gto6 Posted February 11, 2001 Share Posted February 11, 2001 What are you guys using to keep your tube amps vibration free while sitting on top of your speakers. I just bought a pair of late 50's McIntosh mc30's I'll put on top of a pair of Khorns and don't want them shaking and vibrating there way right over to the repair shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 11, 2001 Share Posted February 11, 2001 get them off your speakers mine sit on a Yorkstone paving tile on top of a thick sheet of styrofoam, while I do not detect any feed back at very high levels I am pleased to isolate them so well I built vibration isolation platforms for my CD player and pre-amp and did notice a difference see Simple to make platform isolates vibrations: Brings out details for CD and record players, http://www.enjoythemusic.com/tweaks/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto6 Posted February 12, 2001 Author Share Posted February 12, 2001 Thanks for the help. Colin, thats exactly what I'm looking for. Inexpensive, effective and fun to do! Have you used the tubesocks mentioned in your link? I'm not to sure what they are accomplishing with them.......mdeneen, I'll post with pleasure after I get them setup. Thanks for your advice in past posts mdeneen, it helped me decide. All the Best, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted February 12, 2001 Share Posted February 12, 2001 DIY is great but...I used Vibropods form audioadvisor and they work great...I also have made DIY stuff using the "black hole pad"...good luck, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto6 Posted February 12, 2001 Author Share Posted February 12, 2001 Hi Tony....how much do the vibropods cost, and what is the black hole pad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 GTO, the pad is supposed to be for stopping cabinet resonances but you put this on top of the speaker and then a sheet of plywood and then your amp, voila! no vibration gets through at all! Black Hole 5 $51 for all the pad you will need for two monoblocks (and then some extra for whatever, the CD player?) http://www.speakercity.com/damping.shtml the vibrapods come if different hardnesses to match different component weights...these rubber pucks work great as well and are a little neater in appearance than the pad system (unless you build a nice wooden frame for the pad....)they are $24 for four, two sets needed for monoblocks...$48 http://www.audioadvisor.com/product.cfm?productid=1835 best of luck, Tony p.s. sorry for mentioning retail sites, hope this breach of netiquette will not raise to many hackles, it just seemed easier to direct GTO to where to find these items... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenB Posted February 13, 2001 Share Posted February 13, 2001 Vibrapods are good cheap isolators, you'll need the hefty variety. I've had the MC-30's. You will not be sorry, I hear the autoformers were the best McIntosh ever made. I drew a pattern of the circuit board with the simple hung on parts by hand (easy). After double checking the positioning, I snipped out every cap, resistor, etc. Next I de-soldered and cleaned up the heavy connection lugs. Finally, just hung & re-soldered the NEW parts. It took only one day to do all this for a pair of MC-30's! The bass and detail were much improved! Tubes used might be a consideration as far as susceptability to vibration. Don't use the Chinese 6L6's or KT66's. The Svetlana's might be a better sonic choice, as well as being much less microphonic. Good luck & enjoy!....Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto6 Posted February 14, 2001 Author Share Posted February 14, 2001 Thanks Tony & Ken for the tips. Ken.....the current owner put MIT caps in them, have you done anything with your caps? When you said NEW parts, what are you using. It should be a big DIFFERENCE from 225watt Carver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto6 Posted February 14, 2001 Author Share Posted February 14, 2001 Hi Mojo Mdeneen.....The amps come with 6L6's installed and the original tubes as spares. They have the mcitosh script on them. If for nothing else, they'll look cool on display. Do you know if the 6550's will work in the mc30's?........I have my vibration pods worked out, I need to figure out what to run from my preamp to the amps. Its about 30 feet to each amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenB Posted February 14, 2001 Share Posted February 14, 2001 gto6, I replaced the caps years ago before I became more obsessed with part quality, I used Sprague Metalized Polyprops (a decent cap). I also put in a bias reostat, and used new carbon film resistors. Depending on what MIT caps you put in will affect the quality of sound out. I don't like metalized caps (except the Harmony), but good MIT Polystrene or Polypropylene film/foil is good. A PIO Jensen CU foil can cap in a critical area would be would be great sounding. The rectifier tube is not as important for good sound, as long as it does the job. Driver tube quality and signal & output tube quality is much more important from my experience with these amps. BTW: Don't put these amps side by side, the 6L6's can interact and possibly even fail! -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto6 Posted February 23, 2001 Author Share Posted February 23, 2001 Just thought I'd give mdeneen, Kenb, Colin and last but certainly not least Sunnysal the courtesy of a follow up posting. The MC30's arrived on Tuesday...I've been glued to them ever since. They are much different then the Carver 225 watt SS amp I was using. Much more mid and tweet definition. Round and perky base notes. Good stuff! I'm sure the best listening is yet to come. Thanx again for all the great advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 23, 2001 Share Posted February 23, 2001 and that may be all that you notice now or even months from now; nice sound, still sounds nice, play it all the time, still sounds nice, tubes are poor on the measurement bench, but easy on the ears, just came in from an evening at the audio dealers, nothing that a tweaking audiophile would call musical, just cute little HT systems, including Klipsch, and expensive concrete block amps, certainly no tubes, makes me worry about which direction I'll be going in the next few years ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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