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What is the best type of test music for vibration isolation experiments?


Ralf11

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A proper vibration table is the only way to really test the effectiveness of some vibration isolation,  you could make a simple home one using a subwoofer fastened to a board. DUT on the board feed single a swept sinewaves to the motor.

You can also put accelerators on your kit and see how much it is vibrating.

If it is an issue plenty of AV mounts out there in RS and the likes.

This is good on metal panels, I would suspect it may be overkill for domestic situations... Having once had a stock of it I have player around, great on SS sink bases, stops the noise. Also used it on some kit, don't know whether it made an improvement, couldn't hear one through the speakers, but made the case a lot more solid, if I remember correctly it was a marantz CD63

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Have you considered YashN 's ideas on  suspending the listener or bending time and space with your mind and levitating by tuning into the right harmonies.  I think we should explore all potentials whether they are currently accepted as a means for testing isolation or not.  

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OK, serious answer.  

 

What I have been using is not weighty vibration producing sounds or even the opposite.  The effect one hopes to further is lifelike approximation.  The difference between hearing a bird chirp on a calm city street versus after 10 minutes of sitting still in a country field.  

 

The first thing I reached for was Dark Side Of The Moon for fake perfection that can only come about through layers of retouching over 40+ years to improve on others work.  It having been 25 years since listening to that album being the main purpose of choosing it.  

 

Second was a grab bag off the list of golden audiophile favorites which I had never heard nor cared to own.  MJ's Liberian Girl, something off Nightfly Morph The Cat, some others.  I listened to them a lot in small chunks over the course of a week or so without ever really listening to the music like someone who enjoys those works would.  Again, no memory of them starting out and far from my usual musical beaten path.  Listening for problems and making small corrections. 

 

Next up was digging through, not sure why I didn't just press shuffle now that I think about it,  my library and randomly listening to a couple minutes max of one file off any of the less familiar albums I came across.  This was a retuning my ears away from the studio sound step.

 

Lastly, full albums taking in a little of all the classical elements.  DR in the 20's, atonal modern music, large scale orchestral punches, solo/duo instruments in large and small spaces, bells (This has been in order of listening and these were where it started getting really good.), 50's-60's landmark performances, and finally some hair metal to deal with construction noise and vibrations.  

 

Familiarity destroys distinction.  The whisper soft parts took on meaning, Bartok's 1st String Quartet melded into a rewarding finish, and so on down the line.  By the time I got around to listening to personal favorites non-critically  the change was expected and less catchy.  Life and 100+F heat saw to it the next phase got delayed, A/B/C'ing the isolation system; A)no isolation B) That used above C) Changes to B.  Every air conditioner in the county running at full blast was not conducive to much listening wise.  

 

So a very contrived sequence of events ultimately contradicting my stated goal of unblemished natural sounds being used.  If you've been paying attention those sounds are going to be on vinyl.  I couldn't see how ignoring it was possible given the dependencies on balance and lengths people go to with damping.  Possibly the easiest natural sound to differentiate poor reproduction of is the  human voice.  That is where I plan to start.  

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23 hours ago, rando said:

So a very contrived sequence of events ultimately contradicting my stated goal of unblemished natural sounds being used.  If you've been paying attention those sounds are going to be on vinyl.  I couldn't see how ignoring it was possible given the dependencies on balance and lengths people go to with damping.  Possibly the easiest natural sound to differentiate poor reproduction of is the  human voice.  That is where I plan to start.  

 

Good choice on the voice - I have a Vanguard recording of Odetta at Carnegie Hall; mastered extremely low in volume - maximum gain is barely enough, ^_^. Instant giveaway - am I listening to a real person, or a caricature of that type of voice?

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