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I'm making a power strip/box which will consist of 2 x 2gang weatherproof plastic boxes connected end to end. Each box will have a diecast extension collar with a duplex Oyaide R1 receptacle and a carbon fiber faceplate. I want to make a Bamboo platform for them and I wondered what is the best DIY stuff to use as spikes/footers.
I have some Hilti threaded studs which are as hard as hell, they fire them into steel beams or will arrow points be better. Is it best to put the power strip on spikes or something else, maybe felt pads, rubber and cork sandwich or Macpherson struts, I'm just kidding with the last one I think Bilston would be better.
I'm not sure of the mechanics behind this, is harder better or is softer the way to go.
I am now going to retire to my bunker and be on the alert for "incoming".
Thanks for your help.
Acass.
Follow Ups:
In my experience, every cone (and everything else) sounds different. It really is a never ending search. I have 3 different kinds of cones...all made of brass (and many other gizmos), each of the same general size, yet each of them sounds different. I settled on Stillpoints, for my system, but each system is different. Under the Stillpoints and other brass cones, I have brass discs to protect the furniture from the point....yes, even these protective discs sound different from each other. I suppose if you consider this quest fun, you'll have lots of it. I have drawers full of resonance control gizmos.....oh well.
IME, an effective vibration control method for a power line conditioner/distributor positioned on a laminated bamboo platform placed on a floor is to *couple* the platform to the floor, and *decouple* the power line conditioner/distributor from the platform:
1. Coupled: A set of carpet piercing spikes such as Yung YLC TipToes placed between the bottom of the laminated bamboo platform and the floor.
2. Decoupled: A set of compliant footers such as Herbie's Audio Tenderfoot feet placed between the bottom of the power line conditioner/distributor and the laminated bamboo platform surface.
Hi Duster...would herbie's isocup with hardball between conditioner and bamboo platform work just as well? How about isocup on it's own...without the hardball? Thanks.
IME, the Iso-Cup without a ball is problematic since the flimsy wall of the cup-shaped opening affects the firmer functionality of the compliant material as intended. If a set of hardballs are undesirable, a set of Herbie's Audio Lab Gabon Ebony Domes can be secured to the bottom of a component or platform and placed within a set of Iso-Cups, such as for a more secure interface on the horizontal plane via domes vs. balls or for system tuning purposes.
Herbie's Audio Lab Iso-Cup with hardball footer combines both coupling (hardball) and decoupling (compliant base). The Iso-Cup with hardball footer is generally appreciated most when placed directly under a power amplifier, but I also use it under a laminated bamboo platform that supports an outboard preamplifier power supply to good effect. The stock feet of the power supply are replaced with a set of thick non-compliant carbon fiber composite discs adhered with RTV silicon to the bottom of the power supply unit. Additionally, a very thin low-compliance (firm) Herbie's Audio Lab Thin grungebuster Dot is adhered to the bottom of each carbon fiber disc to help mitigate inter-surface microphonics while offering minimal compliance, since the high-compliance of the Iso-Cup base provides a more effective decoupling layer. Furthermore, implementing more than one high-compliance layer within a stacked multi-layer vibration control platform tends to be counter-productive, since the function of a high-compliance footer/pad depends on two opposing rigid surfaces in order for the compliance of the footer/pad to work efficiently. YMMV
"inter-surface microphonics" - that's not one I've heard of before. Care to explain what that is? Thanks.
In this case, 30mm W x 10mm H carbon fiber composite discs with Thin grungebuster Dots are directly adhered to the bottom of the PSU enclosure, which is then placed on a laminated bamboo board supported by a set of four Herbie's Audio Lab Iso-Cup footers. The effectively pointed hardball does well to couple resonance from the board onto/into the compliant Iso-Cup decoupling base placed between the laminated bamboo vibration control platform and the rack shelf surface. However, the carbon fiber discs placed on the vibration control platform without a thin decoupling layer creates a poorly coupled interface, which is prone to mechanical ringing (microphonics) due to the hard flat surface of the carbon fiber discs resonating against the hard flat surface of the laminated bamboo board. The very firm, minimally compliant Thin grungebuster Dots placed between the bottom of the carbon fiber discs and the vibration control platform surface avoids this resonance issue without adding the detrimental effect of an additional highly compliant layer within the particular multi-layer vibration control platform configuration.
I'd love to know the logic and intent behind coupling a rack to the floor and decoupling a component from the rack.
It might be that the bamboo thing, coupled on spikes, is quite resonant, and so the decoupling stops the resonance from getting into the PLC ;)
But it also might be little more than grasping at straws too.
For example, if you decouple (isolate) the component from the shelf, then what difference does it matter what you do with the shelf / rack?
The rack in and of itself is nonmusical (is not part of the music info processing chain. Therefore, so long as the component is isolated from the rack, what difference does it make if the rack is coupled or decoupled or if the rack even exists at all. Why not use a bowl of Jell-o or a box of kitty litter or your grandma's antique coffee table or whatever?
But since the suggestion was made to "decouple" the component from the shelf, do you really think you've just isolated that component from all unwanted vibrations simultaneously? Including the captured air-borne and internally-generated vibrations (e.g. power supplies, motors, etc)?
All air-borne and especially internally-generated vibrations captured at the component is a continual bombardment. So now that you've isolated your component from the shelf, where do you suppose all those unwanted vibrations going to go?
The answer is nowhere. By isolationg the component from the shelf, you've just severed the vibrations only means of escape. Now they are for sure trapped within the chassis and now they have no choice but to fully dissipate within. Which is essentially the same dilema as using soft component footers.
I agree with you. Hence the ;) on the end of my post. But also I bought a few bamboo boards, of different types, and found them all pretty resonant.
Why not just use spikes from the plc into the floor. Can't see what adding a bamboo board would do to help. And I have tried both myself. (But only these crappy non-audiophile resonant bamboo boards that I have).
Sorry for my delayed response.
Not sure how best to answer your question since I don't know what a PLC is.
Look at it this way. It's guaranteed that unwanted mechanical vibrations will continually bombard your components. primarily the air-borne and internally-generated, including the internally-generated where the loose or flimsy component pieces e.g. a less secured top plate are actually vibrating in sympathy with vibrations already captured and hence making matters worse.
Forget about floor-borne vibrations as you should assume they are already heading back to ground via the sub-floor to the foundation, etc.
Now your component is saturated with continuous mechanical vibrations. Your only hope is to provide a superior mechanical conduit that provides an expedited exit path for that unwanted energy to travel and escape and with little or no opportunity to bottleneck.
Best way to think about this is to consider the best quality table lamp you could possible construct. You have an electrical outlet, wall plug, wire, switch, socket, and bulb and all the connections in between.
What's gonna' happen to the performance of that lamp if there is just one loose or sloppy connection?
Depending on how sloppy the connection the quality of light can suffer immensely, the lightbulb's MTBF will greatly shorten, and if really sloppy, burn your house to the ground.
There is no reason to think otherwise when it comes to creating a superior mechanical conduit that is intended to allow mechanical energy to freely travel, which it is wont to do.
..... and you'll need to experiment with compliance or rigidity, or a mixture. It's easy and fun, and can be done cheap as hell.
Rubber super balls resting on brass rings as stabilizer 'feet' can be a really cheap and effective footer tweak, and it involves both approaches to some degree, and some folks have really touted that as a nice sonic upgrade for next to nothing.
The brass rings can be had at Home Depot or Lowe's for a song (see plumbing supplies area for them), and the super balls, well, check your kids toy chest! ;-) Simply try different density balls for different sonic signatures. For around $25 bucks, you can literally have dozens of combos to try, and all sound different. You decide what you like, or not. And the rest are kiddie stocking stuffers, if that suits.
Another el cheapo footer are the combination cork/rubber feet that can be had for a few dollars each. Very effective and can usually take a LOT of weight. Mapleshade sells its "Isoblock" rubber/cork footers for quite a lot, but you can simply look at Mapleshade's website at their cork/rubber footers to get an idea of what you need, and then search the internet for a supplier (they are everywhere, and for VERY cheap, too.)
Usually, the cheap commercial cork/rubber footers widely available are lower profile than the Mapleshade, but I use these el cheapos in place of the Mapleshade Isoblocks (I have both to compare) and find no difference worth mentioning (or spending the extra cash on.)
In short, get creative and use whatever you like. Post afterwards and share your findings.
But there is simply no 'one-size-fits-all' approach that is infallible. Compliance, rigidity, or a mixture thereof, all can have their positive and negative sides. You simply need to experiment and see what you like.
And of course, always check the archives here in the Tweaks asylum for past posts on this very popular subject. You simply cannot believe how many options you have for next to nothing. Again, it's fun, it's easy and it's cheap, too.
Best of luck, and keep us posted.
Happy listening!
Cheers,
WS
The problem with superballs as isolation is that they are effectively elastomer "springs". They absorb that energy quickly, but they very efficiently put it back into the system! It's a rubber pogo stick effect, which is what always made superballs so entertaining to kids (and big kids). It's NOT what you want.
What you want is a substance that absorbs that energy and dissipates it rapidly, rather than putting it back into the system. In other words ZERO bounce back if possible.
I used Norsorex (dead, sad balls)to very good effect where isolation was wanted. Herbie's balls, footers, etc. also do a highly effective job. I didn't like Sorbothane, but this is individual taste.
The best advice will always be, as you said, that it's idiosyncratic to the system/situation. So experimenting with combinations of coupling and isolation is in order. And besides, that's half the fun of this hobby.
Making amends, or trying to, for numerous posts in support of the use of Norwsorex (dead balls) for resonance damping, I recently discovered that they don't work like i thought they did.
I'd love to hear a reason WHY they don't work, because intuitively it sounds (to me at least) like a good idea. And I had the things under several components, with brass cones, maple platforms and cork/rubber thingies under the main components. Then not long ago I lost one of the Norsorex balls behind the system when moving a component, couldn't find it, and had to do without it. I removed the other two balls and -- what's this new clarity and openness? So I then removed all the others I'd been using and the system sounded better than it had before. Replacing them with brass cones further improved the sonics.
Anyway, I hope that anyone reading one of my old posts praising the Norsorex reads this one too :-)
Can't find any of the old Norwsorex posts - tried searching for "Norwsorex"
I'm curious what you tried. Perhaps the reason they did not work was because you were putting compliance where hard coupling was required; if things improved when you replaced the balls with brass cones then that sounds a reasonable theory..now if you could replace the cones with something better..
nt
Well I copied and pasted from your post (first sentence) But I see that you don't suffer from consistency, and you spell it differently so I'll try the other spelling.
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