

HIs bluray player works. If vibration was a problem, it wouldn't . He doesn't need isolation. He needs ventilation. Stop recommending nonsense, people.

OP, any nearby housewares or kitchen store probably sells a small elevated cooling rack ('trivet') for a <$20. Or a metal pot stand for flowerpots.

e.g

https://www.amazon.com/2Pcs-Stainless-Steel-Trivet-Instant/dp/B01MQTF00A

Oh, trivets are a good call.

 

[DSJR]

Not saying you are wrong but by what mechanism does interpolation introduce distortion or HF roll off?

I don't see how a solid state phono stage can be microphonic?

No, I have never heard a heatsink make a 1Khz tone and my 'daily driver' amp is covered in them. How do you get that to happen?

Mart, I do remember Arcam telling me in the early heavy-duty 'FMJ' days, (so a while ago now) that one or two chips in their gear was susceptible to audio frequency vibration - don't flame me as all I have is memories of the discussion and no evidence otherwise... So many memories of equipment rack comparisons (I loved the Something Solid ones with balsa shelves and nylon sail-'ropes' to act as a pre tensioned suspension) where I repeatedly thought I could hear differences, but of course without proper evidence it means nothing today and said racks aren't made now since the builder/designer retired...

My Micro Seiki CD player has formed copper 'casings' over the main boards inside and the replacement model had copper strips glued on each of the important chips in addition. No idea if the resulting sound was 'better' as the transformer coupled output stage had been changed as well (much bigger transformers).

My first CD player was a meridian MCD-Pro which in th ebottom add-on box, had lights to indicate error correction (totally and utterly inaudible) and 'interpolation' which wasn't always audible (maybe not at all). That old warhorse CD drive was pretty good at tracing marked discs I have to say. there was a clamp down against sub-standard discs outside the spec and many machines made after the late 80's I believe, began to refuse to play sub-spec discs (Linn sent a memo out about this, claiming all their transports would flawlessly play an in-spec disc but not sub-spec ones...

Sorry for thread drift here. I was going to suggest sorbothane as well if you can space them up to get the required clearance...

 

[kemmler3D]

Not saying you are wrong but by what mechanism does interpolation introduce distortion or HF roll off?

Interpolation would be used to bridge between samples when some of the in-between samples are missing. This is more or less equivalent to lowering the sampling rate for the interpolated section, and as you probably know, the sampling rate determines the maximum frequency that a signal can reproduce.

 

[Mart68]

This is more or less equivalent to lowering the sampling rate for the interpolated section,.

Thank you. I will have to try and get my head around that bit though.

 

[kemmler3D]

Thank you. I will have to try and get my head around that bit though.

So, maybe this extremely crude drawing will help. On the left, you've got the original signal. On the right, the faded part is meant to be samples that the CD player lost somehow. It's a gap in the data. So the CD player makes a best guess at how to connect the points it DOES have. This is interpolation. I represented that with the blue dotted line.

As you can see, it's not going to invent all sorts of new wiggles in the line itself. Worst case it draws a straight line, best case it makes some kind of reasonable curve. However, since it can't invent new extra wiggles, any features smaller than the "best guess curve" (or whatever) are lost. The small/fast variations in the signal get replaced with something simpler that bridges the gap.

This is another way of saying you lose high frequencies in this situation, i.e. they are "rolled off".

Hope this helps.

 

[Slayer]

I was amazed to find, just this week, that there is a whole industry devoted to inexpensive isolation feet for audio. Washing machines, too.
Just google 'isolation feet'.
Scroll down/around this -

Amazon.com : Isolation Feet

Yes sir. But, Supplyhouse.com is the best and cheapest place for any of these sort of items.
I've been buying these for some time now. I use them for better ventilation, and if they provide any antivibration, well i guess that would be an unexpected bonus. I mean for .50 cents each, can't hurt. Come in various sizes and that blue/black or the standard cork/black color.
You can get what you want of course, I just think it's hard to justify spending more than a couple bucks to see if this or anything like it will actually benefit/work for you.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin-VPRC-300-Rubber-Cork-Anti-Vibration-Pad-3-x-3-x-7-8

 

[Mart68]

So, maybe this extremely crude drawing will help. On the left, you've got the original signal. On the right, the faded part is meant to be samples that the CD player lost somehow. It's a gap in the data. So the CD player makes a best guess at how to connect the points it DOES have. This is interpolation. I represented that with the blue dotted line.

As you can see, it's not going to invent all sorts of new wiggles in the line itself. Worst case it draws a straight line, best case it makes some kind of reasonable curve. However, since it can't invent new extra wiggles, any features smaller than the "best guess curve" (or whatever) are lost. The small/fast variations in the signal get replaced with something simpler that bridges the gap.

This is another way of saying you lose high frequencies in this situation, i.e. they are "rolled off".

Hope this helps.

View attachment 282167

no that doesn't really help at all. I understand the meaning of the word 'interpolation', that's not what I'm getting stuck on.

I was under the impression that with a band limited signal with missing data then there can only be one answer with regards to interpolating what is missing, therefore the signal is either recreated exactly or there is complete failure resulting in a skip, a drop out or obvious distortion.