Tube Dampers

A question about tube dampers.
I know what they are supposed to do, my question is, is it worth while fitting them no matter what, or is one better off to fit them say in a preamp as compared to an power amp.
We have a barn style house and we live on the second floor. The floor is wooden, and even though solid, still produces some vibration when walking on it, which I have noticed can 'transmit' through the amp, I think most of that is via the phono though. Down the track I will be looking at a better quality phono.

No experience with them on a stereo but they definitely did the trick on a 1965 Gibson Minuteman guitar amp.

Dave_in_Va wrote:No experience with them on a stereo but they definitely did the trick on a 1965 Gibson Minuteman guitar amp.

yes, we had them on our amps too, made a huge difference playing gigs, especially on not so solid stages!

I have them on my PH15 and both ST14's . I know they made a difference on the new SP14 . Like you I have an old house and floor vibrations  are a problem . On my bedroom stereo the vibration would actually make a record skip  just walking normally! What I did was build a shelf for the turntable  and mounted it to the studs in the wall  with no connection to the floor . I did the same downstairs  making a mantle type setup for the turntable and phono preamp . You can jump near both of them now and no vibration . You could do someting like that for your setup .

pigface wrote:I have them on my PH15 and both ST14's . I know they made a difference on the new SP14 . Like you I have an old house and floor vibrations  are a problem . On my bedroom stereo the vibration would actually make a record skip  just walking normally! What I did was build a shelf for the turntable  and mounted it to the studs in the wall  with no connection to the floor . I did the same downstairs  making a mantle type setup for the turntable and phono preamp . You can jump near both of them now and no vibration . You could do someting like that for your setup .

good advise, thanks for that!

The tube dampers are more for internal vibration and microphonics ... you'd be better served working on isolating the amp and phono. The VibroPods are well regarded and no worries about staining wood like you'd have with sorbothane. I'd go with two floating shelves, one for the amp, and another for the table to minimize any transmission between the two. Just keep in mind the pods are calibrated for certain loads, so watch the weight limits when buying.

Lucky me ... I've got 600+ pounds of gear and vinyl on my rack so that does a nice job of damping the floor. I also beefed up the floor trusses underneath and added a couple support pillars - seemed like a good idea, what with all that damping going on. I can do a whole lotta jumping around with nary a worry.

heeeellooo...those VibraPads might just be the ticket for my phono, will get me a set of four and see if that dampens the 'elephants' stomping on our floor!!

Easy check... Use the eraser end of a pencil and lightly tap on the tubes in your amp. If you have a microphonics issue you will hear a metallic ringing sound through your speakers. If you hear ringing dampers may improve this. If you hear nothing, it is likely that dampers will do little for you.

j beede wrote:Easy check... Use the eraser end of a pencil and lightly tap on the tubes in your amp. If you have a microphonics issue you will hear a metallic ringing sound through your speakers. If you hear ringing dampers may improve this. If you hear nothing, it is likely that dampers will do little for you.

OK, will do...glad you said pencil and not ball hammer!

MontanaWay wrote:

j beede wrote:Easy check... Use the eraser end of a pencil and lightly tap on the tubes in your amp. If you have a microphonics issue you will hear a metallic ringing sound through your speakers. If you hear ringing dampers may improve this. If you hear nothing, it is likely that dampers will do little for you.

OK, will do...glad you said pencil and not ball hammer!

well just did that, nothing through the speakers...so I guess thats good. I ordered a set of VibraPads, hopefully that will help with the phono picking up floor noise/vibrations.

I use a single rubber damper (the 10-cent variety) on the driver tubes on my M-125s. The front tubes tend to be very sensitive to harmonics and the damps have helped. Tried 'em on the phono and line preamps but heard no difference, so those tubes are nekkid.
I had a horrible subsonic rumble feedback through the system with my VPI Traveler turntable. Took Dick Vandersteen's advice and mounted a wall-shelf for the turntable, the theory being the floor and the wall have different harmonic frequencies.
That, and some tennis balls under the Traveler took care of most of the problem.
However, there's an even more elegant solution and that's one of Kevin's (KABUSA.com) RF-1 rumble filters here:
http://www.kabusa.com/rf1.htm for about $100. It's an active subsonic filter and cured all ills. Goes in the line between the phono preamp and the line preamp. It cured all my turntable ills. Before engaging in serious carpentry, I'd try one of these. It's about the size of a pack of long cigarettes. Kevin is a hoot to talk to as well and if you're an Ortofon cart freak has great advice (and prices) on those as well. His website sucks, so it's just best to call.
I put cheap Sorbothane feet under all components, amps and preamps. Can't see the need to go the mag-lev route, no matter how attractive they are to polar and bi-polar personalities.
I remember when the first Hafler solid-state amp (DH-200?) came out, and built one. It had a terrible hum, physically as well as through the speaks. Asked around (pre-internet days) and found this was a common problem, and the solution was to put a brick on top of the cabinet. That worked!
Sometimes Occam's Razor applies to audio, too.

well I installed the VibraPads under my phono and it has made a difference, it does not pick up near as much vibration from the floor.
Now, just gotta find a way to stop the phono 'ice skating' all over the surface!!!

MontanaWay wrote:well I installed the VibraPads under my phono and it has made a difference, it does not pick up near as much vibration from the floor.
Now, just gotta find a way to stop the phono 'ice skating' all over the surface!!!

Montana, if I'm reading this correctly, your tone-arm is skating over the record surface? If that's the case, something's haywire with your anti-skating setting, or your tracking weight is too light. From personal experience with Ortofon carts, and also advice from others, set your tracking weight on the high side, maybe even a bit above. Too light a tracking weight will do more damage to the vinyl than a tad on the heavy side.

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:well I installed the VibraPads under my phono and it has made a difference, it does not pick up near as much vibration from the floor.
Now, just gotta find a way to stop the phono 'ice skating' all over the surface!!!

Montana, if I'm reading this correctly, your tone-arm is skating over the record surface? If that's the case, something's haywire with your anti-skating setting, or your tracking weight is too light. From personal experience with Ortofon carts, and also advice from others, set your tracking weight on the high side, maybe even a bit above. Too light a tracking weight will do more damage to the vinyl than a tad on the heavy side.

hehehe...no not the tone arm, the whole phono unit, since it is now resting on those 'ball bearing' feet. I am thinking of using double sided tape to stick down four black rubber grommets on the top of the shelf so that the 'ball bearings' can sit in the grommet, that should stop the phono unit from skating around.

MontanaWay wrote:

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:well I installed the VibraPads under my phono and it has made a difference, it does not pick up near as much vibration from the floor.
Now, just gotta find a way to stop the phono 'ice skating' all over the surface!!!

Montana, if I'm reading this correctly, your tone-arm is skating over the record surface? If that's the case, something's haywire with your anti-skating setting, or your tracking weight is too light. From personal experience with Ortofon carts, and also advice from others, set your tracking weight on the high side, maybe even a bit above. Too light a tracking weight will do more damage to the vinyl than a tad on the heavy side.

hehehe...no not the tone arm, the whole phono unit, since it is now resting on those 'ball bearing' feet. I am thinking of using double sided tape to stick down four black rubber grommets on the top of the shelf so that the 'ball bearings' can sit in the grommet, that should stop the phono unit from skating around.

Or maybe some velcro?

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:well I installed the VibraPads under my phono and it has made a difference, it does not pick up near as much vibration from the floor.
Now, just gotta find a way to stop the phono 'ice skating' all over the surface!!!

Montana, if I'm reading this correctly, your tone-arm is skating over the record surface? If that's the case, something's haywire with your anti-skating setting, or your tracking weight is too light. From personal experience with Ortofon carts, and also advice from others, set your tracking weight on the high side, maybe even a bit above. Too light a tracking weight will do more damage to the vinyl than a tad on the heavy side.

hehehe...no not the tone arm, the whole phono unit, since it is now resting on those 'ball bearing' feet. I am thinking of using double sided tape to stick down four black rubber grommets on the top of the shelf so that the 'ball bearings' can sit in the grommet, that should stop the phono unit from skating around.

Or maybe some velcro?

hhhhmmmmm....I might try the 'hook & loop' end of a velcro pad, might be just enough to hold that VERY small footprint of those 'ball bearing' feet on the VibraPads!.....I'm glad I thought of that!!!!  

Our local hardware store has such stuff: sticky on the back, velcro on the front. I'm thinking the velcro might have just enough "give" to keep the vibration dampening work.

deepee99 wrote:Our local hardware store has such stuff: sticky on the back, velcro on the front. I'm thinking the velcro might have just enough "give" to keep the vibration dampening work.

yep...got some in my workshop, will try it out later this afternoon. Have to do some spring repairs in the house first....the never ending story!

Tell me about it. We are remodeling the kitchen. Makes building a pair of M-125s child's play, and cheap at half the price.

deepee99 wrote:Tell me about it. We are remodeling the kitchen. Makes building a pair of M-125s child's play, and cheap at half the price.

luckily...maybe...our house is only 1.5 years old, but still small jobs here and there, still have to stain all the inside doors, door frames and window frames.....fun fun fun.....   

Probably should have warned you about that ...

Try them lil felt pads they sell at the local hardware. Handy lil devils. I used some to stabilize the big bottles on my ST120.



No more rockin' when I'm rockin" !!

PS ... my house is around 100 years old ... those little projects just keep getting bigger ...

sKiZo wrote:Probably should have warned you about that ...

Try them lil felt pads they sell at the local hardware. Handy lil devils. I used some to stabilize the big bottles on my ST120.



No more rockin' when I'm rockin" !!

PS ... my house is around 100 years old ... those little projects just keep getting bigger ...

100 years old? It's barely broken in!