[eichlerera1]

The concepts of mass loading and internal damping of stereo gear is often overlooked and underappreciated.
First, massive shelving  units should be utilized.
I use the Mapleshade Samson Racks. They are TANKS!
These racks are spiked through a thick carpet into the cement floor

FTR, I use 100% ModWright products.
All my components and speakers have heavy weights placed on top of them (usually Lead and Brass).
The total weight ranges from 25-50 lbs. 
I use brass cones underneath to prevent lateral shifting.
These cones interface with 2-4” Maple Plinths which are further isolated from the actual Maple Shelves by using dampening devices. Also utilize some Sorbothane footers to further dampen self generated component vibrations.
In addition, my CD Player and Pre Amp have inverted cones on the top of the chassis. I tighten my adjustable shelving which sandwich and squeeze the components between shelves.
The component does not move in any direction. Period!
My Amp uses a floor plinth arrangement with heavy weights on top.

The next step is to deaden the chassis and internal components to the maximum extent possible. I use  Noico 80 mil Car Sound Deadening Material on the unit’s internal sides, bottom and top, in multiple sheets where it is feasible. I also dampened any component or part which would accept a treatment. Transformers and CD Drives for instance.
Added silicon rings and brass hexnut “crowns” to my small signal tubes.
So far I’ve treated my Amp and CD player.
Will do the Pre Amp in the near future.

Finally, I placed a dab of RTV on the top of every capacitor I could reach. Caps are probably the most sensitive component to vibration.

A lot of people seem to think mass loading and component damping can take the life out of the music.
My experience has  shown that this is not the case.
The above tweaks have GREATLY elevated the sound quality, imaging and soundstage in my system.
The bass is super tight, articulated and thunderous.
I actually had to reduce the volume of my subwoofers.
All this was especially evident after I treated the CD Player.
This is the logical place to start treatments.

Admittedly, quite a bit of man hours are required to undertake this project. But the rewards are WELL worth it!

[Ixnay]

  I agree mostly with your observations. For over a decade, I have taken off the lid from every component that comes through my shop, and found a way to deaden the chassis. Instead of blue tack, I found a material used to hang pictures (small ones) in museums that stays tacky and has the same consistency of Blue tack. It costs about $3-4 per pack and goes a long way. When you look at how many of component chassis are built to begin with, it becomes obvious to place some sort of damping material especially in the corners of the chassis. When complete, I will tap the chassis on all sides and listen. To my surprise it of takes more than one try to get things to have a thud rather than a 'poink' rattle, or hollow sound. Two exceptions that I found among my gear were a BPT power conditioner, which is very massively built and a Cayin CD22 plater. which is built much the same way (at 28 pounds!). I added a bit here and there anyway.
 I would say that speakers, at least most of them would benefit from  attention in this way more than components. Each of my speakers are heavy at 100 lbs. but there is a 30 lb. granite block sitting atop anyway. Since they are a of a horn design, and the port hole hole leading to the throat of the horn is at the top of the speaker, this seems to be a good place for extra mass.
 Here is a shot without the block on top. The top of the cabinet is made from 3/4" MDF covered with 3/4" Corian.

[rollo]

  I agree to a point. I remove the top covers from my gear except Digital. Sounds more open to me. I have found that one can go too far with dampening.
  A suggestion. After you get to a point where you think it sounds better remove it and listen again. Sometimes changes are required. My experience.


charles

[eichlerera1]

  I agree to a point. I remove the top covers from my gear except Digital. Sounds more open to me. I have found that one can go too far with dampening.
  A suggestion. After you get to a point where you think it sounds better remove it and listen again. Sometimes changes are required. My experience.

charles

Again, a lot of people whose opinions I respect warn about the deleterious effects of over dampening.
I've been fortunate not to experience this. In fact, quite the opposite!

I hear you, but I can't remove the dampening sheets and it's a royal PITA to switch back to the original set up.
But I'm pretty confident about the sonic gains I've achieved with my configuration.

[rollo]

Again, a lot of people whose opinions I respect warn about the deleterious effects of over dampening.
I've been fortunate not to experience this. In fact, quite the opposite!

I hear you, but I can't remove the dampening sheets and it's a royal PITA to switch back to the original set up.
But I'm pretty confident about the sonic gains I've achieved with my configuration.

  Understandable. I was referring to footers and the like. I just ordered the dampening material to dampen my Alan Eaton 45 amp.

charles

[eichlerera1]

  Understandable. I was referring to footers and the like. I just ordered the dampening material to dampen my Alan Eaton 45 amp.

charles

Remember the greatest effect will be on CD Players or Turntables (if at all feasible)

[eichlerera1]

Some Pics

[JLM]

Proper damping has much more then mass loading to consider.  It requires advanced degrees in structural dynamics to fully understand. 

Is the floor "soft" (wood framed) or "hard" (concrete)?

What is the room like (size, shape, materials, design, furnishings) that could interfere?

What is each component like (open tubes, solid cabinet construction, point to point wiring, individual mass)?

How damn loud do you listen ("normal" levels with reasonable stiff floors should have little effect)? 

[audiogurujax]

One rule I followed with great results is the coupling/decoupling rule.

If you have a solid concrete slab then coupling the rack with some simple dampening and mass loading at the component should work fine, since little vibration will come from the floor (mostly in the higher frequencies), and the dampening at the componer level helps with the high frequency and airborne vibration, now if you are in a suspended floor like on a second floor, decoupling the rack and the speakers is crucial, because there will be a lot of low frequency vibrations and not much high frequency vibration coming from the floor.

Concrete slab: high frequency vibration coming from the floor + airborne vibration
Suspended floor: mostly low frequency vibration coming from the floor + airborne vibration

In my opinion floor vibrations should be taken care at the rack and speaker level and airborne at the component level, your rack feet or rack by itself should isolate floor vibrations.

[Folsom]

Mass loading is harder to screw up, general rule more dense materials work better.

Damping however is super easy to screw up. Not everything needs, but there's lots of products for anywhere you could possibly apply it.

[eichlerera1]

Mass loading is harder to screw up, general rule more dense materials work better.

Damping however is super easy to screw up. Not everything needs, but there's lots of products for anywhere you could possibly apply it.

All CD Players need internal dampening....

[Ixnay]

 We all mean to say damp, not dampen.

[eichlerera1]

Finally got around to damping my Pre Amp with the Noico sheets.
Also put some on the back of my speakers.
The cash outlay is small but the man hours are a bit of a challenge.
This along with mass loading are two of the lesser expensive tweaks one can do, but it probably has the most profound effects. Especially from a QPR point of view.

The improvements on bass response, imaging and sound stage width and depth are truly amazing!

To do it, wise would you be....

[RDavidson]

We all mean to say damp, not dampen.

Well...some folks might be trying to add some wet mist to their equipment or maybe looking for good ways to throw it in a lake, i.e. dampening it? Or they could be looking to mitigate unwanted vibrations, i.e. damping it. I think most mean damping here, so a new thread should be made on equipment dampening.

[Big Red Machine]

  I agree mostly with your observations. For over a decade, I have taken off the lid from every component that comes through my shop, and found a way to deaden the chassis. Instead of blue tack, I found a material used to hang pictures (small ones) in museums that stays tacky and has the same consistency of Blue tack. It costs about $3-4 per pack and goes a long way. When you look at how many of component chassis are built to begin with, it becomes obvious to place some sort of damping material especially in the corners of the chassis. When complete, I will tap the chassis on all sides and listen. To my surprise it of takes more than one try to get things to have a thud rather than a 'poink' rattle, or hollow sound. Two exceptions that I found among my gear were a BPT power conditioner, which is very massively built and a Cayin CD22 plater. which is built much the same way (at 28 pounds!). I added a bit here and there anyway.

Love the username Ixnay btw.

You made me think of this snotty material used to damp drum heads to reduce ringing. I use it and it's gooey but removeable.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MoonGel-C--rtom-moongel-drum-damper-pads-clear

[Elizabeth]

In general Wood is good. I have taken a slightly different tack on it though. I'm tuning with it rather than mass loading.  I wrote about it last year. no one was interested. I no longer care LOL
Worked for me. Other than that I have moved on.

[eichlerera1]

In general Wood is good. I have taken a slightly different tack on it though. I'm tuning with it rather than mass loading.  I wrote about it last year. no one was interested. I no longer care LOL
Worked for me. Other than that I have moved on.

I've always enjoyed your posts.
You're not afraid to put yourself out there!

I would urge you to try some mass loading/component damping in addition to your use of wood tuning.
You might find that they work quite nicely together...

[Letitroll98]

Some years ago I bought a few of those huge rolls of black duct tape, the biggest, heaviest ones to sit on my comments.  All that glue and fabric worked really well at damping vibrations in my components.  The glue marked the components after a few years, so in later applications I put a layer of parchment paper under the rolls.

Elizabeth, I read every word of your pen blanks post and found it very interesting.  As I had been using maple blocks under my equipment for years I didn't order a bunch of new samples, but it wasn't ignored.