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

I needed to add new feet to my turntable and I was looking at various sorbothane bumpers and whatnot and I noticed a rash of comments against using rubber or sorbothane for isolation because of the way it rejects and transfers vibrations unevenly. When did this happen? Anyone else hear this?

 

I've read that on Symposium Acoustic's website.

 

These are popular with some members on the Computer Audiophile forum. I don't have a turntable, but I use them under all my "spinning disk" devices--external HDD's, DVD player, DVR/cable TV boxes, etc. There's also a cork composite version which is even cheaper. Mapleshade sells something similar at about 20x the price.

http://www.supplyhouse.com/DiversiTech-MP-2E-EVA-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Original-Isoblock-2s/productinfo/ISOBLOCK2-ST/

 

Sorbothane feet (like the KAB Sonic Domes) work and sound a lot better than the stock Technics feet on my SL-1210MK5. Are they the best choice? Maybe not, but who knows. I always take the try it and see approach.

 

Do you have a link to the anti-sorobothane discussion? Were the comments made by average people who use turntables or by companies with alternative products to sell?

Scott

 

Isn't it difficult to keep a turntable level with sorbothane since they compress differently unless the weight is evenly distributed?

 

I haven't had any problems leveling my turntable or keeping it that way. I use thin paperboard shims. Pretty easy actually.

 

http://www.symposiumusa.com/UltraAnalog.html

You're right. They're selling. And Herbies also condemns them. He's selling, too!

 

I think sorbothane is rather ok, it´s no miracle but it will partly work. The problem is to get a reasonable resonance frequency together what is placed upon it.
Also the damping is a bit too high, which means instead of absorbing the forces, they are partly transmitted through the sorbothane.

Not bad but no miracle. There are much better feet, but also much more expensive.

 

So my sorbothane turntable platter mat is no good !!

 

I bought a couple strictly to stop foot falls in the office system, working perfectly for that......not sure if the sound is better or not, but it sounds batter not skipping, that's for sure.

 

Any tweek, modification, stand or footer ONLY sounds as good as the individual owner hears it does, with his own ears. Nobody should take ANYONE'S word for what any one of these will accomplish, particularly if those words come from a sales monolog.

This is particularly true of methods to isolate or couple. The sonic result just depends too much on too many individual factors: YOUR component ( e.g., your turntable suspended or solid, light or heavy, direct drive or belt drive, arm/cartridge resonance), YOUR table or stand, YOUR floor, etc.

 

I have my Dell Workstation sitting on a Mission Isoplat with Sorborthane dome feet (true, not kidding). Makes the blacks on screen even blacker!

 

Off topic but I like your avatar. Jason King/Peter Wyngarde brings back great memories.

 

I realize that the balls are probably not made from sorbothane, but they are a "rubbery, squishy" kind of material, so I wonder what the "sorbothane haters" have to say about the Gingko Cloud systems?

 

I don´t know why there would be any haters as such, you just have to know how different mtrls work and what you want to achieve.

 

You need new feet, why?

Ultimately, you can only judge a tweek by how it sounds in your particular situation.

That said, if you feel you need cost conscious isolation without adversely changing the sonic qualities of your current TT set-up, I would recommend putting your TT on a board, then try Sorbothane footers BELOW the board. You could also try many other devices like myrtle wood blocks or cones, etc. and see where it takes you. I would recommend a thin, low mass, (one inch or less) bamboo cutting board from Amazon (laminated bamboo is 18% more rigid than hard rock maple).

IMHO and experience, many TT sound their best on such a set up.

 

I use sorbothane to isolate bookshelf speakers in...wait for it...a bookshelf. HA! The bass was vibrating the case. The pads stopped it. Job done!

 

I can not speak for your sonic preferences but... Vibration issues notwithstanding, I would not be too quick to recommend anything under a speaker that offers ease of lateral displacement. Due to the laws of physics, and in my experience, one will often significantly smear detail and soundstage whenever one allows the drivers to be acted upon by, equal and opposite reaction. Just my experience.

 

Depends:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?6997-AudioQuest-Sorbothane-Record-Mat-Issue

 

Yikes! That's scary!

 

That's a pretty awesome response from Audioquest IMO.

 

What the hell is the issue that this fellow is trying to communicate? I can't understand his correspondence. Thought I had a stroke this afternoon and wasn't capable of reading it, and nope, I'm OK, ask a friend to look at it and he can't make sense of it either...

 

It appears that later versions of the sorbothane mat left a residue on the LPs that earlier versions did not. That was my understanding.