A Turntable History Question

VPI made a table that was suspended like you mentioned. 

Maybe that was it, though I'm not sure if VPI was selling their TT's in the UK in those days.

Suspended from where?  If you could see the rubber bands, I immediately had the image that it was on a shelf suspended from the ceiling by rubber bands. Because one cannot usually see the suspension of a suspended turntable out in the open.  Either what I just wrote, or the TT had a home-made suspension.

Suspended from corner towers à la SME.

And you could see actual rubber bands on full display?  That sounds home-made to me. Such a suspension is like a spring suspension and needs to be damped in some way, else a disturbance would linger on. Then a second disturbance could lead to oscillation. Remember videos of that bridge in Tacoma?

As far as I remember (and if my memory is to be trusted) it looked very smart and he was extremely proud of it. I didn't stay long enough to listen to it though.

I can't recall anything that was on sale in the UK at that time that used rubber band suspension.The Hi Fi Choice turntables booklet edited by Martin Colloms covered pretty much everything that was around including exotica like the Trio 7d and, working from memory I can't recall any rubber band suspended TT.

One of my classmates at engineering school in the mid-80's had his turntable suspended from wall mounts with rubber bands.  Fully DIY but effective since the floors in the old student ghetto houses where a bit dodgy.

A very smart person I used to know hung his Advent speakers from his ceiling on springs.  And yet, I would still claim he was very smart.  Smart people sometimes do dumb things.

@travelinjack ...Now, that sounds like a 'hack attack' by one who'd seen one of those tables, but couldn't afford or find one that he'd trust to dorm drones.... ;)

Although, given the era, it makes sense on a tech level.  It'd be interesting to see a SOTA version, but I'd likely not get in que for one....

So you had a well hung rather than well suspended turntable?

I have a mental picture of exactly what you are talking about but only the SME 30 comes to mind (c. 1990)

In my book, it is London to a brick it was an SME Model 30 turntable, except for the date!  The Model 30 was released in 1991, not 1981.

The Model 30 was SME's first commercially released turntable, and it cost megabucks (well 9,000 quid in 1991!).  Weighing more than 42-kgs the table featured a suspended sub chassis, hanging from four pylons like a big-top circus tent.  The pylons each had 15 rubber rings and were also fluid damped.

The SME 30 has 12 bands per pylon, not 15.

Bill

I was a pretty heavy audiophile back in late 70’s and 80’s and never ran across factory suspension with rubber bands back in the day.  I’d say he most likely set this up on his own.  I, on the other had, had my system in a completely separate room away from any feed back from listening room.  

Thank you all for your thoughts. I should have stayed to have a listen!

@wbs

I stand corrected!  The SME website for the Model 30 series two states 60 rubber rings, plus one to counteract the pull of the drive belt, plus two spares!  Of note is the fact that these rings are clearly visible.  Rubber is an elastomer with some self-damping, but additional damping was built into the suspension towers.  The designer aimed for critical damping, so if the deck was pushed down and then released, it would return to the equilibrium position with no overshoot.

@richardbrand 

My Model 30 (s/n 0001) has 12 bands per tower plus the one band counteracting the belt pull.  It came with one or two extra bands, but I can't remember exactly.

@wbs 

I could never afford one, and I did stand corrected! I have found references to 10, 12 and 15 bands per tower depending on the series!

To me, using rubber to suspend a turntable makes perfect sense.  I had thought of suspending mine from the ceiling using bungee cords ... but it was a fleeting thought.  Suspending dynamic loudspeakers on the other hand makes no sense to me because there is nothing to resist the reaction of the cabinet to the movement of the cone.  When the cone moves forwards the cabinet moves backwards which muffles the overall sound.

Using a rubber band to connect a drive motor to a platter seems equally implausible to me - are such bands made so they don't stretch much?  I note SME's recommendation that the Model 30 drive belt should be replaced every 1000 hours (series 2) and also that the bearing should be run in continuously for a month, which is more than half the life of the belt!