Stabilizing turntable in a camper?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by GBailey9099, Oct 8, 2019.

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  1. GBailey9099

    GBailey9099 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I’ll keep this post In my mind. Thanks.
     
  2. GBailey9099

    GBailey9099 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Appreciate the help and support so far guys.

    If I get this thing stable enough to play records without skipping what are my next worries? Will the movement be damaging my needle or records? Or if it’s not bad enough to skip should I be ok in theory?
     
  3. displayname

    displayname Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas
    Personally I would never use the record player while the camper is in motion. I would probably avoid using it if people were even walking around in the camper. No matter how much you isolate, there will still be some movement effecting sound and potentially longevity of your records and gear.

    I think this is the perfect case for digital audio. Aside from all the isolation issues, purely based on the required space it seems worthwhile to focus on digital.
     
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  4. Mmmark

    Mmmark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    It is true that headphones would negate any concerns about acoustics. I still think that you are facing myriad issues that all fundamnetaly compromise a good TT's ability to perform at its best. For the sake of argument, if you could effectively level and stabilize the TT, there is no reason the output signal would be any different in a trailer than in a house, and there is no reason it would sound any different through headphones. Beyond that, I would suggest your only concern would be making sure that the TT is protected against jostling if and when you drive. Any suspended deck is likely to suffer from the kind of bounding it would be subject to over any kind of distance, and of course you would need to level and stablize after every drive. Mind you, if you are talking about a Crosley or something, you could probably run it on the passenger seat while you drive and it would sound more or less the same.
    One other consideration when it comes to unsealed electronics in a closed space like a camper or trailer is condensation. If you are seeing anything but the most gradual shifts in temperature, you are going to have condensation issues.
     
  5. Dmac43

    Dmac43 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
  6. Vic_1957

    Vic_1957 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ, USA
    I remember those players! Back in 1969, my neighbor had one in his car. To this day, I can remember him playing "In The Ghetto" for me while driving around the block.
     
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  7. inperson

    inperson Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    That also can be done :D
     
  8. GBailey9099

    GBailey9099 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Just to clear up a few things.

    My rig only moves once every year or so. When I move the turntable gets broke down and put into the original box.

    I’m not worried about getting maximum performance out of my TT. Things won’t be perfect in here but that’s ok. I just want to be able to play my records without damaging the needle or records if that’s going to be possible.

    My biggest hobby is collecting records, Mostly unfamiliar ones I find at flea markets and such. I love cleaning them up, listening and preserving them the best I can. So I’m going try as many things as I can to isolate / stabilize my table.

    Camper is sitting pretty near perfectly level on blocks. Added a kingpin jack in the front today which helped a good bit. I plan to get spacing wheel chocks and strongarms next.
    I’m a little confused if an isolation deck like have been posted will help. Maybe I’ll try the sand or the suspension, but honestly I don’t understand either yet. I plan on looking more into them the next few days. Maybe try something similar to the guy in the car? Who knows.

    Thanks.
     
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  9. Rick Bartlett

    Rick Bartlett Forum Resident

    Now I'm just waiting for the thread....
    'Looking for vinyl turntable stability while skydiving. Suggestions?' thread.
    :biglaugh:
     
    Strat-Mangler, Gumboo and Vic_1957 like this.
  10. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    Even in houses, you walk around on the wooden floor, and vibrations transmit into the turntable. Jump up and down in the living room, you can make the turntable skip.

    An easy hack for such situations is to put the turntable on a wall-mounted shelf, preferably a load-bearing wall, or in extreme examples (like discotheques), the ceiling mount on long chains. This gives the turntable some isolation from the trampoline action of a flooring truss.

    In your parking lot palace, while the flimsy plywood of the RV floor is also a factor, we already assume that you are using cabinetry built-in to the vehicle, which is as "wall mounted" as you might achieve. It is not just the higher frequency bounces of a floor you have to contend with, though, it is the lower frequencies of the trailer bouncing on the tires and suspension, and rocking around on the jacks. If you have company over for a mini-cocktail party, it may be hard to play space-age bachelor pad music on the record player without skips.

    Even a trailer mosh pit is unlikely to damage your turntable or cartridge though, you'll just have vibrations fluttering the woofers, deflections of the cantilever (from the turntable moving under the tonearm), ultimately causing skips or jumps until the antiskate pulls the needle off the platter.

    A small, less effective, version of the bungee suspension is to have a larger frame built around the turntable location, a "plinth box" - where short springs attached to the corners of the box attach to and hold up the floating board you set the turntable on.

    A linear tracking turntable like my avatar depicts, will be less susceptible. It has less tonearm mass, no counterweight, no anti-skate, and lower tracking weight; a spring provides the weight adjustment. When the turntable moves, the cartridge experiences less forces.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
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  11. Thoughtships

    Thoughtships Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon, UK
    And up next week on SHF:
    How to stabilise a turntable in a nuclear submarine.
     
  12. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    Relatively easy until missile launch.
     
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  13. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Hard to change sides.
     
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  14. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Don't be silly, on a more practical level how how about a portable to float in a spa?
     
    Rick Bartlett likes this.
  15. Rick Bartlett

    Rick Bartlett Forum Resident

    Close... Sorta..... Not.
    ;)
    [​IMG]
     
  16. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Na these guys look digital!
     
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  17. nosliw

    nosliw Delivering parcels throughout Teyvat! Meow~!

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Plays better than a Crosley. :)
     
    Rick Bartlett likes this.
  18. Rick Bartlett

    Rick Bartlett Forum Resident

    And! a whole lot 'Cooler'.
    :rolleyes:
     
  19. GBailey9099

    GBailey9099 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Good information. Thanks. I’m going to look into that plinth box. I like the ceiling suspension but I need to look more into it.
    TT right now is sitting on a cube organizer I put in myself. But it looks about the same wherever I move it in the camper.
    We’re not worried about much activity in the trailer. Pretty much just my girlfriend and I chilling at night spinning some music.



    I turned my equipment on last night and gave it a test run. Everything looked good and sounded good. If it wasn’t for that antiskate weight shaking around I wouldn’t be suspect about anything.
     
  20. Kyhl

    Kyhl On break

    Location:
    Savage
    Who knows, it could just be the platter causing the antiskate to swing around. To test, set it on something solid outside, spin it up and check if it still shakes.
     
  21. olson

    olson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pilgrim Hills
    I think about the size of some of my friends' record collections and wonder how you're storing yours in the camper?
     
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  22. GBailey9099

    GBailey9099 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Most of my records are stored at my folks place. Just got a select 100 or so with me now!
     
    olson likes this.
  23. GBailey9099

    GBailey9099 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Got some isolation feet and addition jacks. Everything seems to be working good (as long as I’m not damaging any records with this constant slight vibration). Everything sounds great. Going to try out a nice isolation platform and a few other things soon.
     
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  24. rich100

    rich100 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Middle of England
    The turntable rumble will need minimizing else it might give them away to the ruskies sonar
     
  25. rich100

    rich100 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Middle of England
    I do hope we get pics of the finished product, would love to see it
     
    All Down The Line likes this.
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