Do vibrations have an impact on solid-state amplifiers' sound quality?

[Chr1]

Anyone interested in awesome NASA footage should check out the 1989 Al Reinhert documentary "For All Mankind".
Preferably on a big screen.

Very good and with a soundrack by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Five stars.

 

[mhardy6647]

But all it would take is a Sonicare toothbrush set on top of the next 5 or 6 things Amir tests, on and off.

I think we should lobby hard for this!

 

[soundjimmy]

Semiconductor is very susceptible to vibrations on many levels. For microscope clarification, I have used aluminium with titanium balls.
Works on preamps and other electronics.

 

[Purité Audio]

Titanium balls!
Keith

 

[antcollinet]

Works on preamps and other electronics.

Care to present some actual evidence to back up that story?

Titanium balls!

 

[JiiPee]

Semiconductor is very susceptible to vibrations on many levels. For microscope clarification, I have used aluminium with titanium balls.
Works on preamps and other electronics.

Nah, that does not work. You need to use transperambulation of pseudo-cosmic antimatter, as explained by Robert Rankin in his groundbreaking publications.

 

[Travis]

Checking your browser - reCAPTCHA

“There must be a high level of coherence between the electron beam, sample, and detectors to get accurate images, which makes the instrument susceptible to environmental vibrations. Electron microscopes are relatively massive instruments and usually have built-in passive vibration isolation mechanisms. As a result, they are relatively insensitive to higher frequency vibrations. But SEMs are still vulnerable to low frequency vibrations, particularly building vibrations. Thus, when SEMs are placed on higher floors in buildings or in areas with significant seismic vibration levels, they often require supplementary vibration isolation systems.”

 

[Phorize]

FWIW this engineering layperson thinks that claims of vibration changing the performance of electronic circuitry in domestic situations are absolute bollocks.

 

[dfuller]

With solid state? No. With tubes? Maybe, if you get bad ones.

 

[Speedskater]

If the equipment is vibrating enough to affect the sound, I doubt the the highest quality matters.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Semiconductor is very susceptible to vibrations on many levels. For microscope clarification, I have used aluminium with titanium balls.
Works on preamps and other electronics.

This works just as well as a budget-friendly alternative to the pricey titanium balls.

 

[antcollinet]

Checking your browser - reCAPTCHA

“There must be a high level of coherence between the electron beam, sample, and detectors to get accurate images, which makes the instrument susceptible to environmental vibrations. Electron microscopes are relatively massive instruments and usually have built-in passive vibration isolation mechanisms. As a result, they are relatively insensitive to higher frequency vibrations. But SEMs are still vulnerable to low frequency vibrations, particularly building vibrations. Thus, when SEMs are placed on higher floors in buildings or in areas with significant seismic vibration levels, they often require supplementary vibration isolation systems.”

What has this to do with vibration susceptibility of audio gear?

 

[Deleted member 43957]

I have used aluminium with titanium balls.

Don't they clack... clack.. when you walk?

 

[EJ3]

Hi there!

I recently went to a reputed audio shop, which is specialized in both Hi-Fi and Home Theater equipment.

I spoke a lot with the seller, which clearly knew a lot of things about audio. But then at one point he explained to me that (mechanical) vibrations had an impact even on solid-state amplifiers' sound quality. He was 100% sure of what he said, even when I told it seemed weird to me.

He then proceeded to explain that some high-end amplifiers from reputable brands, which sell for thousands of dollars, have cases that don't handle vibrations correctly, and putting some weights on top of the amplifier or stuffing it with anti-vibration material helped a lot with reducing vibrations and immediately improved audio quality by a noticeable margin. It's one of the main reasons why he doesn't sell these brands in his shop.

Clearly it wasn't to try to sell me anything, it was just his opinion on the subject (well, certitude). But this seems really weird to me, so my question is:

Can vibrations have a real impact on solid-state amplifiers' sound quality?

If someone could enlighten me on the matter, that would be great
Thanks!

Solid State amps possibly: but by that point you likely would have already left the area.
A turntable, sure.
But if something is affecting your solid-state amplifier through vibrations, either something is seriously wrong with your amp or something is seriously wrong with your home or it's surroundings (& I am pretty sure that you wouldn't be there, waiting around to see what happens next).

 

[krabapple]

Checking your browser - reCAPTCHA

“There must be a high level of coherence between the electron beam, sample, and detectors to get accurate images, which makes the instrument susceptible to environmental vibrations. Electron microscopes are relatively massive instruments and usually have built-in passive vibration isolation mechanisms. As a result, they are relatively insensitive to higher frequency vibrations. But SEMs are still vulnerable to low frequency vibrations, particularly building vibrations. Thus, when SEMs are placed on higher floors in buildings or in areas with significant seismic vibration levels, they often require supplementary vibration isolation systems.”

Do you actually imagine this -- concerning a device used to image nanoscale objects -- has f-all to do with audio gear?

WTF??? Is there a dopey germ going around on ASR this week?

 

[Holmz]

Getting back to the topic…
I see a lot of ney sayers and ho humming, but this is something that could, and maybe should… be actually measured on some ASR standard?

I am thinking both the power supplies as well as the equipment itself.

So think like the spectrum with a tone (as well as no signal), and tapping on the boxes.

 

[Mart68]

Getting back to the topic…
I see a lot of ney sayers and ho humming, but this is something that could, and maybe should… be actually measured on some ASR standard?

Alan March now of March Audio did this maybe ten years or more ago. He subjected a DAC and a solid state amp to increasingly high levels of vibration and measured the outputs. No change at all. That satisfied my curiosity on this topic.

I don't know if he ever published those results on this forum though.

 

[Keith_W]

Alan March now of March Audio did this maybe ten years or more ago. He subjected a DAC and a solid state amp to increasingly high levels of vibration and measured the outputs. No change at all. That satisfied my curiosity on this topic.

Do you know what he did for a living before he started making loudspeakers? He was an engineer in the aerospace industry specializing in vibration control. So yeah, if there is one guy who knows how to rattle the bejesus out of something and test the outcome, it's going to be him.

 

[Mart68]

Do you know what he did for a living before he started making loudspeakers? He was an engineer in the aerospace industry specializing in vibration control. So yeah, if there is one guy who knows how to rattle the bejesus out of something and test the outcome, it's going to be him.

Yes I was aware of that which certainly does add to the credibility of the findings.

 

[DVDdoug]

MEMORY FLASHBACK -

The "vibration" from the 1989 "World Series Earthquake" knocked one of my floor-standing speakers over on its face. No damage. The floor was carpet. If a record had been playing it would have skipped, and probably would have been scratched.