In the following, Carsten Tragsdorf from Ictra Design is giving an overview over some research and development activities and functionalities of Ictra Design’s passive SILENCER damping platform.
The dimensions of the SILENCER damping platform are 680 by 620 mm, which is 26.8 by 24.4 inch.
The SILENCER consists of a slide frame that can be adapted to almost all audio components, with an acoustically isolated cover plate as a base for your audio equipment.
The slide frame rests on four air/spring dampers that are axially adjustable and can be adapted to all different weights and centers of gravity of your components.
The SILENCER decouples even the most sensitive hi-fi equipment, such as source devices, amplifiers, or power supplies.
Regardless of where it is installed, whether on a hi-fi rack, on the floor, or on a standard sideboard, the SILENCER prevents up to 97% of sound transmission at amplitudes of up to several millimeters.
With this range of performance, the SILENCER is currently one of the most effective isolation platforms for high-end audio equipment. ( turntable, tube amp and other sensitive highend audio equipment)
To give you a better understanding of the ictra design development process, I will show you some methods and measurement results using our SILENCER as an example.
The center of the image shows a SILENCER on four so-called shaker units.
Each of these shaker units consists of an electromagnetic pulse generator, which we can use to induce very strong vibrations and pulses into the SILENCER mounted on top of it.
With the help of software and a digital amplifier, any desired vibrations can be generated and transmitted to the SILENCER’s adjustable feet via the shaker units.
This is a video recording of a vibration test.
The shaker unit with a red acceleration sensor can be seen in the center of the movie.
The sensor is located inside the white, vibrating platform of the shaker unit.
To enable a comparison between signal input and output, a second accelerometer is mounted within the SILENCER above the shaker unit.
On the right-hand side, we see the red curves of four input signals at different, very low-frequency vibrations.
Low-frequency signals often carry more energy per vibration, show greater deflections, and are therefore much more critical to evaluate than high-frequency vibrations.
At the same time, we see the measurement signals from the SILENCER’s acceleration sensor, shown in green.
To get a feel for the effectiveness of the SILENCER compared to other platforms on the market, we tested a product from another manufacturer.
The functions of the measurement results from these tests are shown in blue on the right.
To summarize the measurement results, we calculated the effectiveness from the input and output values of the two platforms.
The special design of the SILENCER allows for almost complete acoustic isolation of the audio device’s footprint from the surface it is placed on.
However, not even the smallest portion of an audio component’s natural resonance, which gives it its typical and distinctive sound, is lost.
I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into our development.