Tweakers' Asylum

Sorbothane , Cork , Spikes & Related Things

99.108.125.253

IEaudiodude

OK I have to ask , In what applications would Sorbothane dampen "to well" or or not enough ? amps ? preamps ? Solid State , tubes , turntables, CD players, DAC's ? It's almost as confusing as using spikes to couple or decouple, pads under spikes pennies under spikes etc. It makes my head spin sometimes. :^)

Follow Ups:

Every material has a resonant frequency. Above this frequency, it absorbs and turns to heat - Norm 07:34:37 07/13/12 (4)
Below that it amplifies! Everything depends on what you are trying to do. Dealing with footfalls versus acoustic feedback require different resonance frequencies.

In my opinion you need something with no resonant frequency that absorbs motion. This is not easy or cheap. Otherwise trial and error is all you have to go by. In my experience, soft materials sound awful.
- Technical information (Open in New Window)
- soft materials sound awful. ...x2 - Dynobot 06:28:37 07/14/12 (3)
  Sure do....
  I also think that if harder materials are used such as spikes, feet etc. they need to be securely coupled to the gear for full benefit.
  
  Dynobots Audio
  Music is the Bridge between Heaven and Earth - 音楽は天国と地球のかけ橋
  
  Edits: 07/14/12
  - Herbie's Audio Lab's compliant materials... - Duster 14:46:49 07/18/12 (1)
    Howdy Dynobot,
    "soft materials sound awful."
    Please explain. IME, I find Herbie's Audio Lab's compliant products such as grungebuster and dBNeutralizer materials to be very useful, especially when implemented in conjunction with non-compliant materials such as rigid shelves, platforms, cones, spikes, balls, coupling discs, otherwise hard footers, and various resonant interfaces, without sounding in any way "awful", to my ear. Even so, a Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfoot in its own right does not sound awful, as well.
    just my 2 cents ;-)
    Cheers, Duster
    
    Edits: 07/18/12
    - RE: Herbie's Audio Lab's compliant materials... - bradluke0 08:57:48 07/22/12 (0)
      Hi all ! This tweaking thing has sure come full circle . Not many years ago people were strung up by their feet by saying tweaks are audible . My good friend Mike Vansevers was right the whole time . Of course we all knew he was as we would spend hours at his place trying different wire , wood blocks , tunable power cords , etc . This sure is a crazy hobby .
  - I cannot embrace this entirely. - Norm 08:49:21 07/15/12 (0)
    The Stillpoints Ultra SSs and Ultra Fives in many cases sound better when not threaded tightly to speakers or to their Component Stands under amps and turntables. Typically I just place spikes, etc. without mounting under component, because they sound better in some locations than others. To do this requires complete flexibility in where they go under the component.
Well, there was a Sorbothane puck for LPs, way.... too much damping, mucked up the sound. - cfb 05:49:32 07/12/12 (4)
Sucked the life and dynamics right out of the turntable system. Tried it with SOTA Cosmos, VPI 19 and Thorens, had the same bad character with all of them.
- Eggs ackly. I cut mine up and made shoe inserts out of it. Nt - geoffkait 10:04:00 07/12/12 (0)
  Nt
- RE: Well, there was a Sorbothane puck for LPs, way.... too much damping, mucked up the sound. - moray james 08:41:28 07/12/12 (0)
  try a small lunch baggie with 450 grams of salt or sand and a twist tie. if you like it you can find some very thin kid leather and make a nice bag. you can have an assortment of these bags of different weights for different album weights or for warped disks which need some help to lay flat. the sand provides weight as with a metal weight or clamp but more importantly it damps which a solid device does not. Best regards Moray James.
  moray james
- RE: Well, there was a Sorbothane puck for LPs, way.... too much damping, mucked up the sound. - IEaudiodude 07:20:51 07/12/12 (1)
  Are you talking a Sorbothane record mat? I have heard exactly what you described about that item.
  - I remember those but this was like a hockey puck 1-1/2 inches thick went over the spindle like a clamp. - cfb 16:03:11 07/13/12 (0)
    Both of those products just did not work very well at all. As I said far too much damping for that situation. Not to mention after a few years Sorbothane tends to break down what a mess, hard as hell to clean up. In this case however, it was the very short lived Sorbothane tube dampers. Oh, they worked great at killing any tube microphonics better than silicone or Teflon can but they can't take the heat nor could they last long.
RE: Sorbothane , Cork , Spikes & Related Things - Dynobot 17:45:21 07/11/12 (0)
No hard-fast rules.

Mostly you use what you have the best results with through trial and error. After some time you gain enough experience to determine what will work best under what gear, or better yet what a specific piece of gear might need.

Purchase some inexpensive products and try them. You might start to hear some common characteristics from cork for example.

My only rule of thumb is, not all gear needs damping or isolation. And if a piece of gear is susceptible to vibrations I usually use a combination of...Damping, Isolation, and Coupling.

Isolate from the outside environment.
Dampen internal components to protect from self-vibrations
Couple to change the resonant frequency

Dynobots Audio
Music is the Bridge between Heaven and Earth - 音楽は天国と地球のかけ橋

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