CHEAP TWEAKS
DIY VIBRATION DAMPERS
My neighbor does home remodeling. A while back he was throwing out
some display boards with various colored granite and marble samples glued
to them. I hauled these boards home (no trash is safe in my
neighborhood) and removed the small slabs of rock. Each piece of rock
measures about 3 by 3 inches square by about 3/8th inch thick and weighs
about 6 ounces. I had some vague idea of using them in the stereo but
had no idea exactly how so they were left to gather dust in my garage.
The answer came this past spring while changing tubes in my preamp. I
noted, yet again, how tinny the top of the preamp sounds when tapped
with my finger and considered what could be done about it. Something
both dense and rubbery seemed like the ideal solution for this problem. At
the same time, the solution couldn’t be too heavy as the tops of most
equipment that would benefit from this damping are just stamped sheet
metal. And then I remembered the pile of samples sitting on my bench.
Eureka!
What I have done is attach some waffle-patterned anti-vibration material
made for use under power tools to the unfinished side of each little slab
using rubber cement. I know. It looks just like the stuff sold for lining
kitchen drawers. It probably is the same stuff, just sold in black to appeal
to the male shopper. Anyway, it has a nice rubbery quality to it and a great
deal of grip; it is going to stay in place.
Tapping on the top of my preamp, transport, or bass amp before and after
applying these blocks results in a subjectively “deader” response with them
in place. There is less of a tinny component in the resulting sound and
more of a “thump.” I have put these on top of just about every
component, including the Perpetual Technologies pair, operating on the
theory that the mass of these blocks combined with their rubbery grip
should damp higher frequency vibrations. Obviously, they are not suitable
for anything that gets hot; they are not over the preamp’s tubes.
While including these in the system hasn’t made an obvious change in my
system’s overall sound, the fact that they do quiet sheet metal panels
makes me feel that it is worthwhile to continue to play with them. There
were a lot of them on those boards so I am using from 2 to 5 per
component based on the area that needs to be damped. (I have also
experimented with these blocks as footers with inconclusive results. Did I
mention that I had a lot of them?)
The larger question of whether sheet metal panels actually vibrate in any
way that is verifiably detrimental to the sound and, even if they do, does
damping these vibrations provide any solution can’t really be answered, at
least by me. Still it’s a cheap tweak that does not appear to do any harm.
While most readers probably can’t depend on their neighbor’s trash to
provide a set of blocks to play with, experimenting with similar cheap found
materials such as tiles, glass, metal, even actual rocks may be worthwhile.
Drawer liner is cheap. Some rubber cement, some time spent cutting
drawer liner, and maybe some sonic benefits. Try it and see.
Kent Johnson
November 2, 2005
DIY VIBRATION DAMPERS
My neighbor does home remodeling. A while back he was throwing out
some display boards with various colored granite and marble samples glued
to them. I hauled these boards home (no trash is safe in my
neighborhood) and removed the small slabs of rock. Each piece of rock
measures about 3 by 3 inches square by about 3/8th inch thick and weighs
about 6 ounces. I had some vague idea of using them in the stereo but
had no idea exactly how so they were left to gather dust in my garage.
The answer came this past spring while changing tubes in my preamp. I
noted, yet again, how tinny the top of the preamp sounds when tapped
with my finger and considered what could be done about it. Something
both dense and rubbery seemed like the ideal solution for this problem. At
the same time, the solution couldn’t be too heavy as the tops of most
equipment that would benefit from this damping are just stamped sheet
metal. And then I remembered the pile of samples sitting on my bench.
Eureka!
What I have done is attach some waffle-patterned anti-vibration material
made for use under power tools to the unfinished side of each little slab
using rubber cement. I know. It looks just like the stuff sold for lining
kitchen drawers. It probably is the same stuff, just sold in black to appeal
to the male shopper. Anyway, it has a nice rubbery quality to it and a great
deal of grip; it is going to stay in place.
Tapping on the top of my preamp, transport, or bass amp before and after
applying these blocks results in a subjectively “deader” response with them
in place. There is less of a tinny component in the resulting sound and
more of a “thump.” I have put these on top of just about every
component, including the Perpetual Technologies pair, operating on the
theory that the mass of these blocks combined with their rubbery grip
should damp higher frequency vibrations. Obviously, they are not suitable
for anything that gets hot; they are not over the preamp’s tubes.
While including these in the system hasn’t made an obvious change in my
system’s overall sound, the fact that they do quiet sheet metal panels
makes me feel that it is worthwhile to continue to play with them. There
were a lot of them on those boards so I am using from 2 to 5 per
component based on the area that needs to be damped. (I have also
experimented with these blocks as footers with inconclusive results. Did I
mention that I had a lot of them?)
The larger question of whether sheet metal panels actually vibrate in any
way that is verifiably detrimental to the sound and, even if they do, does
damping these vibrations provide any solution can’t really be answered, at
least by me. Still it’s a cheap tweak that does not appear to do any harm.
While most readers probably can’t depend on their neighbor’s trash to
provide a set of blocks to play with, experimenting with similar cheap found
materials such as tiles, glass, metal, even actual rocks may be worthwhile.
Drawer liner is cheap. Some rubber cement, some time spent cutting
drawer liner, and maybe some sonic benefits. Try it and see.
Kent Johnson
November 2, 2005
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