Curing Vibration in Audio Stand

I have a nice piece of furniture that works perfect for my audio stand. No back so airflow for amp. Heavy. Can support a lot of weight. But problem is it sits on fairly thick carpet, which allows it to shake a bit.

Would putting a heavy (exak) board underneath it help stabilize it?

 

Maybe 2 inch thick slab of granite cut to allow the legs of the furniture to sit on top of it. Put some anti vibration pads underneath if you notice further vibration.

Thoughts?

 

Granite, or oak wood? Why cut out for legs? Why not just sit on top? The legs are too big for cutouts

 

Sorry wasn’t suggesting cutouts for legs. Suggesting making sure the granite slab is big enough for the rack to sit on top of it entirely.

Not sure honestly of the differences between oak or granite

 

i think he means cut to the size you need.
mdf works real well. i use it under my speakers and subs. with rubber/cork pads under the feet for the speakers. the subs are on isoacoustics iso2000 stands on top of the board.
this has worked very well at greatly reducing floor resonance.
3"x3" would probably be a good size for stability. paint or stain. put under feet. use same size antivibration pads from supplyhouse if you need more antivibration.
ps. you can also put furniture sliders under the boards to make it easy to move.

 

Bones, if your talking about side to side, you would need to brace the back of the cabinet @ a 45 degree or from corner to corner.

 

An electron microscope bed would sort out all of your vibrational issues, and give you mega audiophile kudos for being the one that walked the extra mile

 

What kind of shaking? If the movement is being caused by flexing floor joists when someone walks by, no amount of oak planks or granite slabs are going to stop the problem. If the shaking only occurs when you actually push at the furniture, it may not be anything to worry about. Basically, don't push. If the movement is causing problem when playing LPs, the solution is likely going to be a wall-mounted turntable shelf.

 

hooooieee

 

Sounds like a perfect candidate for spikes.

 

I have a similar setup, a furniture quality heavy wood rack. Mine is on hardwood floors. I used some Herbies devices to stabilise the rack, I know this doesn't apply to you.

What I learned was to use isolation devices under each component on each shelf. The improvement in SQ was astonishing. Something to keep in mind after you address your rack issue.

 

Maybe drill the feet to accept threaded inserts for spikes. Madisound has a good assortment for a reasonable price.

 

BTW, your going to have some difficulty moving the rack to get behind the unit on the rug.

 

No. It's not a rack. It's a piece of heavy furniture with two door and two shelves inside, plus top. TT goes on top. Integrated amp, CD transport, DAC, etc go inside. No back. It's not hard to move.

It's on a carpeted floor. It's thick carpet. The furniture cabinet moves a bit because of the thick carpet.

 

Only happens when you push at the cabinet.

 

Sounds like there's some flex in the cabinet. One or 2 simple braces to the wall behind it would fix that issue.

 

I agree with others that spikes could be the solution. Same situation as having speakers on a thick carpet.

 

So if you can get to both sides of the cabinet, then a set of heavy spikes should work well. You would probably have to focus on the Turn Table. Good luck my friend.

 

That's most likely nothing that can affect sound quality at all. Basically, any piece of heavy furniture that can be used as a console will move slightly when it's pushed using a couple of fingers. It's not likely that such movement can be excited when playing music, and that's what matters. As long as the top is level for your turntable, or at least level enough to make levelling your platter relatively easy, I think you're in great shape.

 

Great advice & leave the furniture alone - forget about spikes or platforms, etc.

 

Individual component isolation and vibration control is more important. My suggestion of spikes for the OP still stands, but furniture is built to be stiff and as a result vibrations will pass through the entire unit. A proper audio rack isn't stiff, it doesn't have wood on wood tight connections, it's a different type of structure that can flex using anti-vibration techniques. Furniture passes these vibrations throughout the structure.

 

No flex in cabinet at all. It just moves a bit when you lean against it or open cabinet doors because carpet is so thick.

 

Cabinet leans and moves. Doesn't have anything to do with isolating individual components. They'll move if cabinet moves.

Best solution may be a piece of granite and sit cabinet on it.

 

The best solution for your problem is to spike the cabinet to the floor. This has been suggested more than a few times, and while you haven't discounted it, neither have you acknowledged it. What are your thoughts on spikes?

 

You have vibration within the cabinet itself and these vibrations make their way to the feet of your components. Plus any component such as a turntable, CD player, or large transformer will cause internal vibrations that make their way to the shelf. My point is any unit such as yours or mine has vibration in multiple areas.
I agree with stabilizing your cabinet first.