isolation shelves

Posted by: woodlowkev on 24 February 2003

Due to not having any more money to improve my system (cd5, 112, 150 fc2, proac tablette 2000 signatures) I tried adding shelves to my Q4 to add isolation.
After reading some of the threads on this forum I made 4 shelves out of MDF sat them on 3 ball-barings in turn sitting on very small nuts.
The results were quite surprising. Very good detail on instruments but vocals seemed very bright and a little distorted,
Should I try using glass shelves as this would not cost a great deal (about £40.00), and should I be isolating all four boxes?

Order on rack

cd5
------
112
------
fc2
------
150

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Posted on: 25 February 2003 by Mick P

Chaps

You are basically talking about a contraption invented by Vuk a few years ago.

He really did experiment and his final conclusions were :-

a) Use small nuts and ball bearings because there is less surface contact.

b) Use four sets not three.

c) Use a nut-ball bearing-nut assembly because it sounds better and is a lot more stable. If you use just one nut it makes the top board prone to sliding about.

d) Use around 3 layers for the CDP.

e) 15mm MDF was used.

I tried it before buying the Hutter and yes it made a good worthwhile improvement to the overall sound.

Regards

Mick