Large brass devices on top of power amps ?

I don`t know who`s complicating anything, some components are built with thin chassis tops that could possibly benefit from mass dampening. Listener57 raised a good point regarding the detriments of over dampening, just a factor to consider that`s all.

Chalres1dad, Tpreaves also makes a good point - should any well designed piece of gear require any additional external weight to improve its performance based on vibration damping? Or is it just another product niche offering audio benefits that equipment companies can't figure out how to provide the listener for themselves? Maybe, maybe not.

It is not possible to overdamp electronics. Its that simple.

However, it **is** possible to build a system around a certain synergy, and then when the electronics are mechanically damped (which reduces a phenomena known as microphonics, known to both tubes and transistors), then the synergy of the system is altered.

IMO, its not a good idea to build a system on synergies- like using a dark sounding preamp with a bright amplifier. You really want each bit of the system to stand on its own merit. You get a more transparent, easier-to-listen-to system that way.

For my system I just bought some 5 lb weights with rubber surrounds from a big box dept store and put it on top of my CDP. I may put one on my amp or preamp for kicks to hear if it makes a difference and maybe later I'll put some dynamat or other similar material in the cases of my gear as well if I'm bored. To me it makes most sense to put some kind of mass on a CD player or source unit that produces vibrations.

I've used brass weights from Mapleshade for the last ten years, and found them to be effective in reducing vibration induced microphonics--leading what I hear to be clearer, tighter sound. Granted, and not to cause any more crazy-making obsessing (guilty: an audiophile trait), do brass weights beg the question of whether or not we're "tampering" with the carefully considered "voice" of the component? I'd be curious to hear how audio designers would perceive any change (negative or positive) to their respective gear with any type of mass loading.