Damping Mechanical Energy Distortion of STAX and other phones with SORBOTHANE and other materials.

Sep 8, 2016 at 4:12 PM Post #646 of 952
  Has anyone tried the damping sheets like Dynamax you can get from car stereo shops they use to stop the vibrations on quarter panels? They make all kinds with different thickness and materials.


Yes. If you go over to the T50 mods thread or the ortho thread you will find myriad instances of Dynamat and a whole lot of info on why it is largely abandoned for all uses except sealing baffles to cups.
 
 Sorbothane and a few other options offer immeasurably cleaner and better solutions to the same issues.
 
Sep 8, 2016 at 7:43 PM Post #647 of 952
  Has anyone tried the damping sheets like Dynamax you can get from car stereo shops they use to stop the vibrations on quarter panels? They make all kinds with different thickness and materials.

sorbothane transform vibration into heat... dynamat only  absorb vibration (isolate)  
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Sep 8, 2016 at 11:20 PM Post #649 of 952
You said after removing the grills of the HE-400's one should fill the grove around the driver with sorbathane. Could go into more detail on performing that mod? Do you use seperate pieces and if so, how many? Should the pieces make contact making a complete ring or add the pieces with spaces in between and if so, how many and what shape should the pieces be. I hate to split hairs, but this seems like this would be important.
 
Sep 8, 2016 at 11:39 PM Post #650 of 952
You said after removing the grills of the HE-400's one should fill the grove around the driver with sorbathane. Could go into more detail on performing that mod? Do you use seperate pieces and if so, how many? Should the pieces make contact making a complete ring or add the pieces with spaces in between and if so, how many and what shape should the pieces be. I hate to split hairs, but this seems like this would be important.


8 pieces or 10 pieces (according to the lenght of the cutted pieces) 1/4 inches thick self adhesive sorbothane duro 70...i let some spaces between each pieces...i insert them delicately pushing them with a very small screwdriver for electronics... the 1/4 inches pieces fit perfectly, slightly compressed between the wall of the groove, the glued part on the external side of the groove ( i push each one pieces to make sure that they are insert perfectly to the bottom of the groove between the walls)....it is very simple and very effective mod.:beerchug:
 
Sep 11, 2016 at 10:47 PM Post #651 of 952
Indeed  we must all learn by experiment the art of rightly applying  Sorbothane ... I thought that my sansui amplifier with his 28 pounds would adequately compress the sorb under it, and who want to put a heavy load on top of his amplifier in the first place ?... It was an error, it must be with the amp.  like  it was already with my speakers and  with my  other gear, i estimate now that it need around (+or- 5 pounds) 40 pound of load to compress adequately the sorb. duro 70 under any gear ... i put  approx.15  pound of load more on top of the amp. to obtain the same rate of compression i have already with my speakers and  other piece of gear, like my dac, and, By god! the sound coming from  the sansui now  trough the  speakers or trough the headphone out is now way better, imaging also, more lush and airy sound and voice... i am amaze by the potency of sorb. to upgrade  my system...
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People can mock me, if they prefer to pay thousand dollars for an external sidegrade, they can pay it, i cannot ...Sorbothane is very true  internal upgrade, reversible, for peanuts...My sansui amplifier + sorb.  is a marvel .....
 
By the way no  audio cie. will say in his marketing rant  : «all audio gear vibrate, our product are the best but you must put 40 pounds of load on top and sorb. duro 70 under it after that, and only after that  you will have the best audio in the world»...No way...Vibrations and negative resonance are universal plague in audio, no gear can touch his potential better sound if his enclosure produce polluting resonance that destroy imaging and timbre's cues in the sound space, and it seems that not one cie. in audio world face it truly, but after all  they cannot sell load of granite with sorb.duro 70 to remedy that, this would be ridiculous, for sure they can sell you 4 feet of sorb. with a lighter duro, but it will not do the job adequately, i have been there...Hence only in this thread the problem was pointed to by Edstrelow  , and the beginning of a solution emerge...
 
In almost all forums, there is subjective impressions about folk's new gear,  an often durable and  permanent insatisfaction and the necessity to pay more for better gear, i think perhaps if we have already good piece of audio gear, (for me  for example Sansui au 7700 is one of the best amp in  1975 and is certainly not obsolete by any means now, stax are good headphone, he 400 good can also, Mission v60 good speakers ) perhaps if we eliminate vibrations and  bad resonance, this good gear will improve to his true own's higher level, and truely that is my experience indeed... When someone is satisfied it is more easy to wait some years before  an external expansive upgrade...I say to all of you, try it before buying the new hype product....
 
(the new hype for headphone is now the Utopia, it is the headphone to buy,but at this price it is impossible for me..The good news is i am no more frustrated, because my headphone is now so good that , (yes Utopia will be better but i will not kill myself eaten by envy before buying it
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), my he 400 or Stax  are on par with my speakers system, and it is already audiophile sound, hence i can wait couple of years
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)
 
P.S. you can use duro 30 or 40 or 50 ,  and perhaps you will not feel the  need to put some heavy load on top of your gear, but in my experience duro 70 is better for absorbing  audio resonance,but it must be compressed, the result are way more evident... ...
 

 
 

 
Sep 14, 2016 at 7:09 PM Post #654 of 952
  Do you have spikes under your speakers? I hope so as that's a must.

no spikes...not necessary at all for me on my desk, spikes isolate ONLY the speakers from the desk or the floor, they dont absorb vibration and cannot transform vibrations into heat, sorbothane are under my speakers because sorb dont only isolate,but diminishes also  the negative resonance....
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My spikes are the 2 granite plates with sorb. in between them, hence no need of spikes...My speakers are completely isolate from the desk.... 
 
Sep 19, 2016 at 10:07 AM Post #657 of 952
  I need some of this to dampen the transformer vibration of my vacuum tube amp. And my Oppo BDP-95, it has a fan.

 Be sure to use duro 70 sorbothane 1/8 inches under the feet , cut some large squares to not impede the stability of the transformer and if you put some heavy load on top of your transformer it will be way better... 
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Sep 19, 2016 at 1:13 PM Post #658 of 952
   Be sure to use duro 70 sorbothane 1/8 inches under the feet , cut some large squares to not impede the stability of the transformer and if you put some heavy load on top of your transformer it will be way better... 
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I used to put lead shots in small wooden boxes for weight on top of amps. Looks better and heavier than concrete blocks.
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Sep 19, 2016 at 3:46 PM Post #659 of 952
   
I used to put lead shots in small wooden boxes for weight on top of amps. Looks better and heavier than concrete blocks.
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Very good idea! Congratulations! better than my concrete yes 
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P.S.  remember that the  optimal weight of this load must first be determinated by the ears experience and by trials and errors, the sound in my experience is modified negatively with too much weight or not at his potential with  not enough load... hence you must perhaps substract or add some lead shots...
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Sep 21, 2016 at 6:10 PM Post #660 of 952
My amp and DAC are so small they have external power supplies.(HeadRoom Micro m and and DAC) But they absolutely kick ass and the amp will drive any headphone made with the exception of electrostatic 'phones that need special amps and a lot of money.
 

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