[solentgreen]

Hi Steve,

I have a couple of components - Mains Conditioner & separate Power Supply boxes which due to lack of space on my rack, is placed on the floor next to the rack.  These are placed on 3 Iso-cup & Ball supports which sit on a platform made of 3 layer sandwich materials which in turn are supported by 3 of your Acylic domes with Grungebuster bases on the floor.  Other components on my metal rack are supported by 3 Iso-cup & balls placed on the wooden rack shelves which are isolated from the rack supports by 1/16th thick Grungebuster dots. 

My query is do you have a view as to whether the rack location would be significantly better than being placed on the floor albeit supported by Iso-cups & platform.  I am thinking especially of floor borne vibrations from the speakers here though I guess even the rack would to a certain extent be affected by these. 

Grateful for your views. Many thanks.   

[Herbie]

Hi. I would think your components are adequately isolated, though possibly susceptible to further improvement. As to whether the components on the floor would perform significantly better on the rack would depend on the total vibrational environment. To some, a slight, subtle improvement is significant.

Perhaps the best way to isolate the components from loudspeaker-generated floorborne vibrations is to decouple/isolate the speakers. Herbie's Audio Lab has several loudspeaker/floor interface products designed for this purpose that improve the sonic qualities of the loudspeakers and system as a whole.

Steve
Herbie's Audio Lab

[solentgreen]

I presume the loudspeaker/floor interface decoupling products you are refering to are products like the Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders and/or Cone/Spike Grounding Bases etc.?  As you may know, I use the former which when I fitted them, I was amazed at the level of all round improvements I got.  I had always thought the improvements are all from the speakers being decoupled but what you are saying here is that some of the benefits may actually come about from there being less vibration being transmitted into the floor which may be affecting any components which are placed on the floor.  My power amp and Mains Conditioner are both sited on the floor due to lack of rack space though these are supported by Herbies Iso-cup & Balls on an insulated  platform.

Given that my speakers are already isolated by Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders, am I right to assume that there should be precious little gain to be had be shifting any floor supported components into a new rack?

Many thanks for your advise Steve, and Happy Holidays to all.

[Herbie]

Hi again. Not having an intimate knowledge or feel for your system and vibrational environment, I can't make the call. It seems to me that your assumptions are valid, though. Floor-borne vibrations can affect racked components just as much as components on the floor. Though racks vary considerably in microvibration-control ability, a new rack wouldn't necessarily give a result any better than the isolation platform you're using now.

Steve
Herbie's Audio Lab

[rollo]

I presume the loudspeaker/floor interface decoupling products you are refering to are products like the Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders and/or Cone/Spike Grounding Bases etc.?  As you may know, I use the former which when I fitted them, I was amazed at the level of all round improvements I got.  I had always thought the improvements are all from the speakers being decoupled but what you are saying here is that some of the benefits may actually come about from there being less vibration being transmitted into the floor which may be affecting any components which are placed on the floor.  My power amp and Mains Conditioner are both sited on the floor due to lack of rack space though these are supported by Herbies Iso-cup & Balls on an insulated  platform.

Given that my speakers are already isolated by Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders, am I right to assume that there should be precious little gain to be had be shifting any floor supported components into a new rack?

Many thanks for your advise Steve, and Happy Holidays to all.

 Correct. If you are using tubed amps yes by all means spike them or isolate with same footers and use a a maple or plinth of the day. just spike the plinth. The conditioner will benifit as well being spiked.
  However IMO the magnetic fields of that A/c conditioer being so close to your source and others is IMO self defeating.


charles