The worst tweak I tried this week

[jrhymeammo]

I sold some vintage gear on the web last week, and have some bubble wraps left over. So, I decided to fold each one 3 times and made 4 squares (3" x 3"). I placed them under my CD player's feet and under the bottom panel. I pulled out my favorite CD which I probably know best which is Amused to Death, Mastersound Album Classics Limited Edition 24 karat disc. Before I got to track 12 which is Three Wishes, it skipped 4 times. Then on track 12, Genie came on "hey boy whats whappening... what is going on.......... you can have 3 wishes.....if you dont take too long....." Bubble wraps made it skip 6 times before Genie disappeared. At that point, I was so frustrated I wanted to pop them one by one like a Xmas morning. I did place 5 lb weigh on top of my player and did help, but it still chirped once in awhile.

I still come across some articles suggesting to place inflated bicycle tubes under TT and CDP. BullSh$t is what that is. Not as bad as bubble wraps due to size consistancy. If TT and CDP weigh in over 30lbs bubbles and tubes might be okay. But in general, something of that size/quality no one should try to improve sound with 2 dollars worth of household items.

Metal cones and brass screws are the only way for me at this stage.

[JohnMichael]

I sold some vintage gear on the web last week, and have some bubble wraps left over. So, I decided to fold each one 3 times and made 4 squares (3" x 3"). I placed them under my CD player's feet and under the bottom panel. I pulled out my favorite CD which I probably know best which is Amused to Death, Mastersound Album Classics Limited Edition 24 karat disc. Before I got to track 12 which is Three Wishes, it skipped 4 times. Then on track 12, Genie came on "hey boy whats whappening... what is going on.......... you can have 3 wishes.....if you dont take too long....." Bubble wraps made it skip 6 times before Genie disappeared. At that point, I was so frustrated I wanted to pop them one by one like a Xmas morning. I did place 5 lb weigh on top of my player and did help, but it still chirped once in awhile.

I still come across some articles suggesting to place inflated bicycle tubes under TT and CDP. BullSh$t is what that is. Not as bad as bubble wraps due to size consistancy. If TT and CDP weigh in over 30lbs bubbles and tubes might be okay. But in general, something of that size/quality no one should try to improve sound with 2 dollars worth of household items.

Metal cones and brass screws are the only way for me at this stage.

I was just curious if you checked to see if the player was level while seated on the bubble wrap?

[FLZapped]

I sold some vintage gear on the web last week, and have some bubble wraps left over. So, I decided to fold each one 3 times and made 4 squares (3" x 3"). I placed them under my CD player's feet and under the bottom panel. I pulled out my favorite CD which I probably know best which is Amused to Death, Mastersound Album Classics Limited Edition 24 karat disc. Before I got to track 12 which is Three Wishes, it skipped 4 times. Then on track 12, Genie came on "hey boy whats whappening... what is going on.......... you can have 3 wishes.....if you dont take too long....." Bubble wraps made it skip 6 times before Genie disappeared. At that point, I was so frustrated I wanted to pop them one by one like a Xmas morning. I did place 5 lb weigh on top of my player and did help, but it still chirped once in awhile.

I still come across some articles suggesting to place inflated bicycle tubes under TT and CDP. BullSh$t is what that is. Not as bad as bubble wraps due to size consistancy. If TT and CDP weigh in over 30lbs bubbles and tubes might be okay. But in general, something of that size/quality no one should try to improve sound with 2 dollars worth of household items.

Metal cones and brass screws are the only way for me at this stage.

Try a folded bath towel yet?

[audio_dude]

just curious, what is the advantage to doing this versus leaving it on it's stock feet? i'm just a little confused

[jrhymeammo]

I was just curious if you checked to see if the player was level while seated on the bubble wrap?

Thanks JM, that is the part I forgot to write after my post. That was the most frustrating part, It was almost impossible to level-out my CDP. Bicycle tubes were better, but wasnt perfect by any means. Even if it was perfectly level, I dont think it would have improved sound quality/consistency. I still havent tried Vibrapad because I think it would allow equipments to move side to side. But I am eagered to tryout Vibracones in near future.

try a folded bath towel yet?

If bath towel and bubble wraps were the only choice, I would be using the biggest beach towel in the world.

just curious, what is the advantage to doing this versus leaving it on it's stock feet? i'm just a little confused

My idea for brass screws based on commercial products and other members was to decrease the surface area that touches my equipement from vibration. This really helped my TT, so I applied it to most of my gears. I had to move my brass tweaks to subwoofer since it made my bass sound might tighter. As for bubble wraps, I really dont know, but I cant tell you that bubble wraps and bicycle tubes are waste of resources under equipments.

[teledynepost]

Plastic bubbles and bicycle tubes are very elastic/bouncy, sounds like a terrible idea.

[FLZapped]

Thanks JM, that is the part I forgot to write after my post. That was the most frustrating part, It was almost impossible to level-out my CDP. Bicycle tubes were better, but wasnt perfect by any means. Even if it was perfectly level, I dont think it would have improved sound quality/consistency. I still havent tried Vibrapad because I think it would allow equipments to move side to side. But I am eagered to tryout Vibracones in near future.



If bath towel and bubble wraps were the only choice, I would be using the biggest beach towel in the world.

Uhm, okay, but have you tried it?

[Resident Loser]

Plastic bubbles and bicycle tubes are very elastic/bouncy, sounds like a terrible idea.

...tweeky stuff...is it bouncy or does it decouple? Should you use concrete blocks, balsa or bubinga, sand-bags or foam rubber, brass cones or sorbothane...What? Use a cable cooker on cryogenically-treated cable?

IMNSHO, the only component that needs any special care is a TT...as the electromechanical interface provided by the record surface/cart, can, will and does have an effect on the sound...

CD players mistrack and Pfffttt...no sound...PERIOD! Buffers hold info hopefully until the bump-in-the-road goes bye-bye and the error-correction, in the guise of CIRC, corrects for corrupted data...not synergistically radiated RFI feedback, not heavy footfalls, not nuffin'...

You would think all these equipment designers don't have a clue in how to make their medium work properly...like the green marker/ granite-plinth crowd does?

jimHJJ(...to paraphrase the immortal words of mtry...it's all hoo-doo about voo-doo...)

[jrhymeammo]

...
IMNSHO, the only component that needs any special care is a TT...as the electromechanical interface provided by the record surface/cart, can, will and does have an effect on the sound...

Very true. This may be the first time I ever agreed with you.

But!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I do have 16" x 16" x 6" slab of concrete under my TT and brass screws/hockey pucks. This works, it really does.I really havent experienced considerbly noticable improvement under any digital devices though.

Hey GatorZap, are you serious about the towel? I'm confused. Guess only one way to findout, Sh$t, now I gotta do laundry.......

[audio_dude]

why again would I want to do this?

[jrhymeammo]

why again would I want to do this?

I thought you had a turntable? If so, I guess you never experinced feedback MADNESS. If you just have a digital device, dont worry about it. Sound of records are created by vibration pickedup by stylus. So it is very important for me to minimize external vibration that result in less stellar sound.

[jrhymeammo]

Also, I have good equipments and setup but not great. It had much better stuff, it might be different.

[FLZapped]

Hey GatorZap, are you serious about the towel? I'm confused. Guess only one way to findout, Sh$t, now I gotta do laundry.......

Erm....guess that means me. And yes, the idea is to reduce transmitted vibrations. The towel will convert the vibrations into heat a they try to traverse the layers.

No, you won't burn anything up, there is WAY too little energy being dissipated to even notice a temperature increase of any kind.

However, others are right, if you've actually got vibration problems with your CD player, there is either something amiss in the CD player, or it is resting on a vibration table.