Vibration Theory - Isolate or Drain?


Given that a CD Player or Transport has quite a bit of internally generated energy from the motor, is it best ti deal with vibration issues by coupling the player to a surface with spikes or cones? or decouple the player from the surface beneath it with spongy materials? Any consensus on the best approach here?
pubul57
i use only absorptive, soft materials under components.

my product of choice is a polyurethane-based sound booster.

i use 4 per component. the durometer varies with the weight of the component.

my second choice is furniture foam. my digital components are sitting on furniture foam.
Its as if your gear in a mechanical sense is all cap coupled from the inside to the outside environment and back again. In some worlds cap coupled is the color of the day. So called isolation devices are indeed crayons from some kids tool box. Tom

Uh....what?
Cruz,

Thanks for asking..

So called mechanical isolation is a kin to cap coupling in electronics. Cap design and their material makeup are coloration devices as are materials and geometry chosen to make so called isolation devices. All of these are filters of sorts and there is no such thing as a perfect filter anymore than isolation is perfect or even possible except in the absence of matter. Because isolation is not possible...I have in my system applied extensive resonance grounding methods to all my components. I have dis carded all soft materials and replaced them with hard materials that are then mechanically grounded to the higher mass of the floor. Mechanical resonance drain..I find these methods very realistic and musical..
I use both methods and they both work, but do not sound the same. I have not had good results with rubber or Sorbathane [sp?] to the same degree. For instance when I took the rubber feet off VPI turntable motors and replaced them with small brass cones it improved the sound; also replaceing the stock feet with their rubber washers with solid brass cones was a large improvement.
"All of these are filters of sorts and there is no such thing as a perfect filter anymore than isolation is perfect or even possible except in the absence of matter. "

Hmmmm....that would probably explain the proliferation of vibration isolation devices for audio applications in the past 12 years.

LOL