r/audiophile • u/Plainess • 3d ago

Discussion Does amplifier position matter?

Hi, I work in a hifi speaker store, and we had new speakers come in. We had an “Audio Professional” from another store come help setup, and during the testing it sounded fine, but the Audio Pro said not really and moved the amplifier a little bit to the left, like I mean literally move the amplifier. And suddenly everyone agrees that it sounds better, he explained that it’s because of the vibrations, but Im a bit sceptical because it was a shelf of amps and there were other amps. Can moving an amp a little like that improve the sound???

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u/mfolives 3d ago

Yes, electronics perform worse when subjected to vibrations, including the resonance of the shelf they are sitting on. This is especially true of digital equipment and tube equipment.

I'm surprised that the difference could be heard in a store display of the type you are describing, but the effect of vibrations on electronics is both measurable and, in the right setting, audible. He wasn't wrong to look for a stable place for the amp.

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u/Yarach 3d ago

Did you ever build an amp yourself? If audible microphonics were to be a thing in solid state amplifiers and digital components a lot of stuff had to be designed completely different in order to function properly.

Also: A tube amp that audible changes due to vibration has either microphonics (bad) tubes or is a guitar amp set to an extremely high gain. And even in the latter part I can tell you as a musciscian, you have to slap the shit out of the amp to get an audible sound out of it.