Hi All,
Brainwater thank you for your kind comments.
Dmttrydr Some of the most likely prevailing theories suggest that eddy currents and hysteresis distortion are created when vibration is present within an electronic component. Both of these conditions can affect the flow of electrons through a conductor and theoretically alter the signal flowing through the component.
In addition, vibration can affect a component that utilizes a digital optical disc. The laser reading a spinning disc can have a more difficult time focusing on the information spiral if vibration is present. When this occurs, the servo sled must utilize corrective motors which will tax the power supply. If the vibration is severe, some digital information may be unreadable by the laser and interpolation can be brought into effect. Interpolation is when the processor makes up the information that should probably be in the unreadable section by comparing what came before the unreadable section and what comes after the unreadable section. It might guess correctly but it also may not. In any case, the power supply will work harder than necessary during this occurrence. Also, digital components are based on master and sub-clocks (oscillating crystals) and extra vibration can interfere with their accuracy. Unwanted vibration can cause timing errors (corrupted settling time) of the bits which can increase jitter.
Vacuum tubes can become microphonic and turntables exhibiting excess vibration can cause unwanted motion of the stylus within the groove which will add unwanted artifacts to the signal.
Makersmark I certainly agree that taking an accessory or a tweak that intended to address a particular problem and using it (unwittingly) to compensate for the symptom of a different problem in a system should be strongly avoided. As an example: if a system exhibits the typical symptom of certain types of vibration by having a forward midrange and glare or edginess to the lower treble region, a person should not compensate by adjusting speaker position or adding room treatments. Eliminating the CAUSE of the symptom should be addressed.
Addressing basic acoustic issues in a room is a high priority to allow a system to faithfully reproduce what is in the recording. Making sure the AC feeding the system is free of problems is also a high priority. Of course, addressing the three main sources of vibration is also critical to allow a system to faithfully reproduce what is in the recording. They are:
1) Vibration that is directly-coupled from the loudspeaker, and transfers through the floor and up through the component stand into the feet of the component. A properly designed vibration control support for a speaker will address this issue and eliminate the vibration.
2) Air-borne vibration sent directly from the loudspeaker drivers through the air towards the chassis of the component.
3) Self-generated vibration that is created within the chassis of the component by spinning motors, humming transformers and cooling fans.
The other significant sources of vibration are heating and air conditioning systems, exterior traffic (trucks, subways, trains, airplanes, cars, etc) as well as geological seismic activity.
Nrchy I also agree with many of your points. I would like to state that a hospital, observatory or laboratory is a fundamentally different environment than a listening room for audio or home theater. In addition, the equipment in the hospital, observatory or lab has different vibration control needs than the equipment in an audio or home theater.
The hospital, observatory or laboratory is a relatively quiet environment. The listening room at home is not - it is being filled with high SPLs of music. The component is being bombarded with large amounts of acoustic energy that is being absorbed into the chassis. In addition, the audio or video component is creating its own unwanted vibration internally (spinning motors, humming transformers, cooling fans, etc.). The laboratory device usually does not. We want to restrict as much acoustic energy and as much internally generated vibration as possible from contaminating the signal flowing through the component.
Walkelin Your points are well taken and the personal experience of listening to music is, of course, subjective. I would comment, however, that ALL components/systems are in need of properly designed and implemented vibration control. Every component manufactured is subject to at least one of the forms of destructive vibration that I have listed above and will require vibration control to achieve its optimum performance capabilities.
Best Regards,
Barry Kohan
