Isolation: What are you guys using under your Directstream?

alternatively, cut the 2"x2" into 4-1x1". Each of them support up to 200PSI, so a 1"x1" should support up to 50lbs. A bit dense for most gear. Cheap enough to go mad with experimentation.

While slightly off topic, I have an active vibration device under my turntable and can hear the effect of turning it on similar to focusing a lens.

IMG_4379

It also isolates when not active so I’m not even fully able to demonstrate the benefits.

I’ve chosen to mount it to timbernation 3" thick maple instead of the suggested steel plate (for scientific applications like electron microscopes, holography, chip production, etc)

I feel the maple provides the mass to sink vibration into (with some slight damping) which is then floated above the floor. These are modular so The control unit is separated.

Luckily I have another 3 of these and 2 will be placed underneath the BHK 300’s. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time but need help to lift the 300’s into the platforms with brass cones in between. The cones I have are threaded so I was planning on supporting the amps via the heat sinks (the thread would just sit in between the heat sink fins). I’m wondering if the heat sinks can support the weight of the units??? (4 cones under each amp)

I have another of these which will go under the tube preamp and a non modular unit to try under the DS.

BTW I have used mechanical grounding using brass to couple tube chassis amps internally to the surface they are sitting to fantastic effect!

Using a previous turntable I also made an plexy 5 sided box with hinged lid to help isolate the table from the acoustic pressure inside the room. While not able to A/B the results I felt it provided benefits. I have to make one of these plexy for the current table pictured above.

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Lots of great ideas to mull over here. My TV/audio stand is shown at https://www.amazon.com/Convenience-Concepts-Designs2Go-3-Tier-Stand/dp/B002HWR598, which is MDF. On the bottom shelf, a P10 sits on a PowerBase. On the middle shelf, an Oppo 203 sits on a DSD, with vibration pads underneath that I find do a decent job (and also come in handy for separating cables). Update: I’d been using cork/rubber pads but am switching to EVA ones from SupplyHouse.com, per brett66 post.

I have ATC SCM19a powered speakers on medium shag carpet and use Herbie’s Giant Fat Gliders underneath, which even at only 16 mm made a big difference in freeing up top to bottom. Another good idea, which I’m about to use under a pair of JL Audio subs, are the SVS isolators, which come in packs of four and have a 45-day full money back return. They are screw-in, but I bet they’d work free standing. https://www.svsound.com/products/soundpath-subwoofer-isolation-system.

Have recently been experimenting with pads from Supplyhouse under my DS DAC and also some fairly hefty silicone pucks from https://www.hudsonhifi.com/. These are cheap enough to be an impulse purchase, and they seem to work pretty well, though double-sided 3m tape tends to not stick to them…I would guess that some silicone caulk should work with them as an adhesive, if desired. Under my preamp I am running acoustifeet, in the correct durometer. Pretty much the same material afaik, but the acoustifeet are thinner and have their own adhesive backing. Dirt cheap and they seem to do a nice job. Under my turntable I have a Symposium Segue Iso platform and also have a spare platform with Isonoe feet - these are interesting and also seem to work well, but I find myself unwilling to trust them with an expensive component less the silicone bands give way and the platform should plummet, though it could only fall by 3/4 inch or so.

I received a set of three of the IsoAcoustics Oreas and installed them under my Decware ZTPRE preamplifier.

These are like a tone control dialing in more bass in my system. A mid bass bump and a bit of a more forward presentation. All the rest of my system has VooDoo Cable Iso-Pods underneath which in comparison are neutral. If your system needs a bit of a bass boost. . . the Oreas may do the trick.

Okay these have literally warmed up today (spent all last night sitting out in the 'twenties degree weather by my front door last night) and settled in and sound less ā€œbass tone controlā€ than before. Sound with these is very similar to the sound of the VooDoo Iso-Pods, and are cheaper. And the bright chrome looks really good with the bright chrome dual volume control knobs on the red face-plate of my ZTPRE. I’m keeping them right where they are.

Interesting, I got less midbass (at least less midbass smear and better midbass connection to independent instruments), and my system became less forward :slight_smile:

As I noted, the sound has changed for me from first installation to now, and they are neutral sounding and far less forward sounding than before. I honestly can’t figure out how these are made exactly, but the cold could have been the issue, they WERE very cold when I unboxed them and put them in place. I listened for about an hour, then went away to take my Dad to an appointment and lunch and shopping and came back to find the sound noticeably improved.

Notice that they will compress like tight spring… it is possible that if they were very cold that they were too stiff physically until they warmed up and relaxed into their optimal state.

I am interested in the effect I will hear when I add more underneath my other components.

I’m just planning on the one set right now as I have Iso-Pods happily under all my other components and I will be receiving a new pair of Decware 25th Anniversary version SE84UFO3 mono blocks next week and thus needed one more set of isolation components as I am now using a stereo amp, the Decware Taboo Mk IV, not mono blocks. Thought I would try the Oreas and I think they’ll do fine for now and I will use the Iso-Pods I had under the ZTPRE under one of the Monoblocks and I should be good to go!

I imagine you’ll get positive results adding more Oreas.

Lon–come to respect your critical analysis—May I ask, ZTPRE vs DAC Sr pre? (This question from a tinkerer who is happy with the dac pre but is insanely a tinkerer)
Ron

meant to reply to YOU----look down

Ron,

I really liked the DSD as a preamp. . . with one exception: I really preferred the sound of the balanced output to the single-ended. . . my system really likes voltage into the input of my amps and the single-ended wasn’t putting enough out. I then used a Decware component called a ZBIT that uses a Jensen transformer to allow me to get all the voltage (adjustable) from the balanced output and then run it single-ended into my amp.* THAT was a great solution.

Then someone offered me a great deal on the sixth ZTPRE built, used, and I went for it because it is a fully balanced preamp and I knew if it didn’t beat the DSD as a preamp I could sell it and not lose much at all. I used the ZBIT to convert its output. Well the ZTPRE offers even more gain and long story short I think it makes the DSD sound better. It also, to a larger extent, improves the sound in my system of my two other sources, the Oppo UDP-205 and the Magnum Dynalab 90T SE tuner. It’s a winner, and t me the sound has a fuller body to it and more dynamics with the ZTPRE. I was happy before the ZTPRE. . . I’m happy with it and happier.

*My ZBIT I had built with two outputs and run one to my speaker amplifier and one to my headphone amplifier. Win win.

Thanks Lon
ps–you should be a reviewer!

Well, those reviewing job offers haven’t exactly been streaming in. . . :wink:

Just an update re: the Oreas.

I did some comparisons via headphones and for my system I prefer the effect the VooDoo Cable Iso-Pods have on my system . . . . The difference isn’t more than subtle, but the best parts of my system are all about subtleties.

With the Iso-Pods there’s a slightly more open midrange and a bit more instrumental separation or lack of congestion. I moved the Oreas elsewhere, the preamp is too ā€œcentral.ā€ I still enjoy them, and they’re at a nice price point.

Very interesting as they are similar devices.

Well, I am not sure how similar they are. The Iso-Pods have three bearings as their active ingredient, the Oreas. . . I haven’t figured out what that uses, a spring of some sort though when I see a photo of the innards I don’t see one.

I find distinct differences between isolation footers of different ā€œengineering.ā€

Good point. I am thinking similar in that they both move beneath the component using a sandwich layer.

I played with placement moving them from the edges to maybe 1.5 to 2 inches from the edge. My thinking is that at the edge there might not be a purely perpendicular force, slightly closer to center may give a more even load on the isolators. Just thinking… don’t know if I’m crazy.