Puck it!

[bzr]

Hello everyone, heres something that may interest a few.
For the last week I have been tinkering. My system has hockey pucks under all of the components including the speakers for the reason of isolation/dampening.
A week ago I removed the pucks from under the speakers, Summit X's, for a reality check. As I'm painting the inside of the house in my spare time & play music when doing it & moving from room to room, in out & about, I never really noticed that much of a difference.
Fast forward a week & yesterday a friend came around that hadn't heard my new system & wanted a demo so I put a well recorded disk on for him & he absolutely loved it, me, I was disappointed & thought it sounded slightly muddy. Being home alone last night I thought I'd have some fun & turn it up with a nice bottle or 10 of my favorite beer until the point where I was getting fatigued by the sound & some disks just sounded down right terrible. Shrill, muddy, sometimes a midrange to die for & others just plain disappointing until I got to the point of thinking cd's really suck & time to watch a movie. As I approached my stereo to turn it to apple tv I looked at the 8 pucks in the corner & thought what the hell, why not. After replacing the pucks under the spikes again thoughts come to mind of clarity, articulate.......beautiful. I sat there & listened for another hour really enjoying the bottle of red & the music, quite cheap those pucks too.
Without the pucks the speakers were sitting on a floating wooden floor on spikes. The room does need treatment but as we are about to sell the house I wont bother, but in regards to this the pucks really do tame some of the bad traits of the sonics of set-up. I believe in the puck!

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi bzr,

I can't speak to using Hocky Pucks (HP's) under equipment but I just tried something with my speakers.

I had HP's between the cones of my MBL's and my wood floors for several months and (last week) replaced with the Black Diamond Racing (BDR) pucks.

I had previously used the BDR pucks under my Summits. Never tried the HP's on the ML's. Reference system pictures for further info.

Granted that the MBL's load the room differently, especially in the mid bass / bass region, than the Logans.

With the HP's in place under the 116's, the music had a very full, albeit "pleasant" low end. Think classic tube coloration. However, I could feel the bass migrating through the floor to the table by my listening chairs.

With the BDR's in place, floor bass induced vibration is gone. Mid / low bass tightened up substantially with the requisite improvement in imaging, soundstage, as well as middle and high frequencies.

Am not criticizing the use of HP's. However, my experience indicates that they do have their own sonic signature causing more overall "warmth" to the final sound. This could be good or bad depending on one's particular situation.

Problem is the BDR pucks are quite pricey whereas the HP's are quite affordable.

As with all vibration control devices, YMMV.

GG

 

[bzr]

Hi Gordon, I have actually wondered just how much the pucks do isolate things as in they are quite dense. What I have been thinking about lately is a flexible gel based isolation device.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi bzr,

Given my belief that vibration attenuation can produce huge positive results in any audio system (for minimal dollars), I've tried numerous devices to determine their sonic signature and the resultant impact on the overall system sound.

What I found is that you should audition as many types as you can but only isolating one component at a time. This way, you will know exactly what the impact of that device is on that particular piece of hardware. This can be time consuming, but in the end, well worthwhile.

Assuming your system is of sufficient transparency, you will be able to separate the good from the mediocre from the bad.

Please keep in mind it's all about system synergy and what you determine to have the most positive impact in the end.

Good luck.

Gordon

 

[DrJRapp]

BZR

You mentioned that your speakers were on spikes on a floating wood floor. By using the pucks you are isolating most of the low frequencies from the floor...which in the case of a floating floor is a good thing. IMHO I have found that it isn't a good practice to couple a speaker acoustically to a floating floor. The floor tends to act as an additional LF sound generator since it doesn't have the mass that it needs to absorb the energy that is being injected into it. This can "muddy" the sound because there are all sorts of phase and timing issues being generated along with the sound.

 

[miatancdan]

added pucks yesterday ( sunday ) .... on sale at local Canadian Tire @ 99 cents ))))) can not go wrong at that price. My floor is old natural wood floor from 1929s , guessing birch. Sound has improved in general.

But have 1 annoying problem (((( entrance external door to living - solid wood door from the 1920s vibrates, resonates with certain bass notes. Really bad when playing stuff like Patricia Barber or Pink Floyd.

Never had speakers produce enough bass before to cause this before - meters on McIntosh amplifier showing I am only using 3 to 30 watts per channel. Setting on back of Spires is at flat position.

Any susgestions?

Dan

 

[tsv_1]

added pucks yesterday ( sunday ) .... on sale at local Canadian Tire @ 99 cents ))))) can not go wrong at that price. My floor is old natural wood floor from 1929s , guessing birch. Sound has improved in general.

But have 1 annoying problem (((( entrance external door to living - solid wood door from the 1920s vibrates, resonates with certain bass notes. Really bad when playing stuff like Patricia Barber or Pink Floyd.

Never had speakers produce enough bass before to cause this before - meters on McIntosh amplifier showing I am only using 3 to 30 watts per channel. Setting on back of Spires is at flat position.

Any susgestions?

Dan

I have a similar problem with my windows

 

[miatancdan]

I have a similar problem with my windows

Same problems with windows in living room too, 1920s windows but have porch in front of house which helps keep cold away from original windows. Seems dependent on music playing Dire Straits, Katy Perry, Faith Hill does not effect windows or door? Seems every 3rd or fourth recording causes issues

Dan

 

[beek]

spikes and such

but in regards to this the pucks really do tame some of the bad traits of the sonics of set-up. I believe in the puck!

Very interesting my room is wood over concrete & I have carpeting with padding.
When I use the pucks under the spikes the whole show goes down the tubes cant live with the sound at all.

 

[beek]

sympathetic resonance

Dan,

Can you acess the basement under the audio room?
Its a pain but I have friends that had to resecure the flooring from under in the bad spots, can you feel some flex under your feet.

 

[Speedskater]

Rather than hockey pucks, try something like these:

http://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewproduct.cfm?productID=453058383
http://shop3.mailordercentral.com/supersoundproofing/products.asp?dept=25
http://www.pexsupply.com/DiversiTech-MP-2E-EVA-Anti-Vibration-Pad-2-x-2-x-7-8

(I wish we had a Canadian Tire store on this side of the lake)

 

[bzr]

@ Speedskater, so which of the above three are you using, how do you find them?
@ beek, I guessed where you were going with the puck, I've lived with a carpet on concrete floor in the past, pretty hard to beat.
@ DrJRapp, you are spot on with your floating floor analogy & I need to isolate the speakers mainly because of that.