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Post by brucew268 on Mar 25, 2023 10:43:05 GMT
I find myself moving toward the conclusion that silicone is not your audio friend. Each time I remove silicone hemisphere feet on a component and replace with cork, it sounds a bit more natural. Not ready for a hard and fast conclusion yet, but....
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Mar 25, 2023 10:47:07 GMT
I find myself moving toward the conclusion that silicone is not your audio friend. Each time I remove silicone hemisphere feet on a component and replace with cork, it sounds a bit more natural. Not ready for a hard and fast conclusion yet, but.... Silicone or Sorbothane? Just for clarity |
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Post by brucew268 on Mar 25, 2023 11:20:50 GMT
I find myself moving toward the conclusion that silicone is not your audio friend. Each time I remove silicone hemisphere feet on a component and replace with cork, it sounds a bit more natural. Not ready for a hard and fast conclusion yet, but.... Silicone or Sorbothane? Just for clarity Em, good question. Silicone bumpons, semi-hard silicone feet (standardly included with a metal enclosure), but I also found the less desirable result with soft solid sorbothane on two occasions. I'm not ready to bin them just yet and may try them on my next PSU build, but... I keep liking the sound better with cork. Since self-adhesive cork discs are 2mm thick, I have to build them up 2-3 high. |
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optical
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Post by optical on Mar 25, 2023 11:48:35 GMT
On "cheaper" TT's ie not my SP10, I've usually found adding a cork mat on top of rubber/silicone does improve things overall.
Add a 2-3mm cork mat, adjust VTA, happy days.
Not on EVERY TT but about 4-5 out of maybe 6-7 have benefitted.
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Post by brucew268 on Mar 25, 2023 13:10:28 GMT
Perhaps soft sorbothane rated for a particular weight range should do a decent job of isolation but it's footprint against the chassis also damps the chassis and may not be as desirable there especially in larger diamaters. Then perhaps a layer or two of cork sandwiched between the sorbothane foot and the chassis would give a more natural result. One day I may test the idea. I have before used the stock rubber feet on a component, then put a board layer between it and some sorbothane feet to good effect, which is a similar idea to this.
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Post by brucew268 on Mar 26, 2023 17:21:08 GMT
Reality is usually more complex... I've already found a component that requires or more balanced theory. Here is what I'd offer instead: After design and initial build of a HiFi component there is often a listening and tuning phase. Change out some caps or resistors or use a different chassis or different feet, etc. to get the performance optimal. That would mean it's a balancing act. If you change one thing, it may improve one aspect of the performance but hurt another aspect.
In some cases cork feet sound more natural. My HiFi and room were feeling fairly well dialed in and I made a change to a DC plug on a power supply resulting in messed up sound. I tried a different plug, better but still not as good. It happened to have silicone feet and so I tried compensating by trying sorbothane feet and then cork feet and different cabling. While they sounded better in some ways, they couldn't fix the problem. After all everything was dialed in before any changes -- why did I mess with it? Maybe just stop tinkering and go back to the start. That's my weekend lesson. Maybe I'll remember it next weekend when I get another bright idea. |
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Post by antonio on Mar 26, 2023 17:48:56 GMT
So what you're say Bruce, leave well alone, it's exactly what I've done this weekend.
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Post by brucew268 on Mar 26, 2023 18:20:16 GMT
So what you're say Bruce, leave well alone, it's exactly what I've done this weekend. Wise man. If you're enjoying the music, keep enjoying the music! I am... again. |
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Post by brucew268 on Apr 29, 2023 17:05:24 GMT
After moving my DAC’s PSU to a better sized enclosure, I’ve been experimenting with chassis feet and feel my earlier observations about cork vs other materials were a bit simplistic. Yes, the resonance/damping properties of the material contribute to the resulting SQ, but just as much are the diameter of the feet and where they are placed under the chassis. Moving the feet 5-10mm away from or towards the chassis edge will change the resulting sound, and changing the size of the feet from 12mm>15mm>19mm>30mm will also change the resulting sound. And this can vary between enclosures having very similar size and structure, with only the internal layot and weight distribution different.
All of this seems likely due to the damping effect of the feet on the enclosure, and I can’t find a hard and fast guide, just that experimentation is required in foot diameters, placement, and materials.
On one PSU 130x205mm with the transformer at the back, the best result was 4 hard silicone feet (15mm) put 5mm from the edges and a 6mm dot of silent coat in the top back corner of the case. When I moved to a case 130x250mm and put the transformer up front, no variation on that worked. I ended up with 3 sorbothane feet (19mm and 50 shore durometer), 2 put 10mm off the back and 6mm off the side and the third put asymmetrically on the front 1/3 from one side. Not as stable as one would like.
Yes, I’m crazy.
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