Placement advice for beginner...

[pplater]

Hello all. Your thoughts would be great appreciated. I am placing a heavy pair of monos (PS Audio BHK300s) onto the floor. The floor is carpet over concrete. Do I put each one straight onto the floor, onto a thick piece of MDF, onto a slab of marble or something other?

 

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

Cheers,

pplater.

[muon*]

A bamboo platform with Whites Anti Vibration Squares under the bamboo would work a treat

 

IKEA have the $20 Bamboo chopping boards that might be large enough and the 100x100mm Whites Squares are $5 a pack of 4 from Bunnings.

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/aptitlig-chopping-board-bamboo-40233427/

 

https://www.bunnings.com.au/whites-on-site-100-x-12-5mm-rubber-anti-vibration-mat-4-pack_p3961547

 

Edit: yes, these are large enough for those mono's, one under each mono block with the Whites squares under the boards. Boards might look better flipped upside down.

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/aptitlig-butchers-block-bamboo-60233431/

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by muon*

[Analogueage]

The larger, thicker Ikea chopping boards are a good start. I use Quadraspire shelves with the Quadraspire feet rather than columns. Frank Prowse HiFi may have some in stock.

 

[pplater]

Thanks Muon; the original owner has seconded your suggestion!

 

Cheers,

pplater.

[Richard Tremain]

On 31/07/2021 at 3:13 PM, muon* said:

A bamboo platform with Whites Anti Vibration Squares under the bamboo would work a treat

 

IKEA have the $20 Bamboo chopping boards that might be large enough and the 100x100mm Whites Squares are $5 a pack of 4 from Bunnings.

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/aptitlig-chopping-board-bamboo-40233427/

 

https://www.bunnings.com.au/whites-on-site-100-x-12-5mm-rubber-anti-vibration-mat-4-pack_p3961547

 

Edit: yes, these are large enough for those mono's, one under each mono block with the Whites squares under the boards. Boards might look better flipped upside down.

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/aptitlig-butchers-block-bamboo-60233431/

 

 

On 31/07/2021 at 1:19 PM, pplater said:

Hello all. Your thoughts would be great appreciated. I am placing a heavy pair of monos (PS Audio BHK300s) onto the floor. The floor is carpet over concrete. Do I put each one straight onto the floor, onto a thick piece of MDF, onto a slab of marble or something other?

 

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

Cheers,

pplater.

 

[Richard Tremain]

There is a variation of thought available - This is my view regarding Transistor equipment. 

Concrete floor, Carpet it will also have Underlay mostly direct floor placement is really very very good

it is difficult to beat this no matter what Stand or Platform you use as any of these will ADD their own 

sonic signatures. I am not talking about changing some aspect of the sound but bettering it as a whole.

Adding another absorbant  material on top of another (the underlay) is not needed or helpful mostly 

you would soften the sound out. The Amps need to transmit their Resonances to the floor else they 

will replay them forget about floor resonances reaching any type of Hi-Fi equipment this is mostly a 

Red herring and causes much confusion. 12.5mm of rubber - rubber any where in a Hi- Fi system is a bad idea

 and totally the wrong specification for Hi Fi do not use it.

 

[075Congo]

I used a pair of cutting boards about 25mm thick and fitted a set of 4 Dayton Audio Speaker Spikes  (about $72 a set from Decibel Hi Fi). Looks great and super stable keeping things well clear of the carpeting. MDF cut to fit the dimensions of the BHK's and painted matte black would look really cool.

Cheers

[Pops110]

3 hours ago, 075Congo said:

I used a pair of cutting boards about 25mm thick and fitted a set of 4 Dayton Audio Speaker Spikes  (about $72 a set from Decibel Hi Fi). Looks great and super stable keeping things well clear of the carpeting. MDF cut to fit the dimensions of the BHK's and painted matte black would look really cool.

Cheers

That’s what I would be doing, no flat spots on the carpet when you change amps, configurations etc in the future and couple it to the concrete.

[Silver Audiophile]

 

Nice monoblock amps. I too have carpet on tile/concrete flooring. Suggest you seriously look at dedicated HiFi shelves for the monos. I'm using Solid Steel shelves. Once done, further improvements with adding stainless steel mecados and Basalt slabs (Honeycomb lava basalt). Basalt slabs are ideally suited to audiophile shelves due to resonance reduction properties. The difference it makes in sound quality is absolutely astonishing. In fact, when new friends come over, I do a demo. In the last picture, you'll see the Duntech Senators speaker's external cross over box siting on dedicated shelves. I only remove the mecados from under the Basalt slab, leaving everything else untouched. The deterioration in sound, imaging, noise floor increase amazes friends.

In critical areas, like the Pre amp (top shelf), I go double decker on the basalt and isolation devices (mecados and Nordost TC Kones). All this makes a noticeable difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Silver Audiophile

[Richard Tremain]

Undoubtably Hitech supports can be built at a cost and allow various methods of tunning to receive a required result in a specific system. But Direct floor placement is instant and costless and likely to be as close to the truth or better than the rest of the equipment on a dedicated rack (these things also vary that much sonically it can be difficult to tell which way is up) A solid wood sled 50mm high can also be tried this is the limit i would go to myself and as the OP is a beginner i recommend simple and good.

[GregWormald]

Carpet on concrete is a great start 'cause the concrete will vibrate only a little and the carpet will damp that quite well.

 

You'll need something between the amps and the carpet so you don't block any ventilation holes and so the insulating properties of the carpet are not an issue. It's also a good idea to keep amps isolated from vacuum cleaners.

[muon*]

I have gained as much with the Bamboo with Whites Pads under them, used under speakers when on carpeted concrete,  and wood floors, in both situation the positive results have been undeniable.

 

So I don't see a carpeted concrete floor as being less of a potential problem.

 

If you look at tests by Townsand they show there is issues regarding vibrations even on carpeted concrete floors.

 

[Richard Tremain]

Speakers are a different subject with different rules to be considered . How the spk cabinet is constructed and whether or not they were voiced on spikes this stops any universal approach being correct.

This is a massive resonance compared to a T.T. or a Amp and when spiked down to the floor wood or concrete the vibrations  are reflected back up to the drive units however they are now out of time with what the drive units are putting out so you get a modulation you do not want. Decoupling the spk from the floor on special isolators or even U shaped metal stands uprights only at the rear so flexible can give superb results.

But i have also seen some spk Designed for spikes work poorly when decoupled so clearly no absolute science here.

[muon*]

I can't respond to that

Edited August 9, 2021 by muon*

[GregWormald]

On 08/08/2021 at 9:46 PM, muon* said:

I have gained as much with the Bamboo with Whites Pads under them, used under speakers when on carpeted concrete,  and wood floors, in both situation the positive results have been undeniable.

 

So I don't see a carpeted concrete floor as being less of a potential problem.

 

If you look at tests by Townshend they show there is issues regarding vibrations even on carpeted concrete floors.

 

I'm always cautious when the tests are done by somebody trying to sell something. IIRC Townshend actually said the floor vibrations from the sound in the room were much more significant than the cabinet vibrations.

 

I suspect all vibrations affect equipment performance. How much would of course be room/equipment/music/loudness dependent

[muon*]

6 minutes ago, GregWormald said:

I'm always cautious when the tests are done by somebody trying to sell something. IIRC Townshend actually said the floor vibrations from the sound in the room were much more significant than the cabinet vibrations.

 

I suspect all vibrations affect equipment performance. How much would of course be room/equipment/music/loudness dependent

Yes, I agree, and I'm the same, but the physics makes sense to me.

 

Oh also agree that they all are negative effects, but at lest we can address some if not all of them. Isolation, damping of case and speaker panels and driver baskets ect'.

[Richard Tremain]

Max's products can work wonders but are dam expensive.

I only just now watched the video i think by impacting the floor with his foot the equivlent of an earthquake is a great demo to show the the effectiveness of the Platforms. Of course the MULTI freq  spk vibes are much milder that is why carpet is sufficient for a Amp.

If you put a equipment stand in a different room to the speakers you will still find the equipment reacting to what you place it on even there is now no upward transmission. You run into a similar thing of wanting to Downward remove resonances from the equipment but needing the stand to remove ALL freq evenly else there will be a tonal imbalance and you listen to the stand. No single material will do this and that is why in make up they combine different materials and this combining means there is no one way to make a equipment stand.

[pplater]

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to respond with a wealth of reasoned suggestions. 
 

Cheers,

pplater.