Loudspeaker Isolation

[Gsal]

I am not a shill for this company and I know it goes against everything RV believes about loudspeaker/room interaction but I finally decided to install EVP's from Audio/Video Room Services under my Quatro Wood CT's to isolate them from the floor. It has transformed the sound not just the low end but throughout the audio spectrum. The improvement in overall resolution, sound stage and imaging is astounding. My listening room is on the second floor above my garage and far from providing the preferable concrete base so there's that. In any event just thought I'd report my findings. 

[Richard Vandersteen]

Gsal, I don't get this petulant attitude about "I know it goes against everything RV believes......." as I have always referenced my experiences on a concrete floor!  Guys and Gals this is your Forum to share your experiences even if you feel black is white.  If you are unfortunate enough to have to try to make music on a tympanic membrane (room over a garage being the worst) all bets are off and what works, works and others here may be in the same situation.  Once you have a moving floor, I have no idea how best to stop the speaker from moving so the drivers can pressurize the room and ears accurately.  I know using a granite base to spread the load on wood floors that are short spans supported by bearing walls underneath does lower distortion but adding granite to a long span is only going to lower the frequencies of the tympanic membrane's resonance, not reduce its movement.  I helped one of our dealers in NJ install multiple adjustable shoring poles under his severely tympanic main sound room floor with great success.  Please drop the RV stuff as this attitude may hinder someone from sharing good info openly.  RV

[Gsal]

RV I am very sorry you took my comments as petulant. My only intent was to reference comments you have made in the past regarding this somewhat controversial subject. Nothing else. If my interpretation of your beliefs was in error I apologize.

My unfortunate room location has prompted me to try various approaches to exact the best performance from my Quatros. I have tried 3" granite bases and it helped  somewhat. I decided after much deliberation to go this other route. It appears to have worked wonders and to my ears allows the full capabilities of the Quatros to shine even more. It never ceases to amaze me that every change/upgrade I have made to my system has been readily apparent through these wonderful loudspeakers. They are the most revealing sound reproducers I have ever owned.

As this is a forum where Vandersteen owners are encouraged to share  I simply thought that my new found experience might be of value to others in the same boat. Again, I apologize if I offended you in the process.

[Richard Vandersteen]

3 hours ago, Gsal said:

RV I am very sorry you took my comments as petulant. My only intent was to reference comments you have made in the past regarding this somewhat controversial subject. Nothing else. If my interpretation of your beliefs was in error I apologize.

My unfortunate room location has prompted me to try various approaches to exact the best performance from my Quatros. I have tried 3" granite bases and it helped  somewhat. I decided after much deliberation to go this other route. It appears to have worked wonders and to my ears allows the full capabilities of the Quatros to shine even more. It never ceases to amaze me that every change/upgrade I have made to my system has been readily apparent through these wonderful loudspeakers. They are the most revealing sound reproducers I have ever owned.

As this is a forum where Vandersteen owners are encouraged to share  I simply thought that my new found experience might be of value to others in the same boat. Again, I apologize if I offended you in the process.

No apology needed as I was not offended and am pleased with your success in a very difficult situation but there is no controversy on how our speakers are designed.  RV

[Boom Boom]

Thanks Gsal for posting your findings and positive improvements.

Not all forum members have ideal rooms to setup high performance audio. It doesn't stop us from achieving satisfying results. It involves keeping an open mind and trying different things and using our ears to determine whether the changes were meaningful. Some of these things are easier to try with less negative consequences than others. The only rules about high performance audio are the ones the forum member chooses to impose on themself. I have many of these from my experiences. I think it's important to understand the commitment from high performance audio designers and what they want to achieve. Usually their products, properly setup, will achieve the designers' performance goals in your listening room. I presume all of us know how important setup is for all components within the listening room. That said we also know what compromises we are willing to make in this area.

One of the things I want to try is replacing a framed print above my sofa with some sort of tapestry. Having recently retired, there's some changes in decorating that I have planned. I suspect the tapestry will improve sound. We'll see.

😉

[Richard Vandersteen]

This is exactly what I hoped this Forum would stimulate, an open exchange of ideas.  My contribution other than covering the costs is to clarify how and why the products are designed and those designs were setup during development.  Much of what happens to our products once they are in the marketplace is off my chart (I once walked into a studio which had our speakers hanging by their feet from the ceiling sounding quite good), when this is the case, I will say so.  RV

[ctsooner]

Guys, most of us don't have ideal conditions. I'm in a freaking loft as my townhouse has an open floor plan. I have a full wall directly behind each speaker, but there is an opening on that same wall as the majority of the wall is nearly even with the top of the speakers.  It opens to a 20' high living room down below that opens into a large first floor area.  Upstairs, the loft is open to a hallway.  I shut teh doors in the upstairs when listening.  The whole house is hardwood, other than teh two bedrooms upstairs as well as the loft.  I had them run two fully dedicated power lines that are individually grounded outside.   I also asked them to shore up the floor with twice the bracing etc...  I like to think it made a difference for the better, but I can say that once I used the 3" granite, it made a major difference.  Even better was installing the Vanderfeet.  

We can't cheat physics, but we surely can maximize what we are able to do.  It's all about how much you want to spend on it (time AND money).  It's all good and most of us are here for fun.  The ONLY think that matters is enjoying your music, which you certainly are.  Congrats.

[Bruskie]

Back around 1975 or so one of my housemates and I set up a stereo system in an upstairs unused bedroom. Feedback into the TT was severe, as the whole room resonated causing small objects on shelves to dance around. Our solution was to put multiple garbage bags inside one another and placing them in a dresser drawer on the floor. We filled the inner bag with water, tied  each bag closed, and placed our Pioneer TT on top of the bags. Re-leveling was required each time we played a different album - but our floating TT design worked to a large degree and my audio journey was off and running. As with speaker placement, toe-in, listening distance etc., EXPERIMENTATION  is the road to success in our hobby. Think out of the box!!!

I love this forum 📀

Bruce

[GdnrBob]

Now that was a clever solution, though I would worry if the bags started to leak as plastic is porous.

B

[ctsooner]

I just made a plywood box filled with sand. Did that as a kid and it worked for my Yamaha yp211 with the top grade cartridge. Worked great for my bed room. Didn’t need it when I moved  it to the basement with my drum set 

[GdnrBob]

Hmm. Sand would be another way, but hopefully you don't have a kittycat. 😉

Bob

[Boom Boom]

The first time I learned about using sand for vibration isolation was from reading a reviewer's DIY solution. It's too long ago so I can't recall the reviewer or the publication. He used bicycle inner tubes filled with sand. Swore by this to eliminate vibrations.

The base that my Project RM10 sits on is filled with sand (Project Ground It Deluxe). 

My Vandersteen bases, I filled with sand. When Bob McPeters sold me my 1Cs we filled the bases with some sand he had in the back. Prior to that the Vanderstands didn't use sand. I paid this forward when I purchased my 2CE Sig 3's. I gave the remaining sand after filling my bases to my salesman at Definitive. They took it in case other Vandersteen customers needed. When I auditioned, I learned there was another customer who arranged to demo. I'm not sure if he bought.

[Holmz]

On 1/22/2024 at 11:12 PM, ctsooner said:

I just made a plywood box filled with sand. Did that as a kid and it worked for my Yamaha yp211 with the top grade cartridge. Worked great for my bed room. Didn’t need it when I moved  it to the basement with my drum set 

Me cat surprisingly agrees…

 

 

[ctsooner]

12 hours ago, Holmz said:

Me cat surprisingly agrees…

 

 

DAMN YOU KAREN!!!!  I only used it, because I wasn't able to get lead pellets.  LEAD PELLETS you B!TC! .  All I wanted was to get way from YOU KAREN.  That's why I wanted my ISOLATION BOX while listening to MY MUSIC!!!  Also, you need to stop drinking your Chardonnay at 10am even though it's 5pm somewhere, plus you are NOT on a reality show!!!!