Coupling vs Decouplling: What you need to know

[John Jordan]

Interesting Stephen!

So if I am to correctly understand all so far, the cork pads may work better than the AVP's?

I am also wondering how the maple board directly on the shelf (no pads or wood blocks under neath) might fare. Ultimately just having the pads under neither the component itself.

You sir really have the gears turning with your recent threads.
I Like simple DIY tweaks!

Thanks!!!

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by John Jordan

Interesting Stephen!

So if I am to correctly understand all so far, the cork pads may work better than the AVP's?

I am also wondering how the maple board directly on the shelf (no pads or wood blocks under neath) might fare. Ultimately just having the pads under neither the component itself.

You sir really have the gears turning with your recent threads.
I Like simple DIY tweaks!

Thanks!!!

Hi John, I haven't done the experiment described above with just the cork & rubber pads, so I can't say. Maybe I'll do that comparo.

And yes, I have thought about putting the maple board directly on the shelf with no pads.

Actually, what might work better is to have some beeswax cloth under the maple board resting directly on the audio rack shelf. This would provide a constrained layer between the shelf and the maple board.

FWIW, I use beeswax cloth under my Harbeth speakers between the speaker cabinet and the Resonont Woods stands to very good effect.

[Puma Cat]

Got some Electronic Vibration Pads in from Norm Varney at A/V Roomservice. Shown here is a plot of imparted vibration from my home-made slide hammer onto my audio rack, with the iPhone running Vibsensor on top of the Gumby DAC.

Red are Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfoot footer under Gumby, and the blue are the EVPs under Gumby.

[Audiophilehi]

Wow Stephen....it appears those EVP footers are pretty darn impressive.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi

Wow Stephen....it appears those EVP footers are pretty darn impressive.

Yes, they very, very impressive. And, they are inexpensive. Each footer is only $45.

You can get them here: http://avroomservice.com/store/

There are technical papers about them here: http://avroomservice.com/wp-content/...Data-Sheet.pdf

and here: http://avroomservice.com/wp-content/...Spec-Sheet.pdf

Norm Varney of A/V Roomservice really knows what he's doing, and his entire business and professional experience is in the discipline of acoustics. He built one of Robert Harley's dedicated listening rooms, for example. He even manufactures a paint that provides....constrained layer damping (not "dampening", which is to make something moist).

Now, check this out...comparing the stock rubber feet on my Schiit Gumby to the Herbies Tenderfeet and the EVPs.



I will also be putting up a video of them on my little music box mechanism (see my YouTube video in this forum about that). They are incredibly quiet with the music box mech on top of them.

I listened to them under the DAC last night compared to the Tenderfeet. They made a notable improvement, the presentation and instrumental and vocal images were clearer and more focused, kind of like applying an Unsharp Mask to a photograph in Photoshop. This made the sonic picture "sharper" but in a very natural and accurate way, but not "over-sharpened" (this is why I used the Unsharp Mask analogy). Also, the presentation had a notable increase in perceived loudness, so I actually had to turn the volume down; I always find this a good attribute as it means I can hear more deeply into presentation at lower gain, which tells me that a layer of noise and grunge has been removed.

Oh, also, they are supposed to be even more effective under loudspeakers and turntables, devices that are maximally impacted by vibration and movement.

Will be ordering more of these, for sure. They are inexpensive and they appear to work very, very well.

Cheers, and thanks for weighing in.

[Audiophilehi]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Yes, they very, very impressive. And, they are inexpensive. Each footer is only $45.

You can get them here: http://avroomservice.com/store/

There are technical papers about them here: http://avroomservice.com/wp-content/...Data-Sheet.pdf

and here: http://avroomservice.com/wp-content/...Spec-Sheet.pdf

Norm Varney of A/V Roomservice really knows what he's doing, and his entire business and professional experience is in the discipline of acoustics. He built one of Robert Harley's dedicated listening rooms, for example. He even manufactures a paint that provides....constrained layer damping (not "dampening", which is to make something moist).

Now, check this out...comparing the stock rubber feet on my Schiit Gumby to the Herbies Tenderfeet and the EVPs.



I will also be putting up a video of them on my little music box mechanism (see my YouTube video in this forum about that). They are incredibly quiet with the music box mech on top of them.

I listened to them under the DAC last night compared to the Tenderfeet. They made a notable improvement, the presentation and instrumental and vocal images were clearer and more focused, kind of like applying an Unsharp Mask to a photograph in Photoshop. This made the sonic picture "sharper" but in a very natural and accurate way, but not "over-sharpened" (this is why I used the Unsharp Mask analogy). Also, the presentation had a notable increase in perceived loudness, so I actually had to turn the volume down; I always find this a good attribute as it means I can hear more deeply into presentation at lower gain, which tells me that a layer of noise and grunge has been removed.

Oh, also, they are supposed to be even more effective under loudspeakers and turntables, devices that are maximally impacted by vibration and movement.

Will be ordering more of these, for sure. They are inexpensive and they appear to work very, very well.

Cheers, and thanks for weighing in.

Thanks Stephen...for the price I’ll definitely be giving them a try. I’d like to see how the stack up against my IsoAcoustics.

Do you happen to have the link to the video?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi

Thanks Stephen...for the price I’ll definitely be giving them a try. I’d like to see how the stack up against my IsoAcoustics.

Do you happen to have the link to the video?

Hi Paul!

Ha! No, I don't have a link to the video because I haven't shot it yet! LOL.

I will try to do that this afternoon and put it up. You can also find an introductory video I made a week ago in another post in this specific forum.

Yeah, I would love to know how the EVPs stack with respect to the IsoAcoustics in particular, because I've thought about buying those also. So, if you get some EVPs and can compare/contrast to the IsoAcoustics Orea or GAIA footers, please feel free to post your findings here 'cause I'd love to know, too.

BTW, for the graphs I posted of vibration, I measure the vibration imparted by using a home-made slide hammer and measure the vibration as Power, RMS by using the VibSensor app on the iPhone. I've found it to be excellent, very well-done, and most importantly, to provide repeatible and reproducible data.

Cheers and stay tuned, buddy!

[antipop]

Very impressive result and I may try them before going a more expensive route.

It would be interesting to do the same test with Stillpoints and other footers

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by antipop

Very impressive result and I may try them before going a more expensive route.

It would be interesting to do the same test with Stillpoints and other footers

I agree, but I don't have any Stillpoints and other footers, nor the budget to buy them (I'm a retired guy who needs to manage his monthly cash flow ).

If someone wants to loan me a set of Stillpoint or IsoAcoustics Oreas, etc., to do add into the study, I would welcome the opportunity for analyzing their performance as well.

I did another demo with an audio buddy that came over yesterday, and again we both observed a notable improvement in the sound quality from installing the EVPs under the DAC. My friend said that installing the EVPs under that DAC was close to a component-level upgrade.

[antipop]

I just ordered 23 footers! It’s about the same price as 1 Gingko platform.

If I wasn’t in the UK I would mail you my stillpoint so you can do your comparison though I only have the minis