Best type of metal for turntable platform?

There’s crawl space under my floor. SOTA has came up many times for my situation, but I do really like this TT and want to make it work. Even if I wall mount I feel that the flexible floor vibration will creep into the wall.

Well, you could still do it, just not as easy. Dirt or gravel floor in the crawl? Or concrete? If dirt or gravel, you could get 12x12 concrete block as a simple ‘footer’ sitting on top the dirt or gravel, and then brace the 2x’s off of that.

Your problem is the floor joists were undersized for their span, or at the limit of acceptable design, which equals ‘bounce’. Not unusual in an older home. Fine for most folks, but not for most turntables, except the SOTA, of course. 😁

if you can brace the floor, your solution at the table will be greatly minimized.

Yes, I live in an old home, with ‘flexible’ floors as well. Had similar issues, and tried all types of things (which worked to some degree or another) before I got my SOTA Sapphire.

As I always say now, get a SOTA, problem solved 😉

But, first off, is your TT on the first floor with a basement below? Is the basement unfinished below the turntable? If so, a cheap way to add rigidity to the floor is to get a few 2x4’s, cut them to slightly more than from the top of your basement slab and bottom of your floor joists, locate then under the turntable area, and along a couple of floor joist spans, and use the 2x4’s to reinforce the area by simply hammering then tightly in place. If the 2x4’s bow a little, that’s fine, that means there is tension. No need to nail them to anything, simply friction fit.

Yea, technically you should use treated limber, but 2x4’s are cheap, so if they ever start deteriorating against the concrete, replace them. Unlikely to happen unless they are there for years.

You might still have to do more, but that is a great start if you can do it.

The point is, you might have to spend a lot of money on a localized audiophile bandaid solution instead of a few bucks by minimizing the actual problem. 

Don’t go crazy, but dekay has a reasonable idea. When actually leveling a floor, you have to know what your are doing, and do it fractions at a time, for a variety of reasons. All you want to do is reinforce, stabilize, and provide support at the joists along the area where your turntable is. Thus, if you use a jack, I would not raise the area more than a 1/4”, put a couple 2x4’s, or perhaps get some treated 4x4’s, stand them in place (on a 12x12 concrete block as a ‘footer’) and lower the joists back down upon the vertical 4x4 with the jack. Pretty easy actually, but depending how much crawl height you have, can be cramped, so scope everything out, precut the lumber, etc. There is no real need to make full height pilasters out of block for what you are doing and trying to achieve, that would be overkill.

@bjw54

I have an old Sota on a walnut turntable platform that utilizes rubber balls.

I’m a bit confused. What SOTA table do you have? And why do you have an internally suspended table (with springs, if that is what it is) on a separate base? That would seem to defeat the internal SOTA suspension system.

My SOTA sits atop my rack, all by itself, and I can walk, jump, yell at, and bang on my SOTA Sapphire TT’s plinth, and it is not effected, by anything. Perhaps a bomb going on within the room might.....might. 😁

@clearthinker

Rolls Royce solution: Take up the floor, dig out a bit if required, lay new DPC, in-fill with concrete screed, lower floor level to get more ceiling height if desired. According to taste, re-lay boards except where equipment and speakers are to stand. Or lay carpet.
OK there is a cost, but it will be worth it.

As I have stated, you can get the same results for much less, simply by reinforcing the floor joists in the area of the table. In fact, I would never do what you suggest without doing so first, because you are adding more weight to a poor situation. Again, this is not unusual in wood framed floor houses, both old and new. Renovations and remodeling is my business, and sometimes need to do this to clients homes, and not for audio reasons.

Let’s take an exaggeration; if your turntable is sitting on a trampoline, which you will also walk upon while using it, how much will you spend for a platform to remove the effect of the trampoline? That is allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’. First, get rid of the trampoline, then see what you might need, if anything.

I did this in my house before getting the SOTA. I had a few 2x4’s left over from a recent renovation project, used about 3-4 to support the floor beneath by rack. Took maybe an hour. I could then walk, jump, etc. next to my rack which minimized floor fall issues to a great degree. I think we can make simple solutions and over-complicate them, and make them cost more than necessary.