Review of Butcher Block Acoustics brand Audio Platforms. What is under your components?*

So, precisely, what is being isolated from what in these instances? I can understand wanting to isolate a turntable from its support so that footfalls or other activity in the room doesn't affect play. For my own turntable (Rega Planar 6) I built a platform out of alternating layers of ceramic tile and a quarter-inch cork composite material interleaved at several points also with cotton rag mat board. On top of the top layer of cork is a slightly larger piece of quarter-inch slate tile. The TT sits on the slate tile. I can do jumping jacks a foot away from the platform on an uncarpeted hardwood floor and there is no reaction in the TT. The stack sits on top of a wooden Ikea media stand. So, I feel like the TT is isolated from room vibrations (although not airborne vibrations, I suppose?). I chose this configuration on the recommendation of a friend who is a geophysicist--his job having a great deal to do with the properties of shock waves moving through various media. His recommendation was to use something with mass but also to create a composite structure because the interfaces between the differing materials (in this case, ceramic tile, cork, cotton rag board, and slate--and then the isolation feet on the TT itself) damp transmission of vibration.

But what are you isolating an amplifier or CD player from by putting isolation material under it? This makes little sense to me.

 

Coils and transformers hum and vibrate. So do CD Drives.
In addition to mass loading the top of components, I also add lead stick-on tire weights to all the coils and transformers.
Plus vibration absorbers to the internal sides, bottom and top on the chassis.
It all adds up and makes a nice difference.
So, yes, there are many modes of vibration in other components which need to be damped...

 

Maple rack made by Timbernation. Gaia footers under speakers and Amp. Orea footers under CD player, Preamp and Phono Pre. Isoacoustic stand under Center Channel. They all made a difference.

 

edenSound Terrastone footers attached to VPI table and under the VPI motor. John Boos maple cutting board. Heavy duty steel rack lag bolted to the studs holding the turntable/board. A lot of weight to support so lag bolts were the key. Plus I can jump up and down whenever the mood strikes me.

 

Prices seem very reasonable and competitive with timbernation. I think if I was to get a new rack I’d go with solid tech. Or timbernation again.

 

So if isolation of stereo components leads to better results if you were to hang your components from the ceiling by stings or bungee cords (and maybe also damped the connections points as best you could) would that lead to the best possible results? Just asking for a friend.

 

Then please enlighten us - what does it do?

 

Acoustic feedback is airborne energy, here we're talking about mechanical energy traveling from your speakers through the floor and in to your equipment.

From my 'tinkering' acoustic transmission is not as detrimental as mechanical.

 

Mechanical energy, the idea goes that this energy can produce microphonics in your electronics.

 

Tried it and it doesn't work, or if it does make a improvement it's so nominal it's debatable.

 

I have mentioned this before but £40, for a roll of mass loaded vinyl, and you can isolate your system.
At a 2mm thickness it has a -27db reduction, so with a little bit of imagination you can isolate everything.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072R5CJ7J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Pastafarian, exactly how are you applying this material and what are its effects?

 

In my situation it's a very obvious improvement but as some have already said, as my floor's concrete I've got a bigger problem.

This vinyl is incredibly easy to cut so I've:

• put 4 sheets between my speakers and the floor, this is only a depth of 8 mm ( .31 inch).
• same thickness under my rack's feet.
• layer(s) under your equipment feet /cones.

You can easily cut it so it looks to be part of the rack etc.

 

The mechanical energy of what? Going where? Into what signal?

 

As I said before mechanical energy is traveling from your speakers through the floor and in to your equipment and walls, therefore any neighbor will be pleased, the effect on electronics is the production of small electrical signals due to microphonics.

 

Townshend at shows would start playing a track and part way through would let the air out of their stand and you could hear the difference.

 

Great question.

Barry Diament recommends against using granite due to the ring, but he also instructs about selecting marble. He says to rap the marble tile with your knuckle, and Select one that gives you a thud instead of a ring.

I can attest to the strange looks you may get at the store in trying this. Most will ring, though in differing amounts.

Note: I got mine at Home Depot, but they no longer carry them.

 

I will make an IKEA run and get some acacia butcher blocks

 

I'm unsure what the link is for, as the ability to resonate make a wood useful for instruments, I think this is the opposite of what we need.

 

i'm in the market for a new rack, but I checked the prices for a 40 or 42 inch wide rack and it's a bit high for my tastes, $2k... can I just ask, what is the weight for a 42" wide and 3 shelf high stand from these guys?

 

Just to illustrate what 2channelforever mentioned about "tone woods." Maple is used for violin, viola, cello and bass backs and ribs, neck and scrolls. I had a cello that was made in Czechoslovakia in 1933 with a beautiful flamed maple back.

Just say'n

 

I use IsoAcoustics Gaia feet for my speaker stands. Remarkable upgrade. I have Orea series under my CD player and their entry level pucks under amp, pre amp and pre amp power supply.

I'll work on improving isolation as my system resolution improves. Anticipating new very hi end speaker cables soon, so I'll probably look into isolation for those and upgrade some others to Orea.

I like air flow under my electronics, so no butcher blocks for me.

 

Well I suppose the tone will be different depending on their resonant frequencies but I still suspect something like Allocasuarina Luehmannii would be very good due to it's density and I presume it would give little 'ring' if you tap it.

 

I don't think that's what 2channelsforever had in mind when they referred to "tone woods." Tone and resonance are not the same. When a stringed instrument maker (including guitars, lutes, etc.) chooses a wood to build an instrument, they are considering the wood for it's tonal and acoustical characteristics .

The construction process e.g. wood selection, graduated thickness of the top and back, use of sound post, sound bar, bridge (also carved from maple) and other mechanisms are used to transfer vibration (resonance if you will) of the string being bowed, plucked or strummed from the top of the instrument to the back and out the f-holes. Obviously we're not talking about thick, dense pieces of wood being used to build a stringed instrument. A violin's top plate or top could be only 3 mm at it's thickest point.

Likewise, when a musician chooses a stringed instrument, they are listening to the tone it produces - not it's resonance. In essence, 2channelsforever's point brings the discussion full circle: from Butcher Block Acoustics family background (including music & pianos); maple used in piano construction, maple as a "tone wood" and as an audio isolation platform.

 

I'm making this up as I go along but surely from what you say the timbre is a product of the resonant vibration of the wood used.