Wait a minute... Sorbothane feet are out ..?

I agree that a Bamboo board is a fantastic cheap option, in fact I'm using four of them. However you need some kind of support rack and £460's cheap for a stand.
I'm frequently absolutely flabbergasted by what I see in post pictures of your system, with people spending thousands on equipment then placing it on a cupboard, madness!

 

I made a turntable platform from a slate slab and 'Isolate-it' sorbothane feet - didn't know what to expect but it really did make a difference.

I also noticed that when I tapped the amp or the shelf it was stood on the 'tap' came through the speakers. I tried adding the platform and it removed this entirely, so I made ones for the amp and CDP too figuring it can only be good to prevent whatever vibrations entering the system. The overall sound really has seemed to fill out and tighten up.

 

I used to have an HW-19 that was a suspended table, the plinth was suspended by springs which I replaced with something like sorbothane pucks. This sat on a Target wall stand with a Corian platform. For over 22 years. Recently I bought a Scout 2 unsuspended table with a stand alone motor. Note that I have never had a footfall issue with a concrete slab and the wall stand. But I noticed that I could now hear the motor sound amplified by the Corian platform. This was cured with a mouse pad but it got me thinking about how resonant that hard Corian shelf was. After much research I ordered a Maple isolation platform to replace the Corian platform. It is basically a butcher block but cut to my specs by Timbernation.com. I'll be able to do a head to head comparison when I get it. But in theory the OLD setup gave a rigid, somewhat resonant, platform but with a turntable plinth damped/suspended by sorbothane pucks. I had no issues with that setup. The NEW table has no damping/suspension but it will theoretically benefit from the sonic properties of the Maple "isolation" platform. We shall see.
Other options going forward would be sharp pointed spikes for turntable feet (the VPI feet have tiny dots of rubber on the end) to better couple the table to the Maple. Or putting the Corian platform back on the wall stand and setting the Maple platform on that, separated by either sorbothane pads, or glued together. Whew!
It will all boil down to what sounds best. Or the simplest setup where I can't tell the difference It is tough to take the plunge and start spending money on things that may or may not improve the sound of your set up but I can always find a use for a butcher block. I gathered from my research that some tables will benefit from damping, others from coupling, and that materials used will affect the sound.

 

Hmm, I'm not so sure about that!

 

How many people using sorbothane are using their calculator to get the exact size and thickness of pieces to provide proper isolation? This is a must or you may as well not use it.

 

yes, very important to match the proper weight. other wise sorbothane is useless

 

I get the feeling though, that people are buying slabs of the stuff, plonking whatever down onto it, and then theorising that it dosent work as it should.

 

Years ago, I had a friend who insisted on placing his CD player on his subwoofer. (He was not an audiophile type and he had some practical reason for doing this that I have forgotten.) He was asking me if there was anything I could think of to stop his CD player to stop skipping. I said to get it off of the subwoofer. When he said that he did not have that option, I told him he could try sorbothane feet.

He bought Audioquest* (IIRC) sorbothane feet advertised to be appropriate for the CD player's weight. Skipping problem solved. I was impressed.

*Blue, half spherical feet.

 

Quite. The isolate-it feet (half-sphere) give specific weight recommendations for the respective sizes so it's easy to work out.

 

Not the cheapest but these things are awesome. Been using them for years.

http://www.brightstaraudio.com/

 

I have a sorbothane mat which I used a few times on my turntables.
It was only when I tried it on a rega p3-24 that I have seen the "oil like residue" that was left on the glass platter.
That was the last time I used the mat.Good that I haven't used it for long , I can;t imagine what it would had left on my records.Not to mention that I did not like the overall sound with it.Too "dead" for my taste and not well defined sound.

 

Does OR (doesn't). The fact is most of us are music lovers and hobbiests at best, not good scientists. So, we blunder along like bad scientists or backyard mechanics, with our limited understanding and capabilities and sometimes fix one thing a little, only to screw-up another aspect or three a little bit...

Are they even a different durometer or merely a different size to accommodate the weight difference? These are globs of goo (possibly quite cost effective), but far from complex engineered devised like Stillpoints.

 

I didn't realise we'd met

 

These look interesting made from PEEK, PEEK - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia »
MusicWorks P-Cone equipment isolation »

 

If the deteriorating crossover networks and dry rotted surrounds are not taking more fidelity away than proper speaker placement could give, I would encourage turning them up!

On first plush, the rigidity of Rollerblocks in the vertical axis (as compared to nothing) will most always appear to be a vast improvement, especially in the lower frequency regions. It's just that they are a partial fix. If compared to spikes on cups or Stillpoints, I believe that you will find that movement in the horizontal plane for loud speakers is ultimately a bad move.

Even Roy Gregory recommended Rollerblocks until he found Stillpoints. And yet it is still possible that the ultimate limits in resolution of your kit may not let you hear the difference.

 

Unfortunately, given the cost, I suspect you're right although I wouldn't use Roy Gregory as a reference, having talked to him!

 

Well, I make no claim to be any kind of authority, nor due I mean to exalt RG in this matter, but the does get considerable press. Yet I think like with the hobby itself, we get in, where we get in, and then try to tweak the most out of whatever we have. Some equipment and tweaks sound good to some ears, and some to others. I think I t really gets interesting when we can, somewhat agree on the tonal value of a good cheap tweak between all our different rooms, kits, and ears.

 

One of the problems with reviews is that we very rarely , almost never,read comparative comments,that is, how a product on test,compares with a long standing "reference".

 

actually, sorbothane are much better then stillpoints.

stillpoints wants you to believe its extremely complex devise, when decoupling is very simple and predictable science. Stillpoints make you believe its very complex, but its not. weve been building for exmaple bridges for many years and the decoupling system have been understood for a long time.

sorbothane is not globs of goo, its a material with exceptional high deflection and better softness= better performance over stillpoint.

<<First you must calculate the stiffness of the decoupling (elastic) layer. For that you use the equation s= ES/d where Eis the elasticity modulus (Young's modulus) S the surface and d the thickness.

sorbothane being fairly softer/ more elastic than the stillpoints with less contact surface (just tip of the sorbothan) and the interface can be considered to have more more thickness you necessarily get sorbothane > stillpoints

Which means that sorbothane are less stiff than stillpoints. That's a clear hint at better performance already.>>

 

You calculations may be correct BUT your understanding of what's each is aiming to accomplish is flawed. The stillpoints design aims to achieve the opposite of Sorbothane.

 

no, both products aim at the same thing.

Stillpoints themselves say, and I quote:
< Stillpoints is The State of the Art Isolation technology. Using advanced metals and treatment, hi tech ceramic bearings ,and precision machining we build a simple motor system that converts micro vibrations to heat. Our technology works mainly in the 100 nanosecond and below time frame, vibrations found in the ultra band regions. Areas of improvement by doing this is better micro harmonics, dynamics, imaging, soundstage, tighter bass. Due to the design requirements we are true isolation … defined by no vertical path thru our products. When used with loudspeakers we decouple the speaker from its environment allowing you to hear it all for the first time .>

sorbothane and stillpoints are products means to decouple speaker (for example) from its environment.
Sorbothane and/or Sylomer is however not specifically for audio, which explains the price difference.

 

You need to calculate the amount of heat each produces, stillpoint are more environmentally friendly, you can turn your heating down.

 

In my applications and listening Stillpoints and Sorbothane footers sound very different, depending! Sorbothane is arguably, very, very cheap and a good all around tweak, but in no way would I deem it sonically superior in every application.

 

Great video! I never knew that sorbothane was that neat!

 

I'll consider it if I start to use my ipod whilst running or