[SET Man]

Hey!

    First, I don't know where to post this, I don't think we have a tweak circle. Anyway, as a DIYer myself and I know that DIYers like to compare and try things out so maybe this will do here. But if not please move this to a appropriate circle.

   OK, this is nothing new. I know that the cork have been around for awhile available through some audio companies for much higher price. So, I'm thinking of trying some, but I'm wonder if any of you here have compared between the two... cork or foam? Which sound better to you? And what the difference between the two sound wise in your system?

   So, cork....
https://www.supplyhouse.com/DiversiTech-MP-2C-Rubber-Cork-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8

   or foam?
https://www.supplyhouse.com/DiversiTech-MP-2E-EVA-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8

  Any help or feedback on these will be greatly appreciated.

Buddy
   

[revg1952]

I bought a few of each from Supply House. For the price and  performance I am happy. Considering they are made for commercial HVAC installs ( back ground as a Bldg Engineer); I was impressed with the  product.
Gary

[FullRangeMan]

These two links didnt opened to me. I bought a 5mm cork (1 sq meter) why it was cheap and a near my home shop a side with mid density sinthetic rubber foam for a heavy CD player, I noted the 10mm foam isolated more the CD than the cork of the room air vibrations, however after some years the rubber deformed with the 26kg cd player.

It was a modular feet sandwich, I used 5 to 12 layers, 1 or 2 layers had minimal isolation, my felling is that cork as feet have few isolation.

[Nick77]

I have the cork version to decouple my speakers from the stands and results were better than I expected. Havent compared to the foam version though but great cheap tweak.   

[Elizabeth]

That cork version as a set of four is sent for free with the Butcher Block Acoustics butcher blocks. I have tried the cork ones under some of the butcher blocks (on the floor) and greatly prefer to have the butcher blocks that sit on the floor up on old (at least 25 years old and no longer available) Tip Toes.
My previous favorite, butyl rubber size ten bottle stoppers, I have dozens of them, Had those under everything, and they still are OK compared to some other things.

I also tried the cork/rubber pads under equipment and find they dull the treble and upper mids too much. Since I got piles of the cork rubber pads free, I experimented with them a bit, and discovered it is easy to peel off one side of the rubber off the sandwich. less height in a rack, and still is about the same vibration control, plus then you get another set of rubber thin pads out of it.
I do use some sorbothane pads under some equipment, I like the flat discs better than the half domes, plus the duro weight ratings for the "30 duro" are way to high, but for the 50 and 70 duro are fine. (Putting a 40 pound chunk of equipment on a 30 duro, the pad just is flattened out! Even though the claim is the pads are supposed to be for that weight or more. I also tried some silicon domes and those made the sound tilted to the treble, with a bit of midrange suckout. (all of these still leaving the stock feet on, and the pad or whatever under the stock foot)
The butcher blocks I added under just about everything. Some Walnut, some Maple, The best bang for the buck was putting them under the Bryston amplifier. I ended up with just some rubber hardware store fender washers under the OEM amp feet on the Walnut butcher block. for the best sound. And actually have a Maple butcher block on tip toes, with a Walnut on top of that via 1/2" round, 1/8" tall ebony disks .. Nice sounding. Second most useful place for the butcher blocks was my Kuzma TT.
One fail was adding BluTack like stuff into the voids on the Threshold FET TEN preamp OEM feet. totally ruined the sound! muffled, dull, wow, really had to dig it out again. Lesson learned there.
Plus some folks hate sorbothane under equipment feet. say it dulls the sound.. Yeah, but only on SOME equipment. You really hae to check for yourself. But under some other equipment, sorbothane is great.I particularly like it under power supplies. and it sounds good under my Marantz SA-10.
Adding all the butcher blocks (I have eleven, with more coming) improved the sound a little. Warmer mids, with great clarity, Best description is like adding a better interconnect pair into the system. and about the same cost, I pay $1200 a pop for IC, and all the butcher blocks together add up to about the same amount of money.

[Gumby]

How about Hockey Pucks?   

[Elizabeth]

How about Hockey Pucks?

I have hear/read folks liking them. Went to look at the cost over at Amazon. standard practice pucks to be had for as little as $1 each if you buy a pile of them. $2 each for just a few.
Solid rubber. flat. round. What is to hate?
I am certain they are harder than my old favorite (which seem to be getting harder to find) Butyl rubber size ten bottle stoppers. Plus 3" is better fit to some larger OEM feet.
I should get a few hockey pucks to have around.... 

[rollo]

  A combination of rubber & cork will isolate vibrations from below. Similar to what Mapleshade offers. First off one needs to know what they desire. Vibration can be drained away or absorbed. An affective way of draining is using Alum. blocks. They transfer the vibrations to another form of vibration control. Meaning a plinth of some sort.
  Hockey pucks work great under your clothes dryer eliminating vibrations to floor as it soaks them up. for audio one needs to listen to affect as they tend to soften sound.
  My favorite over the years before purchasing well designed SGR racks was maple plinths sitting in sand boxes atop speaker stands spiked to floor. Either alum blocks, cones of various materials [ Ebony, brass, alum, and composite] were used to drain vibrations from component to plinth then to sand. Still IMHO the best solution for TT.
 products to look at. VEM footers, Pon- Tunes, Mapleshade. have fun trying.

charles

[artur9]

I have a bunch of those foam ones that I am using for spacers in various ways. 

I thought I had the cork ones to use to decouple my speakers from their stands.  I got the impression that the imaging tightened up slightly when I did that but nothing scientific or rigorously tested.

I have to say those foam ones are ridiculously hard.  I don't see how they would improve anything?

I am using a set to tilt my speakers as recommended by the manufacturer.  But I've been thinking the sound seemed kind of dull as compared to when I used the metal washers the manufacturer supplies.  I've changed a bunch of things at the same time so I can't attribute the sound changes to anything in particular.

I supposed I could try and do an A/B but my hearing isn't likely to pick up subtle changes.

[FullRangeMan]

Rubber and cork are two soft materials, there is need a 3º meterial (hard), the sandwich feet formula is one soft material and one hard material, I used aluminium as hard material.

[Elizabeth]

In my experimenting with butcher blocks and footers, I like a hard connection under the butcher block to the carpet, but a soft one to the glass rack shelves. And varying levels each dependent on the sound, for different equipment.
So it takes a lot of experimenting, and there is no.. one size fits all solution.
The rewards can be tremendous. The fails can be awful... just changing on set of gizmos between the amp OEM feet and the butcher block!

Comment about 'hearing subtle changes' Over the last year, fiddling with resistor changes of a tenth of an ohm.. and now footer solutions, I have realized the ONLY way (for me) to really get down what I changed is to listen for a WEEK or longer. Then I have listened casually to a lot of music, and 'do I feel better? am I bored. annoyed, is the sparkle there, whoa listen to that!... Plus different recordings show more of the qualities than just one or two. SO I suggest, when going for those tiny incremental changes, to give them TIME. Listen to the change for awhile.

[rollo]

Rubber and cork are two soft materials, there is need a 3º meterial (hard), the sandwich feet formula is one soft material and one hard material, I used aluminium as hard material.

  Correct. Alum is a great material as it transfers the resonance quickly to another material Another thing to know is use similar but dissimilar materials to each other. Glass is probably one of the worst things to use as it rings. Bullet proof glass though is very affective as the viscoelastic membrane in between the glass absorbs vibration and eliminates the ringing. Same with Granite it rings. If you use granite damp one side.
  Of course one size does not fit all however proven methods after experimentation and critical listening prove out. Like sandboxes and plinths. Have fun trying that's the ticket.

charles
 
 

[bacobits1]

I have 1/2" plate glass shelves and no problem whatsoever.
Herbies tall feet under everything using for a long time now. Glass is is also dampened from the rack.
I use a nice $300 AV rack, heavy sturdy. I'm cheap and piratical smart doing things.
The sky is the limit on this stuff use what works best in each situation.
TT is on a 27lb maple butcher block and that is on the cork/ rubber vibration footers
mentioned above. Yes everything is cumulative.
Dealers here will have you spend thousands! Naturally.