Townshend seismic isolation products

[NSNO2021]

Yes Cubix cabinets are 30cm X 30cm and they are 62cm tall however RDs plate steel stands have an irregular base plate that's 30cm X 35cm and I think it's the irregular base plate that made the balancing impossible at the first attempt. I am far from giving up and I am currently playing the classic test album Kind of Blue ( I like it for timing & timbre ) with my third different type of foam. As yet I have not heard any real benefit over and above the original Vibropods, something's are slightly different but not really better.
FWIW the 3m stuff I used to fix the drivers to the cabinet's is not glue, it's an expensive pliable double sided tape or sheet, see below. I used over £100 worth doing 10 drivers and two top plates so its not for the faint hearted but I would use it again because I believe in it's benefits.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... qcHMx63Wez

[Latteman]

Stability can be improved with 2 inner tubes- one inside another- depending on your size requirements sizes range from 10” to 29” in Halfords-also the tube doesn’t have to stay round- zip ties can form any shape you require to fit your base

[antonio66]

They could easily concealed with some extra panels. WAF!!! are you a man or a mouse? "Gis a piece of cheese and I'll tell ya"

There are red lines where the main system is concerned but with the second system I compromise.

I will suck it and see with the cones and report back.

The Iso Pucks look interesting, but I am wondering what they offer over the washing machine feet which cost peanuts. Also, I was under the impression that three supports were preferable to four.

At present I'm using 3 or these (without the metal tip and and footpads) but would be interested in trying these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392296338889 ... SwbAJdQG1i

When I try the inner tube trick I will still use the cones between speaker and chopping board.

[CN211276]

I will suck it and see with the cones and report back.

Quite a difference and not for the better. The sound is thin and lacking in bass. The washing machine feet are coming back.

[karatestu]

Remember when you use two inner tubes (one inside the other) the pressure required for low resonant frequency (lower the better) will be reduced.

The inner tubes want to be inflated just enough so they keep their shape and the valve doesn't short circuit the isolation. Heavier speakers will tolerate a higher pressure before the Fs is raised too much.

[karatestu]

I will suck it and see with the cones and report back.

Quite a difference and not for the better. The sound is thin and lacking in bass. The washing machine feet are coming back.

Not much of a surprise there Clive.

[antonio66]

I will suck it and see with the cones and report back.

I found, speed, clarityl and dynamics all improved, this probably gives the impression of a slightly thinner sound but I wouldn't go back to soft and squishy isolation under them.

Quite a difference and not for the better. The sound is thin and lacking in bass. The washing machine feet are coming back.

I found, speed, clarity and dynamics all improved, this probably gives the impression of a slightly thinner sound but I wouldn't go back to soft and squishy isolation under them. Maybe moving the speakers an inch or two closer to the wall may have helped with the bass.

[antonio66]

I think, if you're decoupling with softer materials (rubber rather than wood cones or metal spikes) then the isolation used needs some way of sinking / dissipating the resonances. The isoacoustics pucks that I put under my Garrard are the only 'soft' isolation that has worked for me - but there is more going on inside the isolator (and, it appears, within the Townshend devices).

I tried the washing machine rubbers and some sorbothane domes under my Cubes and found it made things smeared and boomy (relatively speaking). I found that cones (oak or RDC) gave improved focus and better definition of bass notes.

[CN211276]

I will suck it and see with the cones and report back.

I found, speed, clarityl and dynamics all improved, this probably gives the impression of a slightly thinner sound but I wouldn't go back to soft and squishy isolation under them.

Quite a difference and not for the better. The sound is thin and lacking in bass. The washing machine feet are coming back.

I found, speed, clarity and dynamics all improved, this probably gives the impression of a slightly thinner sound but I wouldn't go back to soft and squishy isolation under them. Maybe moving the speakers an inch or two closer to the wall may have helped with the bass.

I think the issue is the surface. Wood on wood with a hollow space underneath did not work. The speakers are as far back as they will go. The washing machine feet seem to eliminate the effect of a thin wooden surface on top of a void.

[Geoff.R.G]

For the isolation to work properly there must be movement allowed otherwise it's not isolation in my book. If you can't get the resonant frequency of the system down to say below five Hertz then there is little point doing it as you won't be isolating the bass which is what gives the most vibration problem.

The Townshend products are said to have a Fs of ONE Hertz. From the pictures Lindsay posted on page1and what I have read round and about these products are little more than a carefully calculated and chosen spring (matched to the weight of the load) which is bonded inside a cup and damped with an outer sleeve to stop the spring ringing.

Inner tubes inflated to the correct pressure for the load which gives a very low resonant frequency do the same thing essentially but don't need damping. they don't look as expensive as a bling isolating platform though and are a bit harder to get things level especially if the load has the weight unevenly distributed - point & squirt speaker with heavy front baffle and drivers with heavy magnets closer to the front than the back.

I am of the opinion that it is all or nothing with this idea. Either do it right or not at all unless you want a mediocre or worse sounding outcome. Rubber mounts are all well and good but they don't do a brilliant job. Professional powered garden machinery products use isolating rubber mounts for the reduction in problems with vibration white finger. They do something but it's not enough as I have problems with my fingers in winter (the machinery still vibrated like hell).