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Racquetball isolation platform perfection

Racquetball isolation platform perfection ... and DIY style to boot ! Thought I'd share with you my experiment that turned out working perfectly in my system.
Basically I copied a Ginko Cloud platform using $5 worth of racquetballs from Wal Mart and some 1/2" Birch plywood. I used a specialty grinding stone from a local tool store that makes a perfect 1.5" concave in the wood. Cinched it up in my drill press and drilled it down about 1.5" in from every corner, and went down about 3/8" deep. It's allows the balls to move back and forth by about a half inch, and when the top platform is added the CD player simply " floats " on top. just like an original Ginko. This EASILY bested several different cones I have in my collection, a set of Isonodes, a set of Symposium Rollerblocks, and a innertube isolation platform.

Total cost ? $15.

The bass is the tightest and most defined I have ever had in my current system. It made amazing amounts of good things happen under my Lexicon RT-20.

Try it for yourself, it was a winner in my system.
timtim

Showing 5 responses by timtim

timtim OP
84 posts
 
Racquetballs turn vibrational energy into heat VERY well. Those who know this are listening with a grin :-)
timtim OP
84 posts
 
Stanwal : Thanks for your input. I'm a little leery of using anything heavier for my platform material. Here's why: I have some lead weight bags from a dive shop, and tried weighting down the source sitting on the racquetball platform I made. No amount of weight I tried improved anything, but it did take away dynamics and make the bass more bloated. It may just be that my system found that lucky " perfect spot " exactly as I have it, or it could be that the birch plywood is acting as a constrained layer shelf itself and killing some of the vibrations before they get to the racquetballs. Ginko themselves use a lightweight plexi material.
I will however buy a few more racquetballs and make some small slices in them to see exactly how that works. At that point though, there are no more air bladders, just absorbtive material. I'll report back..
timtim OP
84 posts
 
Hi Bob,
I considered using different balls, but after doing some research online, I found where a university science and engineering class did a research study on the properties of racquetballs. While this covered literally EVERY property imagineable, it was especially interesting when they studied what happens when a racquetball compresses or bounces. They found, and proved with some sort of seismic looking computer readouts, that the bouncing or compressing is converted almost entirely to heat ..... This is exactly what you want any isolation or coupling system to do ... Convert energy to a non interfering form of energy. This is probably why Gingko has such success with their products. I've tried several different isolation materials ( wood, lead, ect ) and all of them killed my system's dynamics and inner detail.
Just some food for thought.
timtim OP
84 posts
 
Oh ... my ... lord. Have you ever crapped all over my well intentioned thread with your eggshell egos and childish need to get the last word in.
Regardless, I have now placed the same isolation under my 70lb integrated, and have heard even more good things, regardless of what generation you may think I am stuck in ... LOL
timtim OP
84 posts
 
Well, it's not really a big deal. At least you guys stayed civil for the most part ..LOL
I just hate to have a thread written off as useless, when the original tweak has done so much good in my system.
So let me throw out a few more thoughts: While there is a TON of BS hype in the world of audio tweak advertising, Gingko has labratory results to back up their cloud platforms. They even have shown real time vibration comparison results on HUGE screens at national A/V events. Take a look at their website for real world experiments with empirical data to prove it.
I think we "audiophiles" sometimes keep looking for the next great thing, when in truth it's already been tried, proven to be successful, and passed over in our over zealousness. The platform under my Lexicon is literally night and day, by a huge margin, and with ZERO psychoacoustic mentality muddling things. Yes ... I have done blind listening comparisons with my family and friends, even if they did think it excessive .. LOL
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