Vibration control, hardwood floor, subwoofer.


Hey folks.

Got a question....

Gonna be putting together a surround setup in my new house, got all the equipment picked out, just waiting to move before i get it.

Doing something kind of tricky here so stay with me, it is kind of wierd, and i'm looking for advise.

The Goal is to have a 47in HDTV flanked by AV racks of identical height that completly hide the gear AND subwoofer (WAF) while allowing it to breath, function with remotes while hidden, and to STILL have the displays visable. I have hardwood floors so spikes are pretty much outta the question

I had to make some comprimises to get the fiancee to agree to the gear i plan to buy, she wants small stuff, out of the way. I want big powerful sound.

Gonna have 5 identical monitors, 1 on top of each av-rack, 1 on the tv, and 2 for surround.

Gonna get a Definitive Technology Supercube I, which has to be hidden (WAF requirements, buyn what you want, i want to hear it but NOT SEE IT)

Either way. since the fiancee doesent want to see lots of audio gear, the AV racks are going to be a little bit strange

the left rack will have drawers on the bottom, with 3 shelfs for AV gear on top. It will be open-air but it will also have speaker grill cloth wrapped around the sides with a door in the front with the same cloth.
IR remotes DO pass through it. The displays for the gear are also visable enough to read through the cloth, so the only time you will see the gear is if you open the door to change the DVD/CD, WHen everything is off, the gear will all be hidden. While the door is closed, in lower light the displays are almost perfectly ledgible through it. I messed a little with this idea last night and it is a pretty cool effect.

The right stand is going to be very similar, however, the bottom of the rack will be totally open except for speaker grill cloth wrapped around it and i plan to place the supercube on the floor beneath that rack. There will be drawers in the middle, The only gear on that rack will be a seldom used VCR and cable box on the top once again with a speaker-cloth door and sides to keep them hidden.

All in all i think the effect is gonna be real cool. The funny thing is my fiancee loves the idea, which is odd, cause she diddnt want large floor stander speakers, and that is EXACTLY what the AV racks will resemble. hahahaha

Anyway, Im trying to learn what i can about vibration control. I have plenty of marble, granite, and slate slabs that i can rest the subwoofer on. I want to prevent the AV rack from rattling and vibrating when the 1.5KW amplifier really opens up.

The sub will NOT be in contact with the rack, but beneath it.
Any reccommendations to prevent the sub's vibrations from vibrating the hell outta that rack? As i said, the only AV gear on that rack will be a Cable-Box and seldom used VCR.
slappy
But even with floor protectors, the sub will be vibrating the floor, and everything on it. That's why I recommended isolating the sub from the floor.

jd
Jdombrow

Yer talking about those little rubber balls that come in those 25cent machines at the store right? drop em and they bounce 1000 feet in the air?

I was actually considering that, I was thinking of using them beneath a chunk of marble with the subwoofer on top of it with spikes. Maybe i will skip the spikes and use the ball pieces on both sides.

It works pretty good?

The CD player and DVD player will be on the left-hand rack on the opposite side of the TV, about 7 feet away. I was hoping that would help out as well.
What I did for my Velodyne on a suspended hardwood floor was to spike the sub and have it setting on a 2' square slab of slate. I have those $10/4 cork&rubber square blocks under the slate to isolate the it from the floor and obsorb the vibration. The bass is tight and the only thing rocking is me! Regards, Robin
IS the house built on a slab or does it have a basement or crawl space. With either of the latter two, I suggest you place floor jacks directly below the subs to quell the floor shaking. You can get them at home depot. relatively inexpensive. I just put them up in my 4 ft crawl space. The sub sounds much tighter and stronger now, and it completely stopped the vibes to my equipment rack and turntable. Huge difference for small price. If on concrete, then you will have to stop the vibes within the room versus below the room.