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SDS Soundeck feet anyone tried them

Rosie

pfm Member
I've been looking at SDS Soundeck constrained layer feet / metal plates that you put under speakers turntables etc. They are made of two layers of metal , steel? stuck together with a polymer adhesive . £52 for four .
Custom design also sell their own version called Isolation acoustic plinths at £79.99 for four .
I do use Custom designs i-rap as an upgrade to my custom design speaker stands ,the top plate under my splendor S3 speakers which worked very well .

Has anybody tried the footers under any electronics or a Turntable ?

Thanks
 
Thanks Tazan,

The SDS ones have a lot of mag reviews raving them ok HiFi Choice and they have sold many but they never get mentioned here .

Would you recomend them as good value ?
 
I use the plattermat thing on the Technics TT and got a couple of off cut sheets for under the speakers. The latter I did for the neighbours; they’re so good I have no bass at all.
 
I've been looking at SDS Soundeck constrained layer feet / metal plates that you put under speakers turntables etc. They are made of two layers of metal , steel? stuck together with a polymer adhesive . £52 for four .
Custom design also sell their own version called Isolation acoustic plinths at £79.99 for four .
I do use Custom designs i-rap as an upgrade to my custom design speaker stands ,the top plate under my splendor S3 speakers which worked very well .

Has anybody tried the footers under any electronics or a Turntable ?

Thanks
I have the custom design ones which are thicker at 4mm or 4.5mm. These are an improvement over the SDS one which are 3mm only and the custom design ones have two different thicknesses to their steel ones, a 3 to 1 ratio of materials work best as well and i think they also could do a high end 6mm aluminium one as well.
They work quite well, i initially used them ontop of large square walnut blocks 60mm by 60mm as they are 55*55mm and they are quite good but i recently purchased cardas wooden blocks in large and placed them on top of the plinths the other way round than with the walnut blocks. This method worked wonders for SQ as the cardas blocks are placed height wise with the narrow section next to the amps feet , i also fitten new metal with rubber circular ring feet under the amp so cannot say how much this latter method worked better than the previous method. Anyway the SQ is the best i've ever heard it and its true what they say about naim amps in that they work so much better on energy transference rather than decoupling or damping. This method is an absolute keeper for me and i also have a couple of other diy upgrades in mind as well so it can only get better.
 
That made an interesting read , thank you . There has been a development at rosie towers ,hifi dog has sent me a set of SDS Soundeck plinths . Examining them first impressions were not great . They are metal squares about 3mm thick with a very slim 'whaffer thin' sheet of metal stuck on one side by what looks like a layer of adhesive foam . The plinths are very slightly compliant you can squeeze them and they compress slightly . There are four small Neoprene ? feet stuck to the other side again slightly compliant . Sooo I put the four plinths under the feet of my Rega Jupiter CD transport since it has squeegee feet and spun David Bowie Gemini Spacecraft from heathen . Oh boy thats good , lyrics much easyer to follow much less spashy top end and fantastic definition to Davids voice . I then played Bob Dylan's Rough and Rowdy Ways , a Birthday present from me to my wife . Bob is not my thing but I have grown do love this album, Mrs Rosie wants to know whats going on because she could hear the improvment .
I did a A / B before and after with gemini Spacecraft and the just left them in place for Bob Dylan .

For the record the system support is Quadraspire STV mdf shelfs with Quadraspire Soundstage bamboo sub platforms under the CD transport and Dac . So thats SDS under component on top of wood platform not unlike hski 's original setup .

I also tried them under the Dac with little if any change . Going to try them under the LP12 tommorrow and will report back . Looks like the SDS plinths are staying though round ones would look better and I am now very inclined to try the the iRap from Custom design .
 
The other day Tarzan liked my two year old post regarding my experiments with SDS Soundeck feet things which made me revisit the tread . SDS feet are very good . Since then I have tried Custom Design ones which are quite a lot better .
But then this happened . Spooky
I follow the one time hi fi reviewer Paul Rigby The Audiophile Man sort of , a bit half heartedly , any way by way of a fortunate coincidence I've just watched his review of the new SDS Mk II mini feet they look like the old ones but are half the size . Paul was surprised by the fact that the minis ( about £ 15 each with a discount if you buy four or three ) were better than the originals , a lot better . Paul held them up to the camera and their profile is different they look to me like the Custom Design feet .
 
Reposted from a earlier thread on audio isolation, I tried and use the Soundeck Constrained Layer Damping (CLD) squares under my loudspeaker:

The core problem that I had is that the loudspeakers sit on a suspended floor which has a large air volume beneath them which gets excited with a significant bass content in the music.

I am in the process of building some loudspeaker stands that are very similar to awkwardbydesign and have most of the parts but due to health reasons I have not put them all together. As an intermediate experiment I tried the Soundeck CLD squares:

https://soundeck.bigcartel.com/product/third-product

Between the pucks that the loudspeaker spikes go into and the laminate floor. As I would ideally like to use this approach (constrained layer damping (CLD) absorbs energy across a wide frequency range and does not re transmit the energy in a delayed form as the motion in the visco elastic glue dissipates it as heat) as the main sheet under the loudspeakers in my stands.

I measured (with the internal iPad accelerometer) and felt the vibration in the laminate floor (which acts as a big surface area to add bass distortion to the room) by the loudspeakers and at the listening position. With the CLD sheets in place the amount of energy transferred into the floor was reduced (both on the iPad accelerometer app and felt through my fingers). And it sounded clearer in the bass and had a clearer soundstage. Their measurements of vibration energy in and out suggests as a user we can expect up to 20 dB reduction in energy transfer.

Prior to all this I used tuned Helmholtz Resonators to reduce the effect of the main room resonant modes.

Provisos:

1. The iPad accelerometers are going to be narrow band (0 to 50 Hz, +/- 7.5g) and the display of the data is limited and it is difficult to say much from this other than the levels decreased.
2. I do not yet have a microphone to use to measure the sound at the listening position before and after the constrained layer damping squares were added. Also as it is a dynamic situation (vibration in the floor (distortion) takes time to build) I would need to think about the best way to compare and display the before and after measurements.
 
Just ordered a set of the Mkii minis so I’ll report back when they arrive , thinking to put them under my tube amp to start off with
 
I've got my Tannoys sitting on a pair of replica mana sound tables and I'm currently using felt pads between the glass tops and the bottom of the speakers. I wonder, are these things grippy on both sides? I'd hate to see one of my speakers slide off after an accidental nudge or something like that.
 
I've got my Tannoys sitting on a pair of replica mana sound tables and I'm currently using felt pads between the glass tops and the bottom of the speakers. I wonder, are these things grippy on both sides? I'd hate to see one of my speakers slide off after an accidental nudge or something like that.
Hi Derek,

The top surface of the Soundeck plates is not grippy in any sense. And so, unless your speakers are really heavy, they could move.

Is there anyway that you could add spikes to the bottom of your speakers to interface to the glass. You can then add some plastic or rubber around the spike to help keep it there. The Mana Soundclamp does that quite effectively if you wanted to ask them to make a set for you.

I suspect that the felt interface to the glass is not allowing the Mana stands to sound like Mana stands, as that interface is important to the sound.

I do use Soundeck feet under my floor standers (as mentioned upthread). The spikes from the speaker then sit on metal pucks, which sit on the Soundeck plates, which then sit on the floor. The speakers weight around 67 kg and do not move on the Soundeck plates.

If you want to use Soundeck plates under your speakers you could put them between your replica Sound Tables and the floor. An interesting experiment, but you of course mixing different approaches to supporting equipment.

I hope this helps.

Ian
 


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