I've always wondered how or why vibration control works.
As there are 2 camps on this discussion, isolate and couple, who is right, both, neither, or some combination thereof?
As I am always skeptical could someone please explain why I should isolate or couple my equipment.

I must say that vibration control is something I need to keep exploring...I have a few products from Herbie's and I've communicated with him through email a few times before my eventual purchase and he is excellent with communication and getting right back to you with your questions.

But, I haven't noticed an appreciable difference in MY rig with his products. And he has a really great return policy that I could have used anytime during the period it was still in effect after my purchase...so no real complaints from me...I tend to try and make sure that it's not MY fault when not getting the results I want from some product or some kind of tweak before I decide that I've done everything I could (not that I've tried a wide variety of either up to this point)...

Anyway, I have his tenderfeet (8 of them) I used those under my CD player which comes in two separate chassis (transport and DAC). I have his isocups (4 of them) that I was using under my MT for some time...and finally I have some of his super sonic stabilizer's (2)...

I've tried them all in a multitude of ways...moving them around etc. I really didn't have much time to play with them when I got them all because I got busy with work, but I've had them all for a while now and I can't say that I ever noticed any changes. I mean, maybe if I strained I would have noticed something, but I was looking for something more easily noticeable...maybe I just don't need the stuff at all...of maybe my system isn't revealing enough. But my system is like, 75% Decware so that shouldn't be the issue...maybe I need to be using a power conditioner of some sort so that I'm getting better power to my components and thus will make them more revealing to any changes upstream........maybe this all makes no sense and I'm just making excuses haha!

I realized, while using the isocups, why using 3 of them is your best option sometimes because of the uneven nature of a lot of the bottom's of some components. This was true for my MT. Otherwise, one of them is not getting much weight at all. And just because I didn't notice any changes (YET quite possibly) doesn't mean I don't think these sorts of things work. I'm still working on my system as a whole and issues with some of the components themselves have hampered my ability to really zoom in on what the Herbies stuff was truly doing I feel...or maybe I'm just WAY to optimistic :/

But I will hold on to the Herbies items and continue to experiment with them once I get some of my main components back from repair/"inspection". Again, he's a real nice dude and I dig his website and all the info he has for folks to digest. Vibration control makes sense to me in theory, and I hope that I will notice it's effects on my system at some point. His products are prices great in comparison to some of his competitors, so even if it never does anything for MY system, I won't feel jipped. I could always sell some of it at some point I guess...I do remain curious about his tube dampers, but until I've settles down on some tube configurations that work best for me, I don't wanna take it there yet because they are to be used with specific sized tubes...of which he has MANY sizes to suit practically any tube you have.  

Oh, I should mention (before someone asks maybe) that I was looking for a blacker background, some improvement in the details of the music and maybe some more solidity and firmness in the bass...the stabilizers haven't gotten much play at all after I moved recently, and I didn't pull them back out the box to try them again. And the isocups are taking a break from their duties under the MT......my desktop is a particularly vibration prone environment mostly due to the Trapeziums and their down firing bass port. So there is some trade of when using these speakers on a desktop I guess (for ones concerned with vibration control) because you get GREAT bass and great low end punch from the little speakers and no worries about having them close to a wall behind them...but the whole desk does tend to vibrate with the bass (probably an issue with most desktop speakers). This might even add to the bass "feel" in a way which is great...but  the other components are susceptible to the effects of those vibrations if one subscribes to certain vibration control theories. My exploration with the Herbies gear was to try and circumvent the issues of vibration that I'd read about and to hear what I had gained in applying some preventative/more controled measures.....my final assessment is pending I suppose

Hey Lon,

Thanks for the suggestion about the Trap's but it's a no go with this particular unique speaker. It relies on being on a completely flat surface to create it's port for the bass...there is a little space on either side of them at the bottom that you can feel air from the bass pushing through. Once you lift the speaker you loose that effect....the gift and the curse??? haha!

I may get the Decware rack at some point, but I feel silly doing that right now because the desk I purchased for my system has two levels and I bought it so I could have everything within arms reach and also have my speakers at ear level....maybe I'll get a rack when I get a bigger room and some bigger speakers

And maybe I'll find some purpose for those stabilizers....I even tried them on top of the MT's transformers just as Herbies site suggests.....but I heard no difference :/

I've been really looking into PI Audio's conditioners for a while and there is a company in NY that will give a FREE demo of their stuff in my home! so I'm gonna take them up on that offer once I get some of my equipment back

I think you may have answered your own question HPDJ..
Decent power conditioner.
The cleanness they give you is real.
You`ll find you have to turn the volume up a notch or two to
compensate the drop in the noise you didn`t know you had.
Then you should notice the benefits of the vibration products.
Syd.

Interesting Bob, thanks for sharing.

Steve Herbelin has really researched vibration control and his products are more sophisticated than just cones and I think he's addressed some of the issues that the authors of this piece have encountered, and his products can accomplish both isolation and decoupling and I too have compared untreated and treated amps with loud speaker airborne sound and the contrast is large enough that I pursue the Herbie's Audio Lab pathway, along with the isolation that my audio racks bring.

I imagine that putting the equipment into a closet or another room would be one way to go and should yield big benefits. Won't work logistically for my listening world without insanely long cabling, which has its own issues and with the type of cabling I favor a big expense!

There's always more than one way to skin a cat supposedly, I'm committed monetarily and systematically to this direction of vibration control and enjoying the results.

Thanks.

Yeah, just not able to do diffusion panels in my room. Wish I could but. . . just can't squeeze it in.

Isn't that what Bob was addressing with the article he posted, and its theme of "diffusion" of vibrations?

I believe that Herbie's Audio Lab "Sonic Stabilizers" are designed to play a hand in coping with some vibrations of component top and chassis. Other companies have similar "bricks," "stones," etc. I'm not convinced these are really effective, but I have some in use (Herbie's) and believe they may contribute subtly.