I have posted my systems components on an earlier thread. the purpose of this thread is to share my isolation philosophy.

Over the past several years many of you have come to know me as a tweak freak. I receive many emails a month asking about reviews I wrote or questions on isolation, power supplies and cabling. These emails are highlights of my day and I thoroughly enjoy responding to them. As I was writing a response to a detailed question on my isolation techniques I thought it might be good to also post the response in that it was the first time I verbally described the philosophy behind my tweaking. I have described the components before, but never explained the thinking behind it, so here it is. [lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]One comment before I start; I have been praised and ridiculed for my tweaks, and I expect that will continue as long as I offer my opinions. Those who to those who choose to ridicule, I’m sorry you feel that need. For those who wish to learn and share this wonderful and enjoyable hobby, I would love to hear your comments and personal observations.[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]My system starts with a Sony SCD-1 (heavily modified by Richard Kern and Audiocom-UK) fed into an Aesthetix Calypso line stage. I then have a Plinius SA-102 amplifier. The speakers are Dunlavy IV-A. (No longer manufactured) [lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]My racks sit on 4” sandstone slabs that rest on Aurios Pro isolators. Both my Mana (SCD-1) and Apollo racks are spiked to the slabs. Each component sits on a shelf “sandwich” comprised of 3/8” Aluminum shelves resting on upturned spikes from the rack. I then use a sheet of anti-static “Bubble Wrap” with a Neuance shelf sitting on the “Bubble Wrap.” The Dunlavy IV-A speakers sit on #3 Black Diamond Racing pucks and #4 BDR cones that then sit on Aurios Pros[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]I have included some pictures of different isolation components. I think it would be helpful if I tried to explain the philosophy behind my systems. First off, as you know there are two very strongly argued opinions on how to deal with vibration. One school of thought is in the heavy weighted absorbing techniques; this includes sand and lead weighted racks, thick or mass storing shelves like butcher-block and heavy weighting of components. The second school of thought is in ridged, light weight and quick dispersement of vibration. The first is the older thinking, and some people still firmly believe this is the only way to go. [lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]More recently the light rigid backers have argued that mass stores vibration energy and will release this energy back into the component, thus smearing and slowing the sound. Now this all may sound ridicules, especially if your components are solid state, but my experience has taught me that the better the solid state the component is (as an example my Plinius amp) the more susceptible the component is to vibration.[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]My set-up is actually a combination of both thoughts. My system arrived at this point not through listening to people and trying to scientifically explain any of it, but rather through personal experience. I’ve now gotten to a point that I can listen to a friends system and make suggestions as to how to refine the sound. I have no idea how I can predict the result of certain footers, but surprisingly I can. Anyway, my system starts at the floor. All floors vibrate; wood has a larger vibration wave or lower frequency, but even concrete vibrates, although at much higher in frequency, or smaller wave length. Because of this fact, I start by isolating my systems base from the floor using Aurios Pro’s. This could be done with other products like cones or bearings, but the Pro is the best I’ve found. I then use a sandstone slab resting on three Pro’s. This in effect is a substitute “earth” and is large enough to properly store and vibration the rack delivers to it, so in this instance the heavy, mass storage concept is being employed, and works because the floor vibrations have been eliminated from the storage potential. [lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]The next part of the “system” is the rack. Here I use the light rigid concept. The idea here is to move vibration quickly through a rigid lightweight metal rack. The vibration is carried through the frame and drained out the frames spiked feet into the stone “earth” foundation. Because there is no weight filling the rack (lead or sand) there is very little storage potential in the frame, thus no stored energy is flowing back into the system. Each shelf is supported by metal upturned spikes that decouple the shelf from the rack. The weakness in this design is the upturned spike would drain vibration into the shelf in the same way the vibration is drained into the slab foundation. In my racks design (both Apollo and Mana) they use spiked feet and shelf supports. In that the rack has no mass and little storage potential vibration we are discussing is in the rack itself. Meaning the rack is picking up airborne vibration from the music and quickly dispersing it, not storing it. [lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]In my system, I stopped using MDF shelves that have a limited storage potential and instead had aluminum shelves made. The aluminum of course is light and rigid, and has little storage potential, so any vibration received from the rack or airborne is again not stored. This would be a problem if the components sat on the aluminum shelf however. If they did the component would become the vibration storage, so this is where the “Bubble Wrap” concept came in. I use a layer of “Bubble Wrap” with the philosophy that it is as close to air separating the aluminum shelf from the “Neuance” shelf that supports the component. Because the walls of each bubble is so thin, virtually no vibration is transferred from the aluminum shelf, therefore rack vibration (and aluminum shelf) can only be stored in the slab foundation and no where else. The next concern is not having the Neuance shelf be allowed to roll or move sideways in any way, in that that would of course cause smear. I have theorized that the design of Bubble Wrap itself solves the problem. Each bubble is in compression and has an equal outward force in 360 degrees. The bubbles next to the first bubble counteract the sideways force with there owns 360 degree force. In a sheet of Bubble Wrap this happens some hundred times, each canceling the other out. A weighted Neuance shelf sitting on Bubble Wrap can not be moved sideways, it’s not possible. Therefore the Neuance shelf is supported by supper thin bubble walls, and they have no storage capability plus due to the thinness they have no sonic characteristics themselves.[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]So now the Neuance shelf is fully isolated from any rack or floor vibration, and is in effect suspended in mid air. This allows the shelf to act solely on the component and no other factors. The Neuance shelf is in my opinion the best shelf material made that incorporates the light rigid philosophy. The shelf is made of a foam core with ceramic laminate surfaces glued together forming a rigid solid shell around the foam core. Now the core is not simply a sheet of foam insulation, it’s an open cell foam sheet compressed on the top and bottom faces in a controlled process. When the compressing process is complete the original thickness is about half of its original thickness. The resulting characteristics of the foam is an extremely dense top and bottom surface with a core density of the original foam sheet. This then allows the shelf by nature to absorb a large vibration frequency spectrum. The thin rigid ceramic laminate skin quickly disperses the vibration into the foam core. Because of the light weight the foam does not release the energy in the same fashion as wood or MDF shelf materials.[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]In my system, the above description is true for every shelf and every component. The footer used between component and Neuance shelf very with every component I have. I have discovered through trial and error that every component reacts different to footers, and that no one single product can solve all situations. [lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]For me EAR rubber footers work best under my Hydra power conditioner. Under the Aesthetix Calypso pre-amp I use Aurios 1.2 with EAR feet between the Aurios and the Calypso. Under my Plinius SA-102 amp and my Sony SCD-1 CD/SACD player I have found Aurios Pro with Orchard Bay titanium cones between the Aurios and component work best. It’s a funny thing but for what ever reason every pre-amp I’ve used is the least sensitive to footers. The CD player is the most sensitive and my solid state Plinius amp is a close second.[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]Placement of the footers under a component is also component dependant. The Sony SCD-1 has five very well designed footers. I use the two back feet and the center foot under the spindle for the support locations. The cones are under the SCD-1 factory footer. All of my other components have “my” footers directly on the chasse and not under the factory location. Trial and error located the best spot for each footer. In general I have found under tubes and under transformers/power supplies are good starting locations. I use three footers under all components except the Hydra. I use eight EAR footers under it (mostly due to weight).[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]The final vibration component I use is weight on the top of components. This of course is a storage location, but I’ve discovered the tighter focus from the weight is more important than the limited additional smear the weight might add. At any rate, I have found a Walker brass and lead puck, approximately two pounds helps the Hydra and amp. The pre-amp seems unaffected, and the SCD-1 is best with more weight. I have a 15 pound steel plate with an anti-vibration rubber sheet glued to the bottom. The plate has six 1/8th inch diameter rubber feet that sit on the top of the Sony. This is placed behind the top loading disk door. The effect is a tighter, somewhat brighter sound with no effect to the pace. Speaking of pace, that is another area where mass effects the sound. My experience has been mass/weight generally means slow, muddy. Light weight tends towards the quicker, tighter tempo with better defined imaging.[lessthansign]br[greaterthansign][lessthansign]br[greaterthansign]At any rate this is my philosophy, and my personal experience. If one phrase could sum up my findings it would be “isolation mixed light weight quick vibration dispersement and very selective mass loading is the secret.” The second comment is no one rule works for all components, so trial and error is required. If you do not have the time to tweak your system to the level I have, then at a minimum I would use a light weight rigid metal rack and a sandwich shelf, even if both outer layers were MDF, this is a cheep and sure solution. Add footers as time allows.