Building rack, which is best mass or isolation

Polkersince85
Polkersince85 Posts: 2,883
edited August 2005 in DIY, Mods & Tweaks
I thinking of building a new amp rack. Trying to decide which is best way to build it, to go for major mass/weight or to isolate it. Also, has anybody tried using magnetic levitation to isolate the shelf, with the rare earth magnets, seems like you could get enough lift to provide an air gap. Any thoughts.
>
>
>This message has been scanned by the NSA and found to be free of harmful intent.<
Post edited by Polkersince85 on

Comments

  • Willow
    Willow Posts: 10,862
    edited August 2005
    How about mass isolation ;)

    I think you couldn't go wrong with a bit or lots of both
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited August 2005
    Willow wrote:
    How about mass isolation ;)

    I think you couldn't go wrong with a bit or lots of both


    Sure, isolate a huge mass then spike your amp to it.

    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • neomagus00
    neomagus00 Posts: 3,899
    edited August 2005
    could there not be issues with having powerful magnets right next to the amp?
    It's not good, very fundamentally simply not good. - geolemon

    "Its not good enough until we have real-time fearmongering. I want my fear mongered as it happens." - Shizelbs
  • Skynut
    Skynut Posts: 2,967
    edited August 2005
    I thinking of building a new amp rack. Trying to decide which is best way to build it, to go for major mass/weight or to isolate it. Also, has anybody tried using magnetic levitation to isolate the shelf, with the rare earth magnets, seems like you could get enough lift to provide an air gap. Any thoughts.

    I think you would have a hard time getting magnets powerfull enough to hold components apart. I also do not think I would want any magnets that powerfull to be that close to my electronics.
    I was thinking about using Die springs ( like valve springs ) to keep the shelves from actually connecting to the uprights.
    I do not know if this is good or not but that is what I am thinking about doing when I build mine.
    Mass and Isolation. Two great things that go great together.
    Skynut
    SOPA® Founder
    The system Almost there
    DVD Onkyo DV-SP802
    Sunfire Theater Grand II
    Sherbourn 7/2100
    Panamax 5510 power conditioner (for electronics)
    2 PSAudio UPC-200 power conditioners (for amps)
    Front L/R RT3000p (Bi-Wired)
    Center CS1000p (Bi-Wired) (under the television)
    Center RT2000p's (Bi-Wired) (on each side of the television)
    Sur FX1000
    SVS ultra plus 2

    www.ShadetreesMachineShop.com
    Thanks for looking
  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,521
    edited August 2005
    Do you have slab construction or suspended floor? The reason I ask is that with slab construction you're only significant vibration is airborne, which is pretty minimal; where floor vibration is a tougher nut to crack and requires a different approach.

    I've found (I'm not an expert mind you) that with "hard" floors, hard cone-point isolation works well; with soft floors you need softer damping like the form of Vibrapods or similar principal.

    What you could do is hard isolate the amps platform, then soft isolate the amp itself from the platform.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
  • Polkersince85
    Polkersince85 Posts: 2,883
    edited August 2005
    Thanks for the responses. I tend to think that a heavy isolated structure is best on my suspended floor. I guess you could calculate the maximum force that the vibration/sound force could produce and then exceed that with mass to overcome the kinetic energy required to "move" the stand. Maybe different materials in the uprights would have varying resonance frequencies and therefore dampen the vibration from the floor. Maybe a wood base with a layer of rubber then more wood upright, etc. Could even set it all in a sandbox. Just thinking out loud, may need to do some testing.
    >
    >
    >This message has been scanned by the NSA and found to be free of harmful intent.<
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited August 2005
    From what I understand you can't really get rid of the movement overall but you can lower its resonant frequency.

    I had a realization one time when I noticed a particular bass note shaking my rack. I could play it very loud or very soft and the vibration changed very little all over the rack. The rack was VERY heavy at the time with several tube amps on it. That little bass note could rock the whole thing even at the very low volume. You really can't "remove" the energy.
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D