Amp Stand for Heavy Amp on Wood Floor?

[Ron Resnick]

If you have a big, heavy amplifier with a wood floor underneath what do you use for an amp stand?

I know Adona makes the Zero GX1 Reference, and Symposium Acoustics makes a flat, multi-layered platform. These seem reasonably priced.

Of course CMS and HRS make their very expensive amp stands.

I know MikeL places his big darTZeels on Taiko Tana/Herzan platforms.

Do any of you keep your amp stands on casters or rubber wheels?

Unlike many, I think Sorbothane is very useful in such an application. Does anyone make an amp stand the heart of which is a thick and broad layer of Sorbothane between two plates of some kind?

What amp stand do you use?

 

[Vienna]

Hi Ron,

i used to have my Mephisto straight on my wooden floor , after some time I had Installed sorbothane absorbers under the feet, but this had ruined the sound.
Speaking with a friend with Mephisto Monos, I went for the HRS platform and couldn’t believe the improvement I got .

 

[Ron Resnick]

Hi Ron,

i used to have my Mephisto straight on my wooden floor , after some time I had Installed sorbothane absorbers under the feet, but this had ruined the sound.
Speaking with a friend with Mephisto Monos, I went for the HRS platform and couldn’t believe the improvement I got .

Thank you for this report. What was the location of your Mephisto vis-à-vis your speakers?

Which HRS platform do you use? What are the "feet" of your HRS platform?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

do you want the amps to dance with the music?

nothing demonstrates resonance control more than amp<->floor interfaces. but this is as much about your floor as the interface. and your speaker<->floor interface. and how dynamic your system gets or might get.

so not one size fits all.

 

[bazelio]

I've done some very crude vibration measurments with Sorbathane bumpers under a base. Sorbathane does seem to do what is expected according to the first law of Thermodynamics. The problem I've always had with it is the collapsing of the sound stage among other undesirable sonic affects. After having used my Dartzeel 108 on wood for some time, I inserted a simple metal plate underneath. I was very surprised at the result, and it has stayed ever since. Under the metal plate, I had to experiment because it was easy to hear the sound change based on the damping property of different substrates. I tried Sorbathane, felt, and rubber O-rings, and settled on O rings. But even there, it look a while to settle on the number of O rings and their arrangement. It was easy to go too far in both directions, and I tuned by ear according my preference.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I've done some very crude vibration measurments with Sorbathane bumpers under a base. Sorbathane does seem to do what is expected according to the first of of Thermodynamics. The problem I've always had with it is the collapsing of the sound stage among other undesirable sonic affects. After having used my Dartzeel 108 on wood for some time, I inserted a simple metal plate underneath. I was very surprised at the result, and it has stayed ever since. Under the metal plate, I had to experiment because it was easy to hear the sound change based on the damping property of different substrates. I tried Sorbathane, felt, and rubber O-rings, and settled on O rings. But even there, it look a while to settle on the number of O rings and their arrangement. It was easy to go too far in both directions, and I tuned by ear according my preference.

Thank you for telling us about your experience. Do you have a theory about what was going on?

Was the metal plate effectively conducting more vibration from the floor into your component, but then the rubber O-rings were absorbing it away?

 

[Ron Resnick]

Has anyone compared directly in his own system a Symposium Acoustics platform to either a CMS amp stand or an HRS amp stand?

 

[Ron Resnick]

I guess Sound Anchors ConeCoasters could be used to enable one to move heavy amps around a little bit on a wood floor rather than wheels or casters.

 

[Blackmorec]

Finite Element Pagoda Master Reference MkII or their Carbon Stands

 

[PeterA]

I guess Sound Anchors ConeCoasters could be used to enable one to move heavy amps around a little bit on a wood floor rather than wheels or casters.


View attachment 72355

Ron, why would you want to move your amps around on the floor?

Have you talked to @ddk about a Nothing Rack amp stand?

My 135 pound amplifiers rest on 130 pound steel plates on rubber O-rings on 150 pound deflated steel Vibraplane platforms on birch plywood platforms on the wooden floor. It is basically a 300 pound steel and Wood sandwich.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Has anyone compared directly in his own system a Symposium Acoustics platform to either a CMS amp stand or an HRS amp stand?

Ron, no comparison of Symposium to CMS or HRS re ampstands, only to GP Monaco. I felt my Symposium had the edge. However this is a few years ago, my memory is a little hazy. All I can say is Symposium really delivers the goods audibly with very little voice of it's own. I'm also using with Symposium Rollerblock Jnrs couplers. The only areas where Symposium reliably outpaced is Stacore under my tt, and Revopods under my Zus.

 

[bazelio]

Thank you for telling us about your experience. Do you have a theory about what was going on?

Was the metal plate effectively conducting more vibration from the floor into your component, but then the rubber O-rings were absorbing it away?

My theory is it's coloration. And it's a different coloration than my floor or rack produces. But apparently a coloration that I like. The 1" heavy metal plate rings. The simple knuckle test allows you to hear the ringing, as well as the dampening effect of the substrate as you change materials or O-ring arrangements. How this ringing interacts with and colors the sound though, this is less clear to me. Especially since mine is a solid state amp.

 

[miniguy]

I guess Sound Anchors ConeCoasters could be used to enable one to move heavy amps around a little bit on a wood floor rather than wheels or casters.


View attachment 72355

Even better and you can choose the metal.

Cone/Spike Decoupling Glider

Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders for use between spikes and floor: absorbs a substantial amount of cabinet vibration, allowing speaker baffles and the cabinet itself to remain more motionless in place, and eliminates any reverberation from the floor affecting the speakers.

herbiesaudiolab.com

 

[Ron Resnick]

Even better and you can choose the metal.

Cone/Spike Decoupling Glider

Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders for use between spikes and floor: absorbs a substantial amount of cabinet vibration, allowing speaker baffles and the cabinet itself to remain more motionless in place, and eliminates any reverberation from the floor affecting the speakers.

herbiesaudiolab.com

Thank you for this link!

I would never have the patience to buy sets in all three metals to compare them myself. Which metal do you recommend?

I ordered one big titanium one to play with it.

I think the spikes on the bottom of the VTL Siegfried IIs will fit right into the indentation in these.

 

[XV-1]

Auralex Gramma Amp or Loudspeaker Isolation Platform​

don't laugh, these work a treat and cheap as chips.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron, why would you want to move your amps around on the floor?

Have you talked to @ddk about a Nothing Rack amp stand?

My 135 pound amplifiers rest on 130 pound steel plates on rubber O-rings on 150 pound deflated steel Vibraplane platforms on birch plywood platforms on the wooden floor. It is basically a 300 pound steel and Wood sandwich.

Until I know exactly where I want the amplifiers to be located as I adjust the positions of the speakers over the first several months after I set up the system I want the amplifier stands to have rubber casters or wheels or felt glides on the bottom so I can move the amplifiers easily on a hardwood floor as I re-position the speakers.

I want to keep the pass-through interconnects from the Pendragon bass towers to the amplifiers to only one meter if possible, and the speaker cables could be maybe only four feet.

The position of the speakers from the front wall could vary between 5 feet and 9 feet.

I don't want a lot of extra loose cable snaking around, so it's convenient to be able to slide the amplifiers around to keep things close together.

No; I can imagine a Nothing Rack amp stand would be extremely expensive and extremely heavy.

I am totally delighted that the sandwich you have developed works for you! (But I have trouble understanding the mix of steel plate and rubber rings and deflated Vibraplane steel plate and wood. Rubber in the middle of two steel plates is a sandwich I understand, and the rubber de-couples the amplifier from the floor. This is what I like Sorbothane for. The partial coupling to the floor with wood I don't understand.)

 

[Ron Resnick]

Auralex Gramma Amp or Loudspeaker Isolation Platform​

don't laugh, these work a treat and cheap as chips.

I'm not laughing!

Is it a thick rubber pad? What is it exactly?

 

[LL21]

I'm not laughing!

Is it a thick rubber pad? What is it exactly?

It is used in the music industry underneath amps as well as under equipment when used in a studio recording. I use it under the Velodyne and it does a remarkable job. It appears to be carpeted plywood board, and underneath very high density acoustic foam. With 300 lbs on top...it has not deformed in all these years.

 

[bazelio]

Auralex Gramma Amp or Loudspeaker Isolation Platform​

don't laugh, these work a treat and cheap as chips.

I had one of these. For me, a 1" steel plate was far better.

 

[dbeau]

It is used in the music industry underneath amps as well as under equipment when used in a studio recording. I use it under the Velodyne and it does a remarkable job. It appears to be carpeted plywood board, and underneath very high density acoustic foam. With 300 lbs on top...it has not deformed in all these years.

Likewise, I have these under my mono tube amps (on a rack) which gave, what I perceived to be an improvement in sound definition - not to move around. Now, under my WA X1s (600#s) I placed the Herbies coasters under the spikes, which gave no change in sound (IMO) but allow me to move these heavy speakers a bit by myself.