Being so new to this hobby, and seeing how reaction to opinions sometime results in soul crushing blowback, I fear what may come from what I am about to say. I do have insight on this topic that comes from a background of constructing hospitals, research labs and computational spaces and I too am very interested in making the music sound as pleasing as possible. And that is why I started reading this forum. To seek the knowledge of those that have come before.
I am not an academic but have long worked with engineers, architects, and acousticians. Vibration and sound control is a huge battle for these professionals as they care for environmental control that effect patient well being in hospitals and sensitive equipment in lab spaces.
Around 45% of a construction budget is for the infrastructure that is above ceilings, behind walls, and in mechanical spaces that are seldom seen. The equipment used generates vast amounts of noise and vibration that are not constant. Motors, fans, pumps, electrical gear, etc. cycling on and off as demand shifts throughout the day. Spaces within buildings meant to be quiet are sometimes adjacent and present acoustical challenges that must be dealt with. Where to start?
For large pieces of equipment with motors mechanical engineers turn to base isolation. The equipment is bolted to a frame built from suitable material and springs that dampen torque during start up and control vibration during operation. Typically there is a concrete pad under the isolater that is sitting above the floor slab. This approach takes care of most issues however if the need is greater control of the resonating acoustics from vibration enter our best friend, mass. Thicken the concrete pad, further spreading the load, and increase the ability of the supporting framing members and sound transmission diminishes, but is never eliminated.
That takes care of the big stuff, almost. The adjacent spaces may feel less vibration but standard partitions are transferring far too much noise. More mass please! Adding layers of drywall on both sides of the wall stud, adding a wall in front of a wall, insulation inside the walls all are used in combination as needed. Similar acoustical treatment of walls is often necessary for an office space when quiet is needed for long periods of concentration. In larger conference rooms surface mounted wall treatments are often an additional part of the solution.
This is beginning to get deep in the weeds but I am coming to a point.
The bench microscope doesn't hear anything but if vibrations are all around it is rendered useless. Add mass. A heavy countertop will do a better job than lighter materials. However the counter is fixed to a base cabinet and the cabinet is anchored to the floor and the building still has vibration. There is a final decoupling that must happen if we are after optimal results.
Going back to equipment for a final look. Base isolation works well, we know that, but if something weighs say 100-200 pounds it is cost prohibitive to purchase and install those. There is a very effective solution that is used in those applications when the equipment is either sensitive to or produces mild vibration Our speakers are similar to the latter.
My speakers came with a platform and large spikes with sturdy bolts. Very solid point loaded foundation. After accidentally bumping the platform I was left with a deep gouge in the 100 year old inlayed hardwood floor. I spoke expletives and nearly teared. I inverted the spikes so that would never happen again but this forum left me asking did I compromise anything doing so. Here I learned springs were the common go to so I ordered some and patiently await their arrival.
While waiting, thinking has gotten in the way and I started reflecting back on what I have learned over the years about this topic. Some of which is summarized above haha.
We need mass number one. The more the better. But our houses are not built from inferior materials for the levels of vibration we are dealing with. A slab foundation IS mass and quite capable of reducing most of the resonance generated from speakers (I am also suggesting we need as much mass as possible for our components to rest on). Wood frame houses are not as good at this but do have mass enough to work with.
In what seems like a lifetime ago, my youth, so really it was, we used to pile magazines or large books under our speakers to decouple them. Originally I was just trying to get above the shag carpet and didn't realize there would be a SQ improvement. Worked well enough for the money I had in those days.
So finally the end. If I want more mass for my speakers to rest on, fine, but not really as important. I want to spread the load not point it. I nearly purchased industrial granite slabs to sit on my wood floors to solve both points above but didn't want to deal with the 200 lbs. of weight for each piece. Spreading the load means removing the spikes and using the platform only with a decoupler. In the end I went with the same material used for lighter equipment and microscopes to decouple from always present vibrations. Commercial grade neoprene. The results were very surprising.
Once the spring style approach arrives I'll have a small A/B party.
--Jerry
I am not an academic but have long worked with engineers, architects, and acousticians. Vibration and sound control is a huge battle for these professionals as they care for environmental control that effect patient well being in hospitals and sensitive equipment in lab spaces.
Around 45% of a construction budget is for the infrastructure that is above ceilings, behind walls, and in mechanical spaces that are seldom seen. The equipment used generates vast amounts of noise and vibration that are not constant. Motors, fans, pumps, electrical gear, etc. cycling on and off as demand shifts throughout the day. Spaces within buildings meant to be quiet are sometimes adjacent and present acoustical challenges that must be dealt with. Where to start?
For large pieces of equipment with motors mechanical engineers turn to base isolation. The equipment is bolted to a frame built from suitable material and springs that dampen torque during start up and control vibration during operation. Typically there is a concrete pad under the isolater that is sitting above the floor slab. This approach takes care of most issues however if the need is greater control of the resonating acoustics from vibration enter our best friend, mass. Thicken the concrete pad, further spreading the load, and increase the ability of the supporting framing members and sound transmission diminishes, but is never eliminated.
That takes care of the big stuff, almost. The adjacent spaces may feel less vibration but standard partitions are transferring far too much noise. More mass please! Adding layers of drywall on both sides of the wall stud, adding a wall in front of a wall, insulation inside the walls all are used in combination as needed. Similar acoustical treatment of walls is often necessary for an office space when quiet is needed for long periods of concentration. In larger conference rooms surface mounted wall treatments are often an additional part of the solution.
This is beginning to get deep in the weeds but I am coming to a point.
The bench microscope doesn't hear anything but if vibrations are all around it is rendered useless. Add mass. A heavy countertop will do a better job than lighter materials. However the counter is fixed to a base cabinet and the cabinet is anchored to the floor and the building still has vibration. There is a final decoupling that must happen if we are after optimal results.
Going back to equipment for a final look. Base isolation works well, we know that, but if something weighs say 100-200 pounds it is cost prohibitive to purchase and install those. There is a very effective solution that is used in those applications when the equipment is either sensitive to or produces mild vibration Our speakers are similar to the latter.
My speakers came with a platform and large spikes with sturdy bolts. Very solid point loaded foundation. After accidentally bumping the platform I was left with a deep gouge in the 100 year old inlayed hardwood floor. I spoke expletives and nearly teared. I inverted the spikes so that would never happen again but this forum left me asking did I compromise anything doing so. Here I learned springs were the common go to so I ordered some and patiently await their arrival.
While waiting, thinking has gotten in the way and I started reflecting back on what I have learned over the years about this topic. Some of which is summarized above haha.
We need mass number one. The more the better. But our houses are not built from inferior materials for the levels of vibration we are dealing with. A slab foundation IS mass and quite capable of reducing most of the resonance generated from speakers (I am also suggesting we need as much mass as possible for our components to rest on). Wood frame houses are not as good at this but do have mass enough to work with.
In what seems like a lifetime ago, my youth, so really it was, we used to pile magazines or large books under our speakers to decouple them. Originally I was just trying to get above the shag carpet and didn't realize there would be a SQ improvement. Worked well enough for the money I had in those days.
So finally the end. If I want more mass for my speakers to rest on, fine, but not really as important. I want to spread the load not point it. I nearly purchased industrial granite slabs to sit on my wood floors to solve both points above but didn't want to deal with the 200 lbs. of weight for each piece. Spreading the load means removing the spikes and using the platform only with a decoupler. In the end I went with the same material used for lighter equipment and microscopes to decouple from always present vibrations. Commercial grade neoprene. The results were very surprising.
Once the spring style approach arrives I'll have a small A/B party.
--Jerry