Wooden speaker supports and racks

Discussion in 'Hi-Fi and General Audio' started by rockhopper, Apr 12, 2007.

  1. rockhopper

    rockhopper

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    A mate has been explaining to me that wood is the best material for preventing vibration from getting to your equipment as much as possible. Apparently glass is actually much worse at the job of stopping vibration.

    This supposedly applies to speaker stands as well. A good quality wooden stand is best for acoustic purposes.

    I think Russ Andrews may have a similar view.

    Just wondering what people here think?
     
    rockhopper, Apr 12, 2007
    #1
  2. rockhopper

    bottleneck talks a load of rubbish

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    there is a broadly equal split between those that don't think stands make any difference at all (per se), and those that think that glass/stone/wood/cones/cups/ are best.


    I fall into the first camp.

    From a visual perspective, I wish I'd bought something that makes the cables themselves less visually intrusive - they ruin the aesthetics of most racks IMO.
     
    bottleneck, Apr 12, 2007
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  3. rockhopper

    rockhopper

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    In my experience, I have found various stands to affect the sound to some degree. In particular, with a pair of Neat Petite III I had, the difference in bass was awesome when placed on heavier, sturdy stands.

    Im always open-minded with these things, as I know they can make a surprising difference, as with cables.

    The only thing i've not yet noticed a change in sound with is racks. Though I have not tried many different ones.

    Now its time to try different stand materials, and not just their weight/rigidity.
     
    rockhopper, Apr 12, 2007
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  4. rockhopper

    bottleneck talks a load of rubbish

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    I've found the same with stands, adding mass to the speaker changes the sound IME.

    Haven't found the same with other bits of kit, except to a very small degree the turntable.
     
    bottleneck, Apr 12, 2007
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  5. rockhopper

    Knightshade

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    The physical characteristics of wood are well suited to Hi Fi, Certain woods soak up vibration very well Cork Oak, Wenge etc. Slate also has good vibration dampening properties. Whether this is audible or not I can't really decide (except with turntables and speakers where there is a marked change in sound). I do think visual appeal has a lot to do with it, if it looks nice I think your mind will do the rest and make it sound better.
    There is no getting away from the fact that certain materials are very bad for Hi Fi, metal (un-damped) and glass, both resonate terribly.
    Of course I am biased:D
     
    Knightshade, Apr 12, 2007
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  6. rockhopper

    bottleneck talks a load of rubbish

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    bottleneck, Apr 12, 2007
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  7. rockhopper

    Knightshade

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    Thank you kindly sir, American Ash and Wenge shelves.
     
    Knightshade, Apr 12, 2007
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  8. rockhopper

    Garmt

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    It does make a difference what support you put your equipment on. I have had massive improvements just putting some equipment (notably Lavardin amplifiers) on slabs of Birch Plywood.
     
    Garmt, Apr 12, 2007
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  9. rockhopper

    sq225917 Exposer of Foo

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    just put my cd player onto 3 spikes siliconed onto 10mm of slate, itself silconed onto the previous 18mm mdf shelf it sat on.

    maybe, a little bit better sustain on decaying notes, noticably tighter bass.
     
    sq225917, Apr 12, 2007
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  10. rockhopper

    Knightshade

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    This may sound silly but try rounding the spikes off making them into more of a dome than a spike (less contact), then stick small squares of cork to the bottom of the CD player and rest them on the spikes.
     
    Knightshade, Apr 12, 2007
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  11. rockhopper

    sq225917 Exposer of Foo

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    the spikes point upwards and the tips are already 2mm radiused.

    the silicone is between the base of the spike and the slate.
     
    sq225917, Apr 12, 2007
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  12. rockhopper

    zanash

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    actually rounding of spikes makes them a smaller contact ....imagine a tangent to a circle ...the contact point is infinitely small..a spike by definition will either penetrate or bend and thus have a larger contact....

    Wood as apposed to other materials .....its the design that makes the thing, the materials are secondary IMO
     
    zanash, Apr 13, 2007
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  13. rockhopper

    Garmt

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    IMO the materials and the construction combined make for a certain resonance behaviour. The construction and materials are interacting. We are tuning resonances and the internal damping of materials has to be taken nto account.
     
    Garmt, Apr 13, 2007
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  14. rockhopper

    sq225917 Exposer of Foo

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    does anyone make cheap roller blocks, i've tried sorucing polished cups but price is prohibitive.
     
    sq225917, Apr 13, 2007
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  15. rockhopper

    zanash

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    Actually that what I'd intended to put ....sort of.
    what I wanted to say was that the design criteria dictates to some extent the materials used ..but failed
     
    zanash, Apr 13, 2007
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  16. rockhopper

    mosfet

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    [​IMG]
     
    mosfet, Apr 13, 2007
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  17. rockhopper

    DavidF

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    sorry, out of curiosity what ARE roller blocks....?
     
    DavidF, Apr 13, 2007
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  18. rockhopper

    DavidF

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    What do you reckon for audio support cones KS?

    (if you don't mind my asking .....?)


    :)



    David
     
    DavidF, Apr 13, 2007
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  19. rockhopper

    Knightshade

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    Hello David,

    I think a lot depends on the equipment used, how well built it is, whether it's affected by vibration (I used to have a CD12 - nothing affected it's ability to render CD's well) my current transport is affected by breathing heavily on it. Isolating it with several different materials improves things slightly whether it would be better to just buy a better transport or not I'm not sure..
    I think a lot depends on what you're trying to achieve, I think spikes, isolation platforms, cones etc can all alter the sound of some equipment, whether they improve it or not is another matter. I've never been able to hear the 'night and day' difference that some people talk about but everyones hearing is different so who's to say who's right?

    A bit of common sense and a clear sense of purpose is required to achieve what you want. There's room for some more clever inovations on the market i'm sure.
     
    Knightshade, Apr 13, 2007
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  20. rockhopper

    Knightshade

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    Knightshade, Apr 13, 2007
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