Stands corrected

Posted by: Bruce Woodhouse on 13 September 2001

Just a completely obtuse and entirely unhlepful thought (I'm on call at work, the PC is available, paperwork miraculously finsished and I'm bored).

Everyone lately seems obsessed by stands. Stands serve to isolate components from vibration, transmitted through the floor etc and from other components.

Music, played loudly (and not through SBLs according to another thread) transmits vibration especially in the bass register to the listener through the air.

Why bother then? To really isolate the kit put it in another room, run the cables through a hole in the wall and you do not need a fancy stand (except to sepearate individual components from each other).

Told you it was unhlepful.

Bruce

Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Greg Beatty

Bruce -

We've been 'round on this. Differences in stands are clearly audible even when listening only with headphones.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Mike Hanson

quote:
Stands serve to isolate components from vibration, transmitted through the floor etc and from other components.

They can also dissipate energy generated within the component itself. (They do an even better job of this when you nail the chicken feet to the wall. )

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Thomas K

Apparently the transformer hum (depending on where you are 50 or 60Hz) also causes microphony; a good stand reduces hum.

Thomas

Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Bruce Woodhouse

Yes, I get the points made-and the headphone comment is a neat way of explaining it but is not the vibration emitted by my components dwarfed by that coming from the speakers? Perhaps the frequencies are different and less critical.

Sorry-I had not meant to prolong the agony of this blind (and apparently repeated) thread.

Bruce

Posted on: 14 September 2001 by Frank Abela

According to Townshend, the reason for the success of his SSS stand is that it reduces dramatically all vibration down to 2 Hz. He claims that tidal movement of the sea crashing into the shore is transmitted through the land as low frequency waves. High energy low frequency transmissions of this sort (tidal, heavy juggernaut-type traffic, wind etc.) travel into your HiFi from the ground via the stand. This is why the SSS uses air suspension decoupling it as much as posible from the earth. The SSS removes much of this vibration which is predominantly ground-borne. The result is lower noise floor, inky black silences etc.

If the system was so susceptible to vibration of its own making, vinyl replay systems would certainly suffer a great deal more since theirs is a mechanical reproduction system. Airborne vibration would literally cause the cartridge to bounce across the record.

I think this thread is rather interesting actually. (But then I'm a sad so-and-so...)

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.