zero cost isolation

cut up a dowel rod [25mm] into 10-15mm slices ...drill a 8mm dia hole in the centre of one face, 2-3mm deep. Then line with a tiny bit of blutac and place a 10mm ish ball bearing in the cavity an press in the bluetac.

make three and place under your cdp etc .... two at the front and one to the rear.

could be an eye opener....

On the three systems I've tried this the tonal balance remains unchanged ..but the image focus is improved greatly....though the results will obviously be different with your own kit combinations.

[all units were on dedicated hifi stands]

 

cool - you got any pictures..?

cheers

 

I once tried cutting squash balls in half so the cdp wouldn't get vibrated by the bass.

 

interesting, ball up or down?

 

a 9 inch inner tube inflated enough so that the component sits about 1cm from the surface works great too...

 

I'll do some pics.....

I've another version that is four ball bearings in a tetrahedron ..the trick is getting the lower three to stay in one place!

 

How does this isolate exactly?

De-coupling kit is worth trying IMO but this suggestion won't do anything of the sort. There are numerous approaches that do work, the simplest of which is to use a resilient material. Neoprene foam from mouse mats, for instance, is cheap and readily available.

 

Why am I not surprised... its the "won't work, can't work, shan't listen or try"club's founder member...

Sorry tried the mouse mats ..had zero sonic effect [on my kit]....

I'm certain all the people who have heard this have made up there own mind ....

why don't we let everyone else ?

Sorry, if you can't work out how it works ..should you be passing comment ?

 

nice one pete - looks like a nice very low cost isolation tweak.

'no cost' probably a bit optimistic (unless you have dowel rods and ballbearings etc!)

anyway, keep it up, lots of people appreciate this kind of post.

 

pete, i could cast up some epoxy base plates for you balls,so to speak,if you fancy..

 

Cheers...this is still a proto idea but seems to have some milage...

feel free to experiment ....

I will get some pics done....

 

cheers for posting.

to be honest I don't care if they don't do a thing,
I like experimenting with things, sometimes they work sometimes they don't, who cares ? it isn't exactly going to break the bank and could save you a few quid (more likely option)

sounds like a good idea.
keep the ideas coming people.

 

A better idea than blutak (which dries out, too) might be silicon. But you will have to wait for it to set which takes about 12-24hours.

 

yeah silicone would work.
I guess you could use silicone by itself if you just pump it into an old spray can cap that has a smooth inside.
then just pull it out when it has cured if you put a small lump of blutack (in the shape of half the bb)in the end before you pump in the silicone you could still use the ball.

 

If you or anyone else want to stick ball bearings into bits of dowelling under the mistaken belief doing so will afford some degree of structural decoupling for hi-fi kit, then go ahead zanash. Was this another tweak you were 'guided' to with your dowsing rods while walking around B&Q by any chance?

For a well-written article on isolation, thankfully free from similar rubbish, Keith Howard writing in this months HFN is worth reading.

 

maybe its not isolating but coupling that makes the difference in this case.

 

Its an interesting paradox. How to get rid of the energy of all those mechanical vibrations generated within the CDP/Turntable etc and at the same time isolate the player from energy generated by other components and the sound produced by the speakers.

Perhaps coupling the CDP via the dowel and bearing as described then isolating via a sandbox, inner tube etc might be a way to go.

 

can someone explain the difference between coupling and isolation please...i dont get it....

 

Nor I, totally.

My undertsanding is thus;

using spikes (or ball bearings) on (eg) your speaker stands isolatesyour speakers form feed back vibration form energy absorbed by sound waves... +also dispate s excess vibrations to earth. this is a form of islation.

saw your speaker stands in half...the system would be said to be "de coupled"....ie the excess vibrations can't disipate to ground

the alternative operation is to absorb excess energy.....so using foam (sand boxes etc) between componants would I think be said to be "coupling"(?)


I'm fairly confident of the first bit ....but i'm happy to be corrected on the 2nd (or any!).

Hope that helps.

I am constantly amazed at the sonic gains to be achieved by this fascinating subject (.....hope that hasn't started a new debate!!)

 

It was just this paradox that utterly confused me initially.