OTL Asylum

OTL, Output Transformerless Amplifier User Group.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

Amp Footers and how to use them

Posted by Ralph on April 19, 2016 at 09:48:00:
Points and squishys have their uses!

Generally points are used when you want to move vibration away from whatever is resting on the points. This is an old concept- the table for my LP mastering lathe, which was made in the late 1940s, employs points. So audiophiles are not making that idea up!!

Squishys are used when you want to isolate the device from vibration that might be around it. Again this idea is very old- Ampex used special isolation grommets on their tube sockets decades ago for this reason.

Its up to you to sort out if the surface on which you place your amp or preamp is going to be more or less dead than the unit itself. If more dead, as in the case of an isolation platform, use points. If less dead, as in a wooden shelf that might be part of some non-audiophile furniture, use squishys.

Points that can relieve side to side vibration without impairing vertical vibration will be superior in most cases to points that lack this ability. Examples of such are Symposium, Stillpoints and Aurios.

If you are using an equipment stand, it should be dead and non-resonant! At least one stand we know of from a well-known points manufacturer is highly resonant and makes things worse instead of better. Generally if you can tap on the stand and hear it through the speaker that is a bad thing. Sound Anchors and SRA are examples of two stands that can be quite dead.

My installation at home uses a Sound Anchors stand mounted on three Aurios Pro bearings which relieve side to side motion (and eliminated foot falls). The stand is custom-built to accommodate my preamp and turntable, both of which are perched on isolation platforms (and employing squishys between the platforms and the stand itself).

Doing these things paid off- I can play the system at really high volumes and it never sounds loud. It also helped with bass impact.