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Thread: Sorbothane under speakers

  1. #21
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Bishops Stortford

    Posts: 1,249
    I'm Chris.

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    Thanks Pete
    Out of interests I have tried other means of isolating my speakers, but none with any success.
    1. Hockey pucks
    2. PTFE feet
    3. Rubber mats
    4. Oak cones
    Source
    SW1X Universal Music Server UMS I Signature with Power Supply Unit PSU I Signature
    SW1X USB II
    SW1X DAC III Special
    Audiolab 6000 CDT transport
    Amps
    Pre amps -- Hi fi Collective twin mono ladder stepped attenuator, with Charcroft Z-foil and silver wired. And First Watt B1 active no gain buffer.
    Power amps -- Welborne 45 SET monoblocks 1.8W / Decware Taboo 6W / Elekit 300B TU-8600SVK plus further improved components 9W / ICE Power 1000W
    Speakers
    Highly modified Endorphin P17 open baffle speakers containing both vintage and modern alnico drivers and paper cones. All silver wired - 8" Cube Audio FC8 full range drivers and vintage 15" Altec VOTT 416 bass drivers. All sat on Townsend Audio Podium seismic isolation platforms.
    BK Electronics XLS400FF Sub.
    Cabling
    Silver mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables by SW1X
    Headphones
    HRT HeadStreamer and SennHeiser HD650 headphones

  2. #22
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Bishops Stortford

    Posts: 1,249
    I'm Chris.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by zanash View Post
    again this is very close to my experience ..i thought I'd played a different track too
    Out of interest Pete, what is the structure of you room floor and walls?
    Source
    SW1X Universal Music Server UMS I Signature with Power Supply Unit PSU I Signature
    SW1X USB II
    SW1X DAC III Special
    Audiolab 6000 CDT transport
    Amps
    Pre amps -- Hi fi Collective twin mono ladder stepped attenuator, with Charcroft Z-foil and silver wired. And First Watt B1 active no gain buffer.
    Power amps -- Welborne 45 SET monoblocks 1.8W / Decware Taboo 6W / Elekit 300B TU-8600SVK plus further improved components 9W / ICE Power 1000W
    Speakers
    Highly modified Endorphin P17 open baffle speakers containing both vintage and modern alnico drivers and paper cones. All silver wired - 8" Cube Audio FC8 full range drivers and vintage 15" Altec VOTT 416 bass drivers. All sat on Townsend Audio Podium seismic isolation platforms.
    BK Electronics XLS400FF Sub.
    Cabling
    Silver mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables by SW1X
    Headphones
    HRT HeadStreamer and SennHeiser HD650 headphones

  3. #23
    Join Date: Aug 2008

    Location: notts uk

    Posts: 295
    I'm Pete.

    Default

    concrete floor ...standard plaster board type walls.

    my journey includes-

    spikes- never happy with the sound even when proposed in the late 70's, tried wide ones, small ones, long ones, brass, aluminum, steel etc

    hard wooden door knobs threaded for spike holes- instantly better than spikes

    folded carpet - interesting but not right

    rubber door stops - no horrid

    sorbothane - ok but not right !

    bike inner tubes partly inflated- good but too unstable ..with cats

    dense foam packing- interesting getting somewhere

    Auralex mopads - rather good for a low cost solution now used routinely under computer speakers

    isoacoustic stands- excellent best solution to that point

    townshend seismic bars- so far out in front of the rest its ridiculous

    AV room services EVP - these get to 80% of the seismic bars at a fraction of the cost [https://avroomservice.com/store-evp/]


    that journey started in the late 70's and I tried the evp's in 2019.. the seismic bars have been in place for about four years and have transformed the imaging and presentation to a true three dimensional sound image.

    Speakers mainly involved from the "door knobs" forward, are a pair of Martin Logan Aerius i's

  4. #24
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Bishops Stortford

    Posts: 1,249
    I'm Chris.

    Default

    sorbothane - ok but not right !

    Interesting that you should give a qualified response to sorbothane. Can you say why this is and in what ways do the Townsend Seismic bars improve on it.

    Thanks for summarising all you experiments
    Source
    SW1X Universal Music Server UMS I Signature with Power Supply Unit PSU I Signature
    SW1X USB II
    SW1X DAC III Special
    Audiolab 6000 CDT transport
    Amps
    Pre amps -- Hi fi Collective twin mono ladder stepped attenuator, with Charcroft Z-foil and silver wired. And First Watt B1 active no gain buffer.
    Power amps -- Welborne 45 SET monoblocks 1.8W / Decware Taboo 6W / Elekit 300B TU-8600SVK plus further improved components 9W / ICE Power 1000W
    Speakers
    Highly modified Endorphin P17 open baffle speakers containing both vintage and modern alnico drivers and paper cones. All silver wired - 8" Cube Audio FC8 full range drivers and vintage 15" Altec VOTT 416 bass drivers. All sat on Townsend Audio Podium seismic isolation platforms.
    BK Electronics XLS400FF Sub.
    Cabling
    Silver mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables by SW1X
    Headphones
    HRT HeadStreamer and SennHeiser HD650 headphones

  5. #25
    Join Date: Aug 2008

    Location: notts uk

    Posts: 295
    I'm Pete.

    Default

    yes it was better than the prvious iterations ...but I had a nagging feeling it wasn't the end of my journey ....unlike the evp's or siesmic bars

  6. #26
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Seaton, Devon, UK

    Posts: 13,214
    I'm Adrian.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bumpy View Post
    sorbothane - ok but not right !

    Interesting that you should give a qualified response to sorbothane. Can you say why this is and in what ways do the Townsend Seismic bars improve on it.

    Thanks for summarising all you experiments
    I and a friend have gone through a similar journey with speaker isolation, he has ended up using Townshend Seismic bars with his Tannoy Legacy Kensington's, prior to that he had them on 40mm oak platforms(sitting directly on the carpet over a suspended wooden flow) with rubber blocks under the speaker feet. My speakers sit on 40mm oak, with spike and the oak sits on top of 4 Hudson silicone/sorbothane feet onto a marque floor onto concrete.

    So having heard my friends before the Townshend and after I would say the improvement with them is better isolation and improved detail and definition in the soundstage, bass is more controlled. The difference between his and my system is not that great with respect to what I have described, apart from some tonal differences. I presume I get away with it because of a solid floor.

    Hope that helps.
    Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.

    Analog Inputs: Pro-Ject Signature 10 TT & arm, Benz Micro LP-S, Michel Cusis MC, Goldring 2500 and Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridges, Hitachi FT5500 mk2 Tuner

    Digital:- Marantz SA-KI Pearl CD player, RaspberryPi/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, Buffalo NAS Drive

    Amplification:- AudioValve Sunilda phono stage, Krell KSP-7B pre-amp, Krell KSA-80 power amp

    Output: Wilson Benesch Vector speakers, KLH Ultimate One Headphones

    Cables: Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA & Chord Epic 2 RCA, various speaker leads, & links


    I think I am nearing audio nirvana, but don’t tell anyone.

  7. #27
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,737
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    A solid floor solves a lot of these problems from the get-go. It was an absolute deal-breaker for me when I was buying a house.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  8. #28
    Join Date: Aug 2008

    Location: notts uk

    Posts: 295
    I'm Pete.

    Default

    nope ......! I've always had a solid floor. As Ive said the spiked speakers sound and the sound with the seismic bars you would not believe it was from the same speaker.

  9. #29
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,775
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    A solid floor solves a lot of these problems from the get-go. It was an absolute deal-breaker for me when I was buying a house.
    I didn't give it a thought when I bought my house. It has a solid floor with floorboards on top, with a gap between them of a couple of inches. Probably a worse case combination, but it did mean when I had a dedicated ring main installed for the audio, I could also run the audio cables under the floor. My speakers are 6m from the audio sources, preamps etc. I dislike seeing cables snaking around the room.

    Regarding speaker isolation, I have never been disappointed with the soundstage my speakers create: the soundstage width extends beyond the outer dimensions of the speakers with excellent depth. I'm not a bass freak and have to have the volume turned up to very loud levels before I can feel the vibrations through the floor.
    Barry

  10. #30
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,737
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by zanash View Post
    nope ......! I've always had a solid floor. As Ive said the spiked speakers sound and the sound with the seismic bars you would not believe it was from the same speaker.
    If the bars place the speakers at a different height from the spikes that alone will make a significant change. Firstly your listening on a different axis and secondly your altering the distance of the speaker from a room boundary (the floor) which will change the low frequency response.

    That's before you get onto whatever effect the isolation provided by the spring system is doing. So yes it's going to sound quite different with bars instead of spikes.

    Spikes are the worst option with a solid floor - IMO - I never use them.

    My current speakers have rubber feet that have the thread for the spikes inside them. So they just sit on those feet, on the carpet. Maybe I would prefer the presentation with the Townsend bars but the price puts me off trying them, plus I don't have a problem to fix so not really got any incentive to.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

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