Rubber Feet Seem Like a Scam

[mhardy6647]

I've used these DiversiTech pads on-and-off over the years and, without commenting on their performance, I need to tell all that they will permanently stain finished wood floors. FWIW.

good to know.
FWIW^2: I assume a priori that every black rubber/polymer thing will leave something behind in contact with wood, finished or otherwise. Better safe than sorry.
Note this interesting photo of a Weltron 2001 AM-FM/8 track on a bench somewhere in France...

R6II5805 by Jean-Baptiste Higounet, on Flickr

I had a Weltron BITD. It will leave a black ring on that poor bench from its suction-cup bottom.

 

[mike7877]

Out of curiosity I just ran a couple of measurements comparing my Woofer's response with the speaker sitting on the tile floor and sitting on 6mm thick x 25mm dia. rubber pads, one at each corner. There is a difference, but it is very slight, not audible. I repeated the measurements three times, and the results were consistent. The microphone was fairly close to the woofer, about 20cm.

Here it is with the speaker on the floor:

View attachment 491306

Here it is with the speaker on the rubber pads:

View attachment 491307

How tall are your rubber pads?

 

[JohnnyAudio]

Just use tennis balls.

 

[terryforsythe]

How tall are your rubber pads?

Re-read the first sentence.

 

[CuteStudio]

Just as a note, it's actually fairly easy to DIY your own silicone feet, in various colours.
You just need a mould, a measuring spoon or your required shape, you can even build them in stages, and the silicone gun and tubes can be had for peanuts. Or even peanut shells, in HiFi cost terms...

I get slightly bugged by modern turntables using rubber feet TBH. IMO it's lazy and a poor way to isolate them. One simply needs a strong beam between the platter bearing and the arm base: glass, wood, stone, metal, doesn't matter, and then to suspend that on three springs, two on a T from the platter (front and back) and one for the arm: it's not rocket science.
But no, it's always a giant soundboard on cheap wodgy feet. Even the Dual CS505 tried harder than that.

Maybe I'll so the project one day - take a Project or Rega etc and build it properly suspended. Maybe a direct drive would be better - an AT or Technics - a battered used on with good parts. Hmm - maybe time to research the best donor table

 

[mhardy6647]

Just as a note, it's actually fairly easy to DIY your own silicone feet, in various colours.
You just need a mould, a measuring spoon or your required shape, you can even build them in stages, and the silicone gun and tubes can be had for peanuts. Or even peanut shells, in HiFi cost terms...

I get slightly bugged by modern turntables using rubber feet TBH. IMO it's lazy and a poor way to isolate them. One simply needs a strong beam between the platter bearing and the arm base: glass, wood, stone, metal, doesn't matter, and then to suspend that on three springs, two on a T from the platter (front and back) and one for the arm: it's not rocket science.
But no, it's always a giant soundboard on cheap wodgy feet. Even the Dual CS505 tried harder than that.

Maybe I'll so the project one day - take a Project or Rega etc and build it properly suspended. Maybe a direct drive would be better - an AT or Technics - a battered used on with good parts. Hmm - maybe time to research the best donor table

Suspended turntables were all the rage in the '70s, albeit generally sans the backbone described in the post quoted above.

 

[HenrikEnquist]

Did anyone measure the effect of soft vs hard feet (or even spikes) on the floor below the speakers? Even if there is no audible difference in the listening room, there may be some benefits to be had for the neighbors on the floor below. It would be interesting to know how much can be done here.

 

[Descartes]

I've used these DiversiTech pads on-and-off over the years and, without commenting on their performance, I need to tell all that they will permanently stain finished wood floors. FWIW.

Yep better put some felt underneath and then no stains

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Did anyone measure the effect of soft vs hard feet (or even spikes) on the floor below the speakers?

I have measured the effect of soft feet vs spikes and found them inaudible but nonetheless important to me: spikes left 2"-4" scratches in my floor when accidentally bumped by a guest's wayward pre-teen.

 

[DVDdoug]

Even if there is no audible difference in the listening room, there may be some benefits to be had for the neighbors on the floor below. It would be interesting to know how much can be done here.

Most of the sound comes through "the air" then through walls, ceilings, and floors, rather than by "direct vibration".

 

[Cbdb2]

They may make an audible difference if your speaker/sub has bad cabinet resonances coupling into the floor, if the speaker it self dosnt mask these extra resonances.

 

[Exprymer]

Rubber yes, it's innefective.
Sorbothane and Sylomer are efficient forms of isolation and used in several professional applications, including loudspeaker isolation (northward acoustic designs for example).

 

[terryforsythe]

Rubber yes, it's innefective.
Sorbothane and Sylomer are efficient forms of isolation and used in several professional applications, including loudspeaker isolation (northward acoustic designs for example).

Test data to back up the assertion would be nice. I'm not saying you are incorrect, but without test data we don't know whether you are correct either.

 

[olieb]

Test data to back up the assertion would be nice.

Look here about Sylomer

Loudspeaker isolation!

AMC MECANOCAUCHO, manufacturer isolation devices for, well everything from heavy industrial equipment downwards. I posed the question of loudspeaker isolation, their engineers couldn’t have been more helpful. I have invited Egoitz Rivera (the engineer who has been so helpful ) to the forum, I...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[terryforsythe]

Look here about Sylomer

Loudspeaker isolation!

AMC MECANOCAUCHO, manufacturer isolation devices for, well everything from heavy industrial equipment downwards. I posed the question of loudspeaker isolation, their engineers couldn’t have been more helpful. I have invited Egoitz Rivera (the engineer who has been so helpful ) to the forum, I...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The X-axis for the graph of isolation is missing a label. Looking at the table to the right of the graph, it correlates frequency vs isolation. So, are we to assume the x-axis is frequency? If so, it looks like the Sylomer only is effective below 27Hz. But, I don't know for sure what the x-axis represents - I may be completely mis-reading what the graph is presenting. Please enlighten me if that is the case.

 

[olieb]

The X-axis for the graph of isolation is missing a label. Looking at the table to the right of the graph, it correlates frequency vs isolation. So, are we to assume the x-axis is frequency? If so, it looks like the Sylomer only is effective below 27Hz. But, I don't know for sure what the x-axis represents - I may be completely mis-reading what the graph is presenting. Please enlighten me if that is the case.

You might look a bit further down (#4). The whole thread is more or less about Sylomer isolation pads.
Yes, the x-axis is frequency. The idea is to suspend the load so that the resonance frequency of the system lies below the passband (10-15Hz).
EDIT: That is the resonant frequency in vertical direction (from the load on the pad), the lateral resonant frequency (shearing motion) typically is significantly lower.
The red part is around and below the resonance where the "isolation" is indeed an increase of vibration. Above, the "true" isolation sets in and vibration (more precisely the vibration force that acts on the base) decreases with frequency (green).

Actually I never understood the table in the first post as it does not correlate to the graph.

 

[Andysu]

Best foot deals extant* are the non-audiophile branded isolation pads sold for HVAC use.

https://www.diversitech.com/product-families/equipment-mounting/mounting-accessories/anti-vibration-pads

EVA or cork. One may do some blind A/B testing and see which doesn't sound better, so to speak!
View attachment 491264
View attachment 491265
In all seriousness, one may buy these pads with an audiophile brand name for much more money per pad.


_________________
* Well... OK... there are also hockey pucks. Used, they can have a unit price as low as free (at least in New England and other places where ice hockey is a thing).

rubber ideal for HF horns if mounted on a cab box to reduce any cab bass resonate rattles with HF horn on top ( unless an actual bracket mount is used ) so can tilt the HF horn and angle its toe-in position

 

[olds1959special]

There is so much mass in the cabinets of speakers/subwoofers, how can these possibly do that much? Usually subwoofers come with feet too. I like to use a little rubber/foam tape for insulation on the bottom but that's all you really need.

 

[Exprymer]

There is so much mass in the cabinets of speakers/subwoofers, how can these possibly do that much? Usually subwoofers come with feet too. I like to use a little rubber/foam tape for insulation on the bottom but that's all you really need.

If you are referring to sylomer, it's interesting to know that this material is present in several other applications requiring decoupling of extreme weights.

You will find this material in railtracks, bridge decouplers, etc.

This kind of technology is nothing new, The mass of anything coupled with the sylomer for example, forms a mass-spring-damper system, being mathematically modelled as a second order resonator. There is, though, a frequency in which the energy is perfectly transfered from the spring to the damper, maximizing the convertion from kinetic energy to Thermal dissipation. That's how it works. Then you just adjust the spring and damper to match the Mass you are expecting to have.

Normally in this problem, before the resonance the energy is build up, and the transmission is enhanced between the mass and the surface, but after the resonance the energy is almost completely converted to heat. That's why northward studios for example tune these systems to ~7 Hz, in order to make sure the system is already highly efficient at 20 Hz.

 

[gasolin75]

Icehockey puck for hifi feet and for adding weight without adding a 1 kilo door stopper ontop of a small dac,class d amp,streamer that is so light it might benefit for some extra weight so it doesn't tip over do to heavy cables

Less than 2 euros pr unit