Hey guys!
I wanted to share with you guys a tweak I found that is
by FAR the biggest bang for buck thing I have EVER done to my system. For reference I have have nx-otica with an insane next level crossover (absolutely self upgraded to the utter max) with dual triple servos. The system before this upgrade was already in the stupid sounding arena. Best I had ever heard anywhere. It got better. A lot better.
I was doing some research on the most absorptive material. I ran across a product called
Sorbothane. Sorbothane is a visoelastic urethane polymer used as a shock and vibration damper. It was developed in 1982. This stuff is straight vudu magic. It has a ~94% shock absorption coefficient and ~50% vibration dampening ability. 50% you say, that's not that high?! Oh yes it is, most materials can only absorb 10% on a good day. The common "isolation pads" made of rubber or neoprine fail to even come close
As you can see in the above image, the transmissibility of the vibration is 350% higher in neoprene and the more commonly used natural rubber products have a 500% increased vibration transmissibility compared to sorbothane.
Now - its very important if you try this you buy the correct sorbothane size and duro. Duro is a rating of how "squishy" the sorbothane is. The common Duro rating used here are 30, 50, and 70. 30 being the lowest and squeshest taking the least amount of weight. There are also different shapes you can buy, the circles being the best (or the half domes, I went with circles for cost) as a circle or dome will have an easier time deforming to a stress.
You WANT/NEED the sorbothane to deform or "squish down" about 30-50% under the weight of what you put on it. So its VERY important you match the number of sorbothane discs/half rounds and their respective weight rating to the weight of the item you will be placing on them.The brand I used on amazon is
Isolate it! - they make REAL sorbothane (a lot of fakes on amazon) and its made in Ohio which is where the real authentic Sorbothane is manufactured. The stuff isn't "cheap" but its far from expensive.
The biggest bang for buck in my entire system - BY FAR.Now, the first place I tried this was actually the most shocking to me. I bought some
https://www.amazon.com/Isolate-Sorbothane-Vibration-Isolation-Circular/dp/B00X6R1CTC/ref=sr_1_11?crid=14BUHR6VE6M98&keywords=sorbothane+isolate+it+disc&qid=1661522807&sprefix=sorbothane+isolate+it+dis%2Caps%2C313&sr=8-11These are 30 Duro units....I placed them on all four corners of my crossover that is sitting on the back of my Nx-Otcia. I first placed on one side only and then sat back and hit play. What in the world??? I was hearing the equivalent of if you had flipped the phase on one speaker. It sounded so bizarre. The differences between each speaker was so large that my brain was hearing two different things at once and the cohesive image was gone. Hmm interesting I thought, so I tried unplugging the one speaker and listened to no subs just one speaker with the sorbothane isolators, and then played the single speaker with standard 1" half dome rubber feet on it (I never sat the crossover right on the bottom of the nx-otica I had cheap natural rubber half rounds on it mostly to protect the finish...never thought it made a sound difference.)
WOW - the sound between the two speakers was incredible. The sorbothane under the crossover was SO much better, cleaner sounding, better focus, mids came alive more and the bass omg was it tighter. I couldn't believe how $20 for enough sorbothane for
both crossovers could make such a difference. I felt like I had spent at least $1500 on a component. That big of a difference.
I then went back on amazon and found the right size / duro discs for my entire system. I then added to my dac, preamp, streamer, linear power supply, amplifier, under both nx otica and under both triple servos. I spent about $150 for all of it.
HOLY. MOTHER. OF. GOD. The sound improvement after I added to
each unit was absolutely undeniable. The combination of it all was pure unreal. My system like I said was already end game level and the best I had ever heard (my crossover has all path audio resistors, all foil inductors, tweeter is pure vcap odam with duelund pure silver bypass caps, mids are sonicaps with vcap odam and dueland pure silver bypass caps, every shunting cap to ground is bypassed by a miflex pure copper cap, and the entire crossover is wired when it cant be point to point with kimber 8tc cable. I also ran kimber 8tc cable from the crossover with a rope through it as Danny does to my tweeter and to the mids. I used WBT silver solder on everything. This was already in the Jesus realm.)
The sound now is so convincing I am there it actually hurts my brain. The detail is off the charts. The focus, separation, mid clarity, bass tightness its just insane. I spent the last three nights until 3am listening from 10pm. I really cant stop.
I have no affiliation with sorbothane or anything like that. I found an incredible product and I wanted to share with you. Please give it a test, making sure to match the size and duro rating to your item weight...I just googled all my products weight or weighed them myself. I have sorbothane under everything now and even under my streamers linear power supply I heard a difference.
For reference, I have tried many, many different isolation products over the years and they always help but this was a
MIND BLOWING experiment. The sorbothane under the speakers and subs also made an insane amount of difference in the sound and tightness. I have the speaker and subs on sorbothane 2.5" x 0.5" 30 duro discs that sit on a slab of granite for each. This is an insane combination. I will say for speakers and subs you want to go as thick as you can to bring the natural frequency of the sorbothane as low as possible. Ideal is 1" for 10hz natural frequency, but you cant get it squishy enough at 1" for most speakers, as remember if you don't squish the material at least 30% your leaving a lot of performance on the table. The isolate it! brand for each product has the recommended weight for each size / duro.
Pure vudu magic. Please post any thoughts / experiences!!
