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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Re: I have never built a viola… posted by musiciseverything on October 10, 2005 at 16:36:05:
As far as uncoupling or isolating goes, probably the simplest criterion is the resonant frequency of the spring system being used. Isolation will commence at a frequency 1.4 times the resonant frequency of the spring system and improve as frequency increases. For that reason it is desirable to get the resonant frequency of the spring system as low as possible so that isolation starts as low as possible.There's endless argument here over materials and properties. You'll find the people who like heavy materials - lead fills for stands and racks, and granite/marble/stone slabs for placing things on, and then you'll find people who believe the ideal is the use of structures which are light and rigid. I have a leaning towards the light and rigid side of things but the Dynaudio stands I use for my speakers come from the heavy school and work very well with the speakers. I use a Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack which in many ways is quite light and rigid but Grand Prix Audio recommend mass loading the vertical columns. While I didn't use lead for health-related reasons, I did use a steel fill which is a bit over twice as heavy as sand and that works fine too. I think you can get success with either approach, and probably with hybrids as well, provided you know what you're doing and do it well.
There's also endless argument over the use of 'tone woods' like maple which sustain and can add their own resonance to the sound, imparting a richness that you would otherwise not get, and the use of dead materials which add little or nothing.
While one can argue endlessly over which approach is better and why, and a lot of that seems to come down to which theory you want to believe, at the end of the day we're playing with something that affects musical sound and we all have our own ideas of what that should sound like. There's an element of personal preference at play here and not everyone likes the same thing. I doubt there is any overall agreement.
And I say that knowing that a majority of people talk about 'isolation' but many seem to have no idea of what that really means since they talk about cones isolating when what they do is to couple, which is the reverse of isolation. Life might be a lot easier if we talked in general terms about 'resonace control' instead of using 'isolation' as a general term for what is going on. Then perhaps we could start to use the term 'isolation' more correctly and more uniformly and also have some kind of intelligent discussion about what we're all trying to do and even acknowledge that there is an element of personal preference in which particular result we each individually think is best.
I can't refer you to a document that gives details of the properties of various substances which are relevant to their sonic performance, nor can I even give you a list of which properties are the most important. I don't have the technical knowledge in the area to be able to do either and, as I said, I doubt there's any real agreement as to which properties/substances are better since not everyone is chasing the same result.
All I can suggest is that you take the time to experiment with a few different sorts of cones and soft footers like Vibrapods and the like, and also some of the bearing type feet, and also see if you can listen to a few systems on different sorts of racks and platforms to start to get a feel for things yourself. You should start to get a feel for things and also a feel for which style of approach you like. Then decide whether you want to try a DIY approach or simply buy commercial products that use that particular approach.
I know that sounds like a lot of effort but I really think it's worth while in the long run. If you put in a bit of time and effort you will learn a lot about what you like and which aspects of your system's sound and performance you consider are most important in advancing your enjoyment of listening to music. Not only will that help you a lot in developing your own resonant control strategy, but it's invaluable knowledge to have any time you go shopping for new components and you're trying to sort out which of a number of competing products would best fit into your system and enhance the sound of it.
David Aiken
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- Re: I have never built a viola… - David Aiken 22:17:45 10/11/05 (0)
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