Best £20 I've spent on HiFi

[AJSki2fly]

I have never ventured into detailed equipment isolation apart from having my turntable securely mounted and isolated on a robust platform securely attached to the wall.

I was chatting with a friend about what he thinks about trying to isolate amps, CD players etc using platforms/stands or feet. He has a quite expensive stand with isolation shelves and in his opinion he said it definitely made a difference in subtle ways. I was chatting with my amplifiers manufacturer as I have been doing some evaluations of some of their equipment for them as they value feedback to see what people think of changes or mods they have made. They asked me as they know my setup, Turntable, I use their amps and they also use Wilson Benesch Arc speakers as well. Anyway I asked Sean at High End Audio what he thought about isolating amplifiers and so on. His opinion was it was definitely something to do, but the difficult thing is that their is no exact right or wrong way and there are an awful lot of expensive bits of kit out that achieve the same as some simple damping methods. He said they always mount amps on isolation platforms and he does the same at home, and in his opinion it results in a better overall soundstage and definition of the music. He recalled demonstrating a system to a customer who did not believe that isolating amps made any difference, so he did a blind test with the chap and guess what the chap prefered the sound with the amps on isolation stands saying it was better defined and more realistic.

So armed with this thought I did a bit of investigation into what might be a good starting point and would not break the bank. What I came up with was some simple Sorbothane feet, a set of 8 (as I have two power amps) all for the sum of £20 including delivery from Ebay. I carefully selected the size that handled 15kg. The people I purchased from had a table guide as to which to select for different weights of equipment, they emphasised that it is very important to select ones so that the weight of the equipment falls within the weight bearing range of the pads, this would gain the best results in damping and isolation.

So the Sorbothane pads arrived today in the post, and I installed them simply by placing under each amplifier just behind each original foot. Click on each photo below to see larger. So I put some music on and I have to say it was a bit of shock and pleasant surprise, I was actually not expecting much change, but the difference is a bit of a revelation. Basically everything now sounds better defined and tighter, bass sounds clearer, better defined and slightly deeper, and overall the sound stage seems more detailed/defined.

Am I kidding myself, I think not? I removed the Sorbathane feet and put the same track on and immediately the clarity and detail was less. Feet went back and on I went to a well known test track and yes this confirmed my thoughts. By the way my amps are sighted on a solid wood sideboard that is 3 feet behind the speakers and this still made a difference.

So if you've got £10-20 and want to do a simple upgrade I would recommend you give this a go.

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[MikeMusic]

It is mental.

Still getting over discovering supports and isolation.
The more you have the better it gets

[AJSki2fly]

It is mental.

Still getting over discovering supports and isolation.
The more you have the better it gets

Some carefully selected Sorbothane pads for the Gyrodec next I think.

[Sherwood]

Some carefully selected Sorbothane pads for the Gyrodec next I think.

Whist sorbothane damping may be beneficial for electronics (e.g heavy amps) I have found it unsuitable for TTs.

Geoff

[AJSki2fly]

Whist sorbothane damping may be beneficial for electronics (e.g heavy amps) I have found it unsuitable for TTs.

Geoff

Interesting, in what way does it affect the sound if used on a turntable?

[Svend N]

Very interesting post Adrian. You have a tube amp, correct? (hard to see in the pics) Would this work for a solid state power amp?

[Sherwood]

Interesting, in what way does it affect the sound if used on a turntable?

Loss of detail and mangling of timing. IMHO sorbothane can help damp the vibrations generated by big transformers, especially on large valve amps. I used a sorbothane platform with my Art Audio Valve power amp. I find turntables work best on a rigid lightweight support. My guess is that sorbothane reduces the efficiency of the TTs own isolation system (primarily suspended TT designs).

[Svend N]

Loss of detail and mangling of timing. IMHO sorbothane can help damp the vibrations generated by big transformers, especially on large valve amps. I used a sorbothane platform with my Art Audio Valve power amp. I find turntables work best on a rigid lightweight support. My guess is that sorbothane reduces the efficiency of the TTs own isolation system (primarily suspended TT designs).

I think you're right there, Geoff. I had this explained to me in much the same terms by Shane in regard to my Heybrook. The sorbothane and the deck's suspension work against each other; a suspended deck should be left free to let the suspension do it's thing, and doesn't need more suspension (i.e. jiggly sorbothane). If interested, I could dig up that post...it was very helpful.

[AJSki2fly]

Very interesting post Adrian. You have a tube amp, correct? (hard to see in the pics) Would this work for a solid state power amp?

Yes, they are Renaissance RA01 dual 300B's, which are quite rare. I find then extremely detailed and rewarding, but quite unforgiving in my setup as they reproduce everything. Sean at High End Audio (the Amps manufacturers) said that it helps with solid state as well, they also produce some quite fine sounding solid state amps as well. I also think that CD Players are likely to benefit, so I will be ordering some to place under the Meridian 508 as well. I will also try some under the phono stage which sits inside the sideboard that the amps are on. Thinking about this it may not be that great as the sideboard doors and sides maybe acting as a sound box and vibrating from output from the system.

I think anything is worth a try if it is relatively in-expensive.

For example I buy quite a few secondhand records and wanted to ensure I could clean them well. I did not want to spend lots on a vinyl cleaning machine as I my budget was limited and she who must be obeyed would not be very happy spending hundreds/thousands on one. So I found an old Panosonic turntable which I brought for £3, I removed the arm and purchase a cheap wet/dry hoover. I modified the hoover head used for getting in corners by putting cutting a narrow slit in the bottom to go over the black vinyl and then covering it with 50mm wide velvet ribbon, then cutting a slit in the ribbon, and I drilled a hole in the end which fits over the turntable spindle, I then sealed the end of the head up. I then made a support from hard rubber for the modified head so that it held it just above a record on the turntable. I had previously been cleaning records with a Knosti Disk cleaner but was never very happy with leaving the records to drain dry, believing it left residue and dirt behind. However I have experimented with a variety of cleaning fluids and mixtures, one recommended by a friend and another mixture which is used by the London Jazz Collector https://londonjazzcollector.wordpres...r-vacuum-rcms/ I have found this to be the most effective and have cleaned some very dirty records with it and got some great results. The process I use is to put the record on the old turntable put a small amount of the mixture on it, and manually spin the record whilst holding one of those flat emulsion paint brushes on the record (they have very fine hairs and do not shed, they are also very cheap) to spread the fluid, I spin the record about 5-10 times in each direction and then use the modified hoover head and the wet and dry hoover to remove the fluid. A very dirty record may require 3-5 cleans if it have been played in smokey or greasy atmospheres, but if you persevere they usually can be cleaned up.

So as I said rather than spend a fortune on a cleaner I built mine for about £50. Yes it requires some manual input but I find it quite therapeutic, especially when a dirty record comes up good.

[Sherwood]

I think you're right there, Geoff. I had this explained to me in much the same terms by Shane in regard to my Heybrook. The sorbothane and the deck's suspension work against each other; a suspended deck should be left free to let the suspension do it's thing, and doesn't need more suspension (i.e. jiggly sorbothane). If interested, I could dig up that post...it was very helpful.

The best support I ever had for my TT was a self made open frame table. It was made of a combination of hard and softwood timber. The uprights were 2"x2" hardwood. The rest of the support was basically cross bracing using 1"x1" pine (screwed and glued). The uprights had spikes inserted top and bottom. It was completed with a plywood top with four two pence coins glued to the underside. A hole punch was used to create an indent into the centre of the coins which ensured that top did not slide around. The support was incredibly rigid and very light. It worked well with my RP3 (which I bought when the RB300 arm first came out), and then with my LP12 which I bought by trading in the RP3. The most notable benefit of the support was the incredible energy in the midrange, holographic imaging, improved timing, tighter bass, and the opening of fine detail.

Geoff