Make Your Own Isolation Wedges

Tornado Red
Tornado Red Posts: 939
edited January 2013 in DIY, Mods & Tweaks
I don't want my tv any higher with my present shelf system than it is now, so built a bridge over top and am housing the center channel there. Recently upgraded my stuff (Monitor 75t's, DSW 550 sub, and now the M-25c center). I had isolation wedges for my old PSB 100, but of course they were too small for the M-25c. I had some left over "plucking foam" from hard shell Pelican instrumentation cases at work. You can pluck off little cubes to fit what you want, or it cuts easily with a box knife. Yet it's quite dense and it nicely supports the 17 lbs here as you can see (though I did make these ones 3" wide vs 2" for the PSB). I guess the only advantages to making my own were that I got the exact length, width and angle I needed for my set up. The angle is easy to conjure up using the bridge height, my sitting position and the distance between them. Pictures are: 1. Inital make up 2.How they perform on the bench 3. A little flat black spray paint on the exposed surfaces 4. In place. Nice little project for a Saturday morning with a blizzard outside...

P1120005.jpg
P1120007.jpg
P1120008.jpg
P1120020.jpg
Post edited by Tornado Red on

Comments

  • hochpt21
    hochpt21 Posts: 5,423
    edited January 2013
    Nice work. Looks like a great solution for your setup.
    2 ChannelTurntable - VPI Classic 2/Ortofon 2M BlueAmplification - Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II, Parks Audio Budgie PhonoSpeakers - GoldenEar Triton 17.2 Home TheaterDenon AVR-X3300W; Rotel RMB-1066; Klipsch RP-280F's, Klipsch RP-450C, Polk FXi3's, Polk RC60i; Dual SVS PB 2000's; BenQ HT2050; Elite Screens 120"Man CaveTurntable - Pro-Ject 2.9 Wood/Grado GoldAmplification - Dared SL2000a, McCormack DNA 0.5 DeluxeCD: Cambridge AudioSpeakers - Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary; LSiM 703; SDA 2A
  • htrdln
    htrdln Posts: 116
    edited January 2013
    not bad at all
  • Tornado Red
    Tornado Red Posts: 939
    edited January 2013
    Thanks guys...
  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,145
    edited January 2013
    attachment.php?attachmentid=79549&d=1358004444

    The end result looks fantastic, If I do say so myself. Well done.

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,593
    edited January 2013
    Thanks for the idea. I might do something like that for my LSiC that is just sitting on a glass shelf on my entertainment center right now :smile:.

    That and if I get bookshelves for my office that would work great too!
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • Tornado Red
    Tornado Red Posts: 939
    edited January 2013
    Thanks Tom and ES. You can buy, cost is anywhere from $10(cheapies) - $45 (Auralex) for two in this ballpark for size. I find the stuff I was able to use to be high quality (not much compression with the weight of the unit). And the ability to make it the exact size I needed. Big difference in the sound direction. Interesting, I ran the YPAO on my Yamaha with the mic on top of my chair back rest after installing the wedges and vs without, it dropped the center channel 2 db.
  • littlewoodboats
    littlewoodboats Posts: 823
    edited January 2013
    Totally cool. I love low to no cost solutions.

    If you have an electric caring knife they do a nice job cutting this type of foam.

    After you put the wedges in place the YAPO dropped the center channel? Would this be due to an oscillation the foam could allow?
  • Tornado Red
    Tornado Red Posts: 939
    edited January 2013
    I'm thinking there is now more sound directed at my seating position, and since that's where I had the mic during set up, it felt I didn't need as much push from the center now to get the sound to my position as it did before when it was shooting over my head. At least that's my theory....
  • zingo
    zingo Posts: 11,258
    edited January 2013
    Great idea and application!
  • Blownrx7
    Blownrx7 Posts: 137
    edited January 2013
    I love these types of DIY items. It costs only your time and it's made even better because 1. you can customize EXACTLY to your application, 2. It works as well as any industry product and 3. you did it yourself!
    GREAT JOB!
    Now you can call it an Audio visual attenuator/director system that is essential to musical satisfaction. State that it transforms your $500 rig into a $5K system-beater and charge $100 becasue it can be custom made after careful analysis of the application and proprietary selection of material;-)
  • sk88
    sk88 Posts: 159
    edited January 2013
    Nice work you did. I've done similar thing and would offer a suggestion. On top of the form for isolation, I also added a layer of a granite slab that I have left from a kitchen project. It's 1" thick and it should stablize the speaker and enhances the sound. I do know not everyone has a piece of granite laying around but maybe can found one from a local granite/marble fabrication shop. Try it and you should hear a difference. It's the same idea as a Primacoustic Recoil Stablizer which uses a thick steel plate instead. Some people use granite tiles from floors but I don't think it has enough weight in it. I actually has another layer on top of the granite which is a closed cell form that's only 1mm thick. It's kind of like the surface of a mouse pad but it can't be more than 1mm thick. It keeps the speaker from sliding and provides full contact to the speaker to sit on the granite. If the thin form is not available, could just use regular brass spikes instead but need to make sure it doesn't slide off. I can provide more details and pics if anyone is interested.
    • Online - Focal Solo6 BE, Polk PSW10, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP, Lenovo x220t
    • Music/HT - Lsi25, Lsi9 (Vr3), Lsi7, LsiC, Pioneer SC-68 & BDP-62FD, PS3