Equipment Cones, Spikes, Feet and Pads.

[YNWaN]

Lets start with cross overs which live inside loudspeakers, they are subject to large sound pressures depending upon how loud you play your music. Kevin Scott of LV has had his cross overs in a separate box to avoid these issues. Clarity ESA audiophile capacitors are specially manufactured to reduce resonances due to vibration. At the end of the day your best measuring tool is your ears you just need a convincing demonstration.

We all wish to improve the sound of our systems, dealing with vibrations is one of the cheaper ways this can be achieved. I'll summarize my approach when I find some time.

Hmm... well, lasts just look at a couple of the points you make . KS does, of course, use external crossovers but surely there are two more prosaic reasons for externalising these crossover, 1/ he does a number of different crossover grades and having them external makes them a lot easier to change over and, 2/ some of the components are very large in these crossovers and really need the space an external box can provide. Another point you make is regarding the research done by ClarityCap. If you look at said research it quite clearly states that they found no evidence at all that capacitors are effected by external vibration. What they did find is that operation of a capacitor generates its own internal vibration that can modulate its own output - that is the crux of their research and conclusions.

Please note, I’m not grinding an axe here, my own crossovers are external and use ClarityCaps.

[YNWaN]

Yes, but I'm curious whether even the softest can get down below 20Hz.

In short, no. In an absolute sense they probably can be measured to have a tiny effect but the amplitude of the input would be minuscule.

[Macca]

Lets start with cross overs which live inside loudspeakers, they are subject to large sound pressures depending upon how loud you play your music. Kevin Scott of LV has had his cross overs in a separate box to avoid these issues. Clarity ESA audiophile capacitors are specially manufactured to reduce resonances due to vibration. At the end of the day your best measuring tool is your ears you just need a convincing demonstration.

.

The best measuring tools are measuring tools. I used to think the same about mounting crossovers externally until I saw it demonstrated that it makes absolutely no difference to how they work. Ears may work fine but the brain plays all sorts of tricks.

Clarity ESA audiophile capacitors are specially manufactured to reduce resonances due to vibration. According to them. They're just telling people what they want to hear.


I'm all for making efforts to reduce vibration where it matters. But isolating something like a solid state power amp from vibration is pointless except as some sort of religious ritual.

[YNWaN]

The ClarityCap research is valid, it’s just (commonly) misinterpreted by people.

[Macca]

How significant that is to hi-fi capacitors in hi-fi equipment, I can't say with any certainty.

It's the automatic assumption that these things translate into something audible that I have trouble with too.

[cyclopse]

Only speakers and turntables need isolating, waste of time with anything else. There's a great demo video from (I think) the RMAF where they are using a laptop as a source and the laptop is 'isolated' on Stillpoint spikes. Always cracks me up.

I got quite a performance lift by putting Wave Kinetics footers under my integrated amp.

[jahsavage]

I got quite a performance lift by putting Wave Kinetics footers under my integrated amp.

The two links in the learn section cover the subject in quite some detail, maybe enough to satisfy Macca?

Wave Kinetics - Vibrations, analysis and solutions

[Primalsea]

I am sceptical about a manufacturer’s published research by that is used to market their own products as it is often unbalanced. You can test things to pass test just as much as you can test things to fail and manufacturer’s are unlikely to show you where their products fail, if they have even bothered to test for this in the first place. This is just not in hifi but common in many other industries too.

However what is interesting is that in The Compact Disc: A Handbook of Theory and Use, there is some information to suggest that vibration does effect analogue electronics valve and solid state, although much less reduced in solid state.

There is also mention of the THD+N figures changing when a CD player was isolated from sources of vibration.

However, I do think that in many instances it psycology and not psysical effects that cause the perceived difference in sound.

[Macca]

The two links in the learn section cover the subject in quite some detail, maybe enough to satisfy Macca?

Wave Kinetics - Vibrations, analysis and solutions

A link to the website of a company that sells anti-vibration products? No that doesn't convince me at all. They'll tell you anything to get a sale.

What convinced me was seeing an experiment where solid-state equipment was measured whilst stationary and whilst being vibrated and there was zero change in the output when it was vibrated. I can't remember which forum this was posted on or I'd link you to it. It's difficult to argue with the results of that, at least as far as I'm concerned.

[cyclopse]

So why if we had a number of components using IKEA tables as their foundation and then move them to a Stillpoints rack that they sound much better?