Surprising results with SoundFoundations Roller blocks

[Nikhil]

I‘d imagine a roller block is designed for a certain diameter ball. A larger ball will have a different curvature than the cups in which it sits. And that can impede its movement.

There is a limit of course to the ball size that is constrained by the "cup".

But you don't need to have any curvature at all - just a lip of sorts to contain the movement of the ball.
In fact, I would think that a curved cup adds resistance to the free movement of the "roller".
A flat cup with a lip will allow use of a larger roller and have better freedom of movement.



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[renjith lal]

Vivek, rightly observed. Firstly, I don’t believe any of the manufacturers have really given a thought on where to place the stock feet. In all cases they are uniformly close to the four corners of the base. My experimentation suggests that one needs to support the heavier portions of the internals directly to get better sound. Secondly, if I keep even one block under a stock foot, then I’d be compelled to keep the others also below the other feet to avoid imbalance in height. In any case, the roller blocks seem to me better designed to provide isolation than the feet, so there’s no reason to use the stock feet in combination with the blocks. Also, if I place the block under the feet, the block ultimately has to bear the weight. Then what’s the use of the feet?

Given all these reasons, I rather explored free style with placing the blocks to arrive at the optimum for each equipment.

Sandip, effect on sound quality? Yes. I have outlined in detail in the first post. I would rather not want the sound signature to change, and it does not.

I got the logic you are using.

One question: if we place the roller below the heavier side on the chassy of amplifier will that support area will be strong enough to support the mount? I mean the place we put the roller will it make the chassy deform due to lack of sufficient reinforcement in chassy?
Or will chassy have sufficient reinforcement if we support at different location other than the stock feet?

Just my opinion but use 3 isolators for anything - they define a plane perfectly.
Two in the front and one at the back is usually enough to support the gear.

Adding the fourth creates a "wobble" due to height variations.

Regards

Best support for any structure is by three points, few Hegel dacs are with three foot instead of four.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

There is a limit of course to the ball size that is constrained by the "cup".

But you don't need to have any curvature at all - just a lip of sorts to contain the movement of the ball.
In fact, I would think that a curved cup adds resistance to the free movement of the "roller".
A flat cup with a lip will allow use of a larger roller and have better freedom of movement.
.

Agree with that. Currently constrained by the existing cups though.

I got the logic you are using.
One question if we place the roller below the heavier side on the chassy of amplifier will that support area will be strong enough to support the mount? I mean the place we put the roller will it make the chassy deform due to lack of sufficient reinforcement in chassy?
Or will chassy have sufficient reinforcement if we support at different location other than the stock feet?

I guess that may depend on the particular equipment (and it’s chassis) in question. I frankly don’t believe that equipment manufacturers have given much thought in placing the stock feet - if they had it’s highly unlikely that all went for four feet in a rectangle close to the periphery irrespective of vastly varying inner weight dynamics. So if the chassis was weak, there’d be as much, if not more, deformation with the stock feet.

Best support for any structure is by three points, few Hegel dacs are with three foot instead of four.

Agree, provided the three are designed strong enough to carry the weight. When you buy isolators separately, it may or may not be possible to ensure.

 

[Kannan]

3 postion (equilateral) isolation should work best when the weight distribution is uniform.
With nonuniform distribution, I am not sure if it will work well or if it will be safe.