What's your turntable sit on?

new TT

I'm considering a new TT in the near future. I cannot use anything without tweaking. Are there any TTs in the 1K - 2K range that are particularly limited as far as isolation goes?

Djose

 

A Vibraplane!

Before I go on, I quote: "The modern thinking (Max Townshend, Geoff Kait) is that you can isolate your deck from these by placing a massive weight (say 50Kg) on a partially inflated bladder (bicycle tube) and siting your turntable on that."

That's half the modern thinking. The *complete* modern thinking states that you must isolate your components from HORIZONTAL (i.e. lateral) vibrations as well; the rig above works only for the vertical.

In fact the lateral contributions may be the worse. Think of earthquakes; nothing brings a building down faster than making it dance. Jumping in place, it can take!

In my oft-expressed opinion, not a single TT/arm/cartridge system has been designed around a full understanding of the vibration environment. And the primary contributor to that environment is neither acoustic, nor footfall, but Seismic.

It's Cosmic!

clark

 

Clark,

Hey, that was my quote! (re: massive weight on partially inflated bladder)

I agree with you that I hadn't covered all aspects and appreciate your corrections. I just wanted to raise the profile of isolation, and perhaps indicate that experimentation is required. I should have thought more clearly about the horizontal displacements, as these will not be isolated by sprung suspensions (I've had the most experience with Thorens and Linn) nor the heavy weight on bicycle tube thing.

Keep us honest.

Regards,
Metralla

 

isolation

So, IYO it really doesn't matter which way the turntable of future choice is suspended or isolated, as long as you have a vibraplane under it.....the only thing that matters is how you like the sound of that TT. There would be nothing to address between the 'plane and the table itself?
Which would be more important in real world considerations, putting money in
upgradeability or just getting a 'plane.

curious,

Djose

 

It is further my opinion, that variability in isolation from the seismic environment accounts for more differences among the sound of TTs than any other single factor.

OK, *fairly well built* TTs.

Moreover, choosing an arm/cartridge resonant frequency of 6-10 Hz (very common) puts it smack dab in the middle of the worst seismic activity!

Maybe this whole department should be overhauled...

clark

 

siesms

I know about siesmic activity. I watched during the '69 sylmar quake as the contents of the swimming pool went over the fence into the nieghbor's back yard. Yeah, I bet 6 hz would work in other circumstances as well.

I'm sold on the 'plane. So I can now add - what $500 more now to the total rig. Clark's an insider, I bet he could get me a deal.........

Djose

 

TT

My TT sits on the North American plate....

Bob

 

The mighty Mana

In my opinion, for an Linn LP-12 the Mana Acoustics tables are unsurpassed. The improvement wrought by addition of one of their tables far surpassed that of a Dynavector XX-2 cartridge. Its a remarklable piece of kit. More musical, smoother sound, better tracking - no real disadvantages compared to the Soundstyle table I was using before. I thought the Seismic sink and Lp-12 were a bad match (kind of scewed the timing of the system) so caveat emptor.

 

siesmic sink

I've tried the old 'sink and the new one that supposedly isolates laterally.
The new was WAY better though I haven't seen or heard of the Mana Acoustics. What's their hook?

Djose

 

Re: siesmic sink

Don't know what the hook is, but I do know that for my system (Linn & Naim), this is the easily the best support I've come across. In my system it made a superb improvement (not difference). As I said before, the musicality of the system was much better - easier to seperate outer counterpoints too, the entire range was smoother and less distorted, the system seems to be able to play louder with less strain (hardly a problem before though), and the cartridge tracked much better. . Its also upgradeable - by adding more 'stages' - so does not represent a dead end either. I used a pretty good support which was well set up before Mana too.

FWIW Doug Sax & James Guthrie also use Mana in their studios I believe.

Try www.flatearthaudio.com (the US distributor) or www.mana.co.uk for details. They also offer a money back guarantee.

My only advice would be is if you do try it, get the Mana spirit level too, it makes setup far easier, and talk to the distributor about downloading quality instructions from Mana, as the printed sheet is pretty bad, and makes the table difficult to set-up (I gurarantee your first table will take about 2 hours to do).

 

It now rests on a bathroom sink...

... or perhaps an old vegetable crate in some landfill.

Sadly, my Infinity "Black Widow" tonearm didn't survive my last move and the Fon's ERA it was mounted on went the way of the dinosaur. I have no regrets though; in recent years I've prefered the convenience of a high-quality digital sources such as the Parasound C/DP 2000 belt-drive HDCD player, and recently, the Panny DVD-RP91 for DVD-A, both played through tubed pre and monoblock amps of course!

Seriously, in spite of all the headaches involved in listening to LPs I do miss vinyl now and then, but not enough to renew my interest.

Cat

 

vinyl

I had been wanting to take the analog plunge for a while. I had a Dual
way back when. What did it for me was the Sundazed catalog. I saw
something different there. Analog Americana call it. And so affordable. So it's off to San Antone
And a visit to Galen's place........

Djose

 

Djose,

Did you get the 3-D Sundazed catalog? Pretty cool. It's a great idea getting a turntable again, there are tons of stuff out there that you will be able to play. You'll have more options and enjoy finding new, used and/or obscure music. A new door is opening...

Todd

 

Does 3-d sundazed have a web site??
Where does one aquire a catalog?

 

Sundazed has a website and the winter catalog has retro 3-d printing, comes with glasses too.

Sundazed

Todd

 

Thanks Todd, I like the way they actually have track listings and realaudio samples.

 

catalog

When you get the sundazed catalog FF to pg. 13..........


Djose

 

I want to explore options for my VPI scout to sit on.

Over the years first for CD players now my TT I have had several platforms. Today I'm using a sandbox with a glass top. I only just changed from a white melamine I had lying around. I had three 5-1/4 inch pieces cut so the motor would sit on its own piece of glass.

I was talking to a turntable guy/ salesman and he thought glass was too bright and having the front and back feet sitting on different pieces of glass may not be good. He likes bamboo or maple.

I think the sandbox is good I bet it is about 50lbs of mass sitting on a sturdy rack.
. Before I go out and get something new I thought I'd see what other people are using.

 

Mine is on the wall.

 

4" Mapleshade block on their Isoblocks on a Box Furniture rack. I like real wood.

 

An Ikea Lack corner table. Good simple solution.

 

On an Ikea Lack with two mdf slabs sandwiched between various sized chunks of Sorbothane (I've since added more sorbothane than is in photo). I can thump the table and absolutely no resonance is heard. My room is poured on slab so I have no footfall problems.

 

Expedite IKEA shelf on a carpeted basement slab. Basement is the best place for a turntable. Kids can have a mosh pit and won't possibly skip.

 

Wall-mounted shelf.

 

I would like to try a 4 inch piece of maple.
The sandbox with glass sounds pretty good. Its a pain to switch it up

I have never had problems with footsteps. All my gear sits in another room and the listening room is in the family room addition so I have no audio being played with the turntable.

Clonesteak I hope you live in a dry area. Around here every once in a while you hear about someone getting water and without flood insurance your SOL.