Isolation of HiFi components from vibration

I have always followed Peter Walkers advise and used the volume control as a focusing devise to bring the singer out into the room. ( A 30 year Quad user, 34 pre & 306 current dumper)

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Agree, but, ahem, she :wink:

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I imagine Lenny’s bass rifts on a S1 with 3 x 500’s active would be somewhat balls-breaking awesome. I met the legend during two consecutive nights in a small venue in Auckland back in the 80’s. Right rockers they were.

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I agree with you.
As some pointed recently in another thread ( « source first « ), the key is to find the best matching speakers / room / amp which will work the best in our room. Then improve with some room acoustics, but lightly, and isolation devices.
Not buy the best speakers we can buy and then transform and adapt the room acoustically to allow these speakers to sound properly.

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Thanks - that’s a great offer.

I saw Motorhead at Birmingham Odean in the early 80s - and bought several of their LPs.

The aim with room treatment is getting the right balance, not killing it dead, and is quite unlike adjusting the beat timing accuracy or tone accuracy of a recorded piece of music!

Positioning of speakers and listener are key factors in setup, more so in some room than others. Narrower dispersion speakers will reduce side, ceiling and floor reflections compared to wide dispersion speakers though possibly reducing soundstage and size of ‘sweet spot’, and toeing well in will reduce side reflections, though if side walls are near then there will still be some early reflections to degrade the sound and neither of these choices will reduce early reflections from a near wall behind the listener. If after optimising positioning a room has reflective surfaces close to the sound path or the listener then regardless of quality of electronics, cables etc some combination of absorption and scattering to stop the near reflections interfering with the main signal is likely to make a significant improvement to clarity and detail, maybe even tighten sharpness of timing.

If there are bass issues such as booming or cancellation at the listening position even with best positioning, treatment can reduce the effects and improve the sound, though unless mild it is highly unlikely to be feasible to completely cure.

All that said, the best sound I have ever heard from recorded music anywhere, any time, was from a system more limited than mine is now, played outdoors in the open - effectively removing all room effects. That to me was perfection, albeit that it would be even better with a more capable system. Also, returning to the thread theme the setup meant there could be no acoustic feedback to the source or electronics as they were indoors the other end of the house, and at least 100 feet away from the speakers, but I believe the lack of room effects was the most significant factor. Details in the thread What’s the best-sounding system you’ve ever heard?

Love gold on the Forum when I read it. Thank you Monsieur FR.

True and yet such a fine line when your heart just wants what it wants and therein lies some compromise. Audiophiles are optimists… we like to explore and deceive ourselves occasionally especially when we’re after what we want even when the markers are up, not to. :grimacing:

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:zipper_mouth_face:

I have modified my listing room with a concrete floor.
For me it solved the problem with the wooden floor damping 60-100 Hz. I have also moved my equipment to the room next door but the LP12 (and speakers :laughing:). The solid floor did stabilised the LP12 and speakers. However, tried to move the LP12 but it wasn’t an improvement at all.
What I find to be really good against vibration is to use correct installed Manas including Sound Clamps. Fraim is also good and easier to handle.
As You say, the main supply is important. I have upgraded it to have it’s own supply from incoming with proper cabling.

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I have made my own “Super Fraim” out of two granite slabs, or Layout tables. Under the bottom slab there are three homemade cups and balls.Between the bottom and top slabs are three 2 inch diameter steel posts, with balls on top, sitting in holes drilled in the posts. The slabs are 150 pounds each, so this thing is SOLID.
No Naim pieces any more, but Nagra integrated sits on top, IFI Zen stream and Musical Fidelity MX Dac underneath.
Total money invested in the rack…$200 Canadian dollars.


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Here are the posts and cups/balls I made that sit between and under the slabs.


Interesting.
What are the cup and ball made of?
A steel ball?

I found more noticeable sonic improvements from mains optimization, powerlines, and network optimization, than I did from my Naim Fraim which was not as noticeable.

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What does your network optimization consist of?

I’m still using cascading ciscos with the last being POE and BJC cat6a loom. I’m still on the fence about the PhoenixNet. I’ve convinced myself we’ll see a 272 replacement this year and I’d rather devote funds to that first and then consider the need for the PhoenixNet.

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The balls are steel and the cups are carbide, I cut a triangle shape in the middle of it with a wire EDM machine at work. The ball sits on three points just like the ones you buy from Naim.

Munich High End May 19th for sure! :blush:

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Interesting… for sure… I was also thinking it could be the sum of parts… if we took off everything from the Fraim, how would the system sound?

I know from experience that most turntables benefit from well designed, proper support, but most solid state gear does not really benefit.

If you are correct why do Naim use suspension systems in their source and preamps, I will tell you to reduce vibrations entering their internal electronic boards
Steve