Amplifier Platforms - Why ?
 

So I’m curious as to the reason or purpose of having a dedicated platform/stand
for your amplifier. What’s the benefits that they offer over a good old fashioned low profile table?

Bob

They mitigate the imparting of vibration to the amplifier, which it's components (transistors, diodes, caps, resistors, tubes, etc) do not like. My guess is the transfomers don't like it much, either.

For example, even the insulator (dielectric) for the wiring can induce triboelectric noise imparted by vibration.

For digital components, for example, the crystal oscillators in the clocks are VERY sensitive to vibration.

You should also elevate your cables of the floor, as well, in particular, the speaker cables (SPs) and power cables (PCs) are sensitive to floor-borne vibration. I used think cable elevators were a bunch of hoo-ha. Boy, was I WRONG on that one....yikes.

Cable elevators for SPs as shown...

With respect to components, my Lumin P1 shown (L middle rack shelf) is resting on it's own footers (Lumin is good at this) on a 3-layer IKEA Aptitlig bamboo platform resting on Herbie's Audio Labs Tenderfoot footer. The Aptitlig cutting board platform has bamboo with the grain running in three alternating orientations. Turns out bamboo is one of the best materials for damping vibration, and the IKEA Aptitlig cutting boards are only ~$20/each. Same applies to the Altaira stack that is also on it's own Aptitlig platform. Lots of audio guys use Aptitlig boards as a very cost-effective vibration damping platform. The Altairas also have Shunyata's optional SSF-38 footers installed, which have exceptional impulse transfer speed, so they transfer vibration away from the Altaira VERY quickly, before it can have an impact on audio quality. Thes are the best footers for Altaira.

The Constellation Inspiration integrated on the rock maple platform rests on the HRS Nimbus couplers, which are very effective at damping vibration.

https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...ion-and-P1.jpg

They look nice.
They prevent you from hitting your $$$$ amps with the vacuum cleaner.
If used on carpeted floors, they ensure the ventilation for your amp works as designed.

Thanks all. Looks like I have some shopping to do. Any recommendations?

I recently bought an amp stand from Monoprice for about $60. It was assembled quickly, it's level and very sturdy--surprisingly so. I even noticed an improvement in sound after putting my amp on it. Unless you want a stand specifically designed to keep vibrations away from the amp, which would cost considerably more, I recommend the Monoprice stand.

Tom

IKEA Aptitlig bamboo cutting boards. 20 bucks. I'm tellin' ya...

Whatever you set your amps on will change how they sound. The goal is to avert the influence of floor borne vibration from entering into the amp and to provide a path for internal vibration (energy) to 'do work', to use itself up, turning into heat. Ideally you want to redluce the resonance frequency of the amp to a point below where its effect is outside the audible range.

The vast majority of inexpensive amp stands will get your equipment off the floor but are not designed to do any real resonance control or vibration mitigation and, more likely than not, they will add coloration in one form or another.

You will likely hear a difference in sound so you will find that amp stands have an effect -- whether that reveals a more realistic sound, more of what the equipment designer intended or not is the question.

If you want an effective amp stand, its design intent should be in line with the goals laid out above. Most manufacturers will claim their product reduces vibration. Make them prove it to you.

Serious brands include Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS), Critical Mass Systems (CMS) and my favorite, Silent Running Audio (SRA).

These issues are discussed in this review:

Silent Running Audio – Virginia-Class Reference isoBASE

Tima - good points. Yes, anyone claiming vibration damping should provide measurements (it is easy and inexpensive to do, folks do it everyday). I recall Stephen (Puma-Cat) did that in his home set-up (correct?)

But don't underestimate wood! Great at vibration damping (and extensively studied).


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34576504/

Yup! I used an iPhone app called VibSensor and measured Power, RMS imparted to the component (in this case, my Schiit Gungnir DAC) from a "slide hammer". The slide hammer was a socket on a bolt with a nut to precisely and reproducably fix the distance of the drop of the socket onto the rack shelf precisely (to remove variance). I simply raised the socket up to the stop nut, and let it drop onto the head of the bolt resting on the shelf, and then plotted the vibration imparted to the iPhone resting on the DAC.

Here's the Z Dimension vibration data from VibSensor plotted in JMP as Power, RMS from 0 to 50 Hz. The stock Schiit feet were the worst, and the very affordable Herbie's "Tenderfeet" (red trace) did quite well given their price, but Norm Varney's EVPs (blue trace) were the most effective by far. DVT were the rubber and "blue rubber" Diversitech anti-vibration pads. I'd love to do this test with IsoAcoustics footers, but I don't have any around, and unfortunately, VibSensor is no longer available as an app.

https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...%20footers.jpg

The data is clear, though, in showing that Norm's EVPs are the most effective, by far...none of others are even close.

Yes, measurements can provide information. When measuring it is the combination of the specific component on the platform that counts. Whatever you set a component on will change the resonance frequency of both objects. Vibrations at the resonance frequency of the component will increase the amplitude of vibration in the component. Multiple frequencies of vibration impact the component simultaneously and no single material (wood, whatever) is capable of handling multiple frequencies in terms of both damping and isolation. Thus the frequent use of constrained layer construction with a multi-purpose design: impede external vibration from entering the component (for example, from the floor) while providing a mechanism for vibration within the component to convert from mechanical energy to heat.

Imo the final proof comes with listening.