I guess though, that the difference here is an additional layer on which the equipment is placed - an isolated glass platform.
If the isolation is working, only a very small percentage of the energy will be transmitted. So, as I understand it, it doesn’t really matter what surface the isolation pucks are sitting on so long as it is stable. Presumably this is why extremely expensive record players are sometimes placed, via isolating spikes, on a massive (literally) column of concrete.
I can understand that placing a piece of equipment directly on a massive shelf would see energy lost into the shelf mass. But if the energy is prevented from passingto the shelf, would it not matter what the underlying surface is constructed from?
Audio components should be designed to deal with their own vibrations without additional sound degradation (this is certainly the case for Naim components)
Ok, cool. Now I understand why the aim is to isolate (reflect) rather than dissipate the energy.
Perhaps this CDP was not so capable of handling the vibrations it created (refer @Xanthe comment above regarding designing components to handle their own vibration).
If so, perhaps reflecting the energy back to it via an isolated glass shelf made the problem worse than transmitting that energy to a light shelf via coupled feet.
In my experience of both audio electronics and high precision low noise instrumentation electronics, handling vibrations is a, well, “interesting” challenge!
Sorry if you have mentioned it, but what bracing solutions are you going to employ?
Your timber looks very thin considering the overall size of the proposed unit.
Thanks for asking. What I haven’t drawn in (because it’s excel) is that I plan to add a narrow angle triangle either side of the records. For two reasons, 1 to brace the unit and 2 to give the records something to lean against and create a V between them to make flicking through them easier. There will also be a piece between the rest slats to brace the unit and stop records being pushed too far back.
22mm timber is pretty solid though. The plan is to use a kind of dovetail at the joins which will also provide bracing.
It is a concrete floor in that part of the living room. With thick carpet over the top. My plan was to use speaker spikes, not really because they will isolate but because they can penetrate the carpet and can be adjusted to match the floor level.
I did not think it is so important to isolate from a concrete floor. Is this true? The components will be sitting on isolated glass shelves. So I thought the unit they sit on just needs to be stable.
Hello all, I’ve made a replica of @Xanthe recommended feets from brass and ceramic balls. Also I added almost invisible polycarbonate discs inside, which do not touch balls at the very center of cups. I even added 3 these balls under each wooden shelfs as well. Didn’t test A/B, because interconnects were changed at the same time, but at least looks good and separates equipment.
@frenchrooster or you @Xanthe , do you think at all is rational to add any dumping feets or spikes under furniture legs (marked in red), while that furniture is placed on hard tiled floor?
I didn’t realised you had concrete floor, so I think it’s ok with spikes.
But I am very far to be a specialist, so can’t really answer to you, @Mindaugak0 .
I would however tend to think it’s better to decouple from the floor, even if concrete.
My feeling.
From a technical perspective there´s no decoupling or isolation with any shelf, design or material used.
Sound as well as resonances always propagate at a speed appropriate/correlating to the material used and thereby overcome the limits of one material in the direction of the other. The direction can be influenced, as can the speed and damping through a clever choice of materials.
That leads to a sandwich design with changing materials.
Of course there´s reflection at interfaces but transmission also. That´s what was meant with “The direction can be influenced, as can the speed and damping through a clever choice of materials.”
And for surfaces in contact, the degree of decoupling in the perpendicular direction depends on that ratio between reflection and transmission (which is also a function of frequency). Above the stiction limit, transverse decoupling can also be affected by movement (which then then also couple beck into the perpendicular direction!).
