Coupling vs Decouplling: What you need to know

[Audiophilehi]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Cool, let me know how they work out for you. I've empirically come to the conclusion, though, that 4 are better than 3 because it provides a more even weight distribution on the pads with the component on top of them, especially if one part of the component is heavier than the other, which is common in some components. For example, my preamp and power amps are quite a bit heavier at the back than the front because of their power supplies.

Thanks Stephen....I might have to order 1 more each.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi

Thanks Stephen....I might have to order 1 more each.

Yeah, I am going to have to do that, too, Paul. Norm Varney says 3 will work, but recommends using 4 because the weight distribution will be more even. Given that the pads are a little bit "squishy", you will get more even compression across all the pads by using 4 at each corner, rather than using 3 in a tripod configuration.

I'm learning that if Norm Varney makes a recommendation, it's just like a recommendation from Caelin Gabriel: its real-world based on deep "subject-matter" expertise, pragmatic, and value-proposition-based, and you can take it "to the bank".

[antipop]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Yeah, I am going to have to do that, too, Paul. Norm Varney says 3 will work, but recommends using 4 because the weight distribution will be more even. Given that the pads are a little bit "squishy", you will get more even compression across all the pads by using 4 at each corner, rather than using 3 in a tripod configuration.

I'm learning that if Norm Varney makes a recommendation, it's just like a recommendation from Caelin Gabriel: its real-world based on deep "subject-matter" expertise, pragmatic, and value-proposition-based, and you can take it "to the bank".

I wonder how true it is for my tube amps which are very heavy in the back while the front is very light.

I got 4 but I'm thinking of putting 2 in the back, 1 in the middle centered and another one in the front centereed

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by antipop

I wonder how true it is for my tube amps which are very heavy in the back while the front is very light.

I got 4 but I'm thinking of putting 2 in the back, 1 in the middle centered and another one in the front centereed

You should definitely try that, Georges, but I would also try them with a pad at each corner. My tube amp is also very heavy at the back. Two at the back should be fine. The pads are a little bit squishy, so you want a nice even loading on them from the top with the component pushing evenly down on them. Norm provides a level with them, so you can play around with positioning them so you can find where to place them so that the top of the component is level.

[Beet Farmer]

Interesting analysis in there...
One point from me about the discussion of what is UNDER the Maple board and my experiences with exotic wood and hard Maple butcher blocks.
I acquired a variety of sizes and thickness Maple butcher blocks and a few Walnut butcher blocks.
Using only listening... no high tech stuff. The sort of thing the butcher blocks were ON TOP OF, and also what was between the blocks and the OEM equipment feet mattered a great deal.
My experiement ware based on hte notion of TUNING rather than eliminating vibrations.
Taking the exaple of a violin. THe strings, mounted on a non resonant structure, and played would sound not so hot. Stick them back on top of a carefully designed resonant box. and magic.
Well the same notion can be applied to the vibrations around audio equipment.
I added a lot of various bits of exotic wood under my equipment in various combinations over a few months of experimenting. And the results are good.
The ony problem is the results are certainly not transferable!
THings like for my amplifier. THe base Maple 3: by 19"by 18" block with a Walnut 3" 14x17" on it. In top of that in back a 12" long 2" square spindle of Verawood. in front a pair of 2" by 4x4" blocks of Bolivian Rosewood With the amp on top of those. in it's OEM feet. Many variations did not sound as good as this on.
In my setup my room.
So the area of what is UNDER your gear is wide open.. Scary but true.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Beet Farmer

Interesting analysis in there...
One point from me about the discussion of what is UNDER the Maple board and my experiences with exotic wood and hard Maple butcher blocks.
I acquired a variety of sizes and thickness Maple butcher blocks and a few Walnut butcher blocks.
Using only listening... no high tech stuff. The sort of thing the butcher blocks were ON TOP OF, and also what was between the blocks and the OEM equipment feet mattered a great deal.
My experiement ware based on hte notion of TUNING rather than eliminating vibrations.
Taking the exaple of a violin. THe strings, mounted on a non resonant structure, and played would sound not so hot. Stick them back on top of a carefully designed resonant box. and magic.
Well the same notion can be applied to the vibrations around audio equipment.
I added a lot of various bits of exotic wood under my equipment in various combinations over a few months of experimenting. And the results are good.
The ony problem is the results are certainly not transferable!
THings like for my amplifier. THe base Maple 3: by 19"by 18" block with a Walnut 3" 14x17" on it. In top of that in back a 12" long 2" square spindle of Verawood. in front a pair of 2" by 4x4" blocks of Bolivian Rosewood With the amp on top of those. in it's OEM feet. Many variations did not sound as good as this on.
In my setup my room.
So the area of what is UNDER your gear is wide open.. Scary but true.

Hi Beet Farmer,
Thanks for your comments and sharing your experiences. Yes, I've had similar results when using maple boards on top of my audio rack's top shelf, and placing components on it, as well. I did a DOE a while back and found that using hard wooden blocks under a maple board worked better in reducing vibration of the maple board than using the Diversitech closed-cell foam & rubber footers, for example. The Diversitech footers appears to be acting like an undamped spring. I haven't done the comparison yet, but I have a hypothesis is the more traditional cork & rubber AVPs would work better than the Diversitech AVPs for audio component isolation (or at least for placing maple boards on).

[Beet Farmer]

I did not like the cork and rubber iso pads sent with my Butcher blocks.
On the floor, I use old Top Toes I have had laying around for 40 years or so...
On the equipment rack (which has glass shelves yes yes I know) I use very thin bits of 70 duro Sorbothane in a trapezoid far corners front, two together near centerline at rear under the Walnut 1 1/2" thick 22" x 16" butcher blocks.
For the places I used one butcher block on top of another I used thin Ebony disks in the trapezoid layout.
(I have dual butcher blocks under amp, and both turntables.
I was surprised how much better this was than just one, under the amplifier of all places.

[zonto]

@Puma Cat, did you ever run the same vibration dampening tests on the Stillpoints you were getting in for evaluation?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by zonto

@Puma Cat, did you ever run the same vibration dampening tests on the Stillpoints you were getting in for evaluation?

Just starting those tomorrow...

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Just starting those tomorrow...

This should be interesting [emoji848]