Sorbothane

[electric beach]

Want to lose a weekend - without drugs or alcohol?

I found these Sorbothane sheets and about 10 uses - what fun! If "fiddling about" and "cheap tweaks" are expressions that have you salivating then these are the kiddies. At £13 each for a self adhesive-backed 6" x 6" sheet (the self-adhesive doesn't stick well to the sorbothane but the backing sheet is conveniently marked to guide cutting into smaller squares) the return on investment can almost be guaranteed.

Sorbothane's vibration damping properties are awesome. I intended to isolate the shelves on my wall mounted Target equipment racks and the resulting improvement was well worth the minimal effort, plus everything got a clean.

As an illustration, our washing machine was walking some two feet across the floor during the spin cycle and violently rocking about to an impression of a jet fighter on take-off. Four 30mm squares under the feet and the tendency to build up vibration was eliminated. It's not whisper quiet but it's like a different machine; an egg will stay on top for the duration and it's not moved a millimetre. We were absolutely in denial, it just didn't seem possible.

So, start with the washing machine and then you too can play with the HiFi all weekend! That's what I call a Top Tweak!!


http://www.britishaudio.co.uk/isolation.htm

[webby]

I used to wear Sorbothane insoles in my football boots. They were great!

[electric beach]

Apart from dedicated Sorbothane domed feet for HiFi, which is a harder compound, the only other source I could find was in fact inner soles for footwear.

I wonder who will be first to cut up their discarded jogging trainers for tweakery

[Stratmangler]

These guys make the stuff http://www.deflex.co.uk/catalog/index.php

Chris

[electric beach]

These guys make the stuff http://www.deflex.co.uk/catalog/index.php

Chris

Sorry Chris - don't think so. Sorbothane is a different material and trademarked.

[DSJR]

I loved the original Audioquest big feet and had loads. Most gone now (I know not where), but I can vouch for the squidgey stuff (not the rock-hard feet the Mission Isoplat came with..)

[electric beach]

I've had a field day! There are so many uses in sheet form. I've used it, or will use it:

- under the sub feet on a hard wood floor: reduced the cabinet vibrations and tightened the bass - no, the whole frequency range benefitted.
- under the main speaker feet, which were merely solid aluminium legs directly to the solid wood stands.
- under the support rack shelves at the interface with the tubular frame.
- between granite slabs.
- directly between the preamp and power supply and the granite platform.
- under the hood of the preamp, around the valve sockets.
- on the rear of the tweeters.
- as a shim between cables and either wall or the racks.

[The Grand Wazoo]

I had a few of those sheets years ago & put bits of them all over the place (not under the washing machine though!

Some folks used to cut small bits to stick onto chips - I tried it in an attempt to make a crap synthesized tuner sound better. I couldn't tell any difference - but it was a really crap tuner!

I also had some Sorbothane damping rings for small signal valves which worked well until I stuck on on a 12BH7 which promptly melted it & caused free flowing black goo to ooze all over a circuit board. Then a hefty repair bill from Absolute Sounds oozed through my letter box.

[Themis]

Then a hefty repair bill from Absolute Sounds oozed through my letter box.

[Rare Bird]

Love the sorbothane linned counterweight on the Mission '774', infact the '775' turntable used lashings of Sorbothane..