Best Way to Use Turntable with System Cabinet


I'm wanting to get a cabinet for my system, which will consist of a preamp, tuner, CDP and turntable (amp seperate). I like Salamander's cabinets with the metal grills on the door and sides, for good air flow. This would be useful should I decide to put an integrated in it. Anyhow, the question is, how do you cabinet users work with a turntable? Do you put it on top of the cabinet? Do you have some sort of a drawer? I don't think a rack would work when it comes down to (the more politically correct) "spouse acceptance factor". Any advise greatly appreciated.
peter_s

Showing 2 responses by bob_bundus

Wall mounts can be a real problem too, unless it's a very rigid exterior supporting wall. The whole wall typically moves in & out along with the music, muddying the sound of course, unless it's very immovable. As a cabinet-oriented user, I was going to go that route myself until someone else who had made that mistake warned me. I don't have enough room for a separate stand either; wish I did but I do not.
My solution was to isolate the cabinet from the turntable with an Arcic Airhead. Other air-suspensions such as Vibraplane or Thompson Seismic Sink work too. The Brightstar AirMass would be OK as well, but there's only one bladder, so leveling can be a problem unless your floor is perfectly flat.
I set the Airhead on my cabinet top, then place a large deadmass (a Black Diamond shelf) sitting directly atop the Arcici's MDF top. Cones placed under my suspended TT base couple vibrational energy directly to the isolated deadmass (the Black Diamond self) using small discs under the cones to prevent the sharp cone points from puncturing the carbon fiber shelf. I may experiment with another shelf next (the Zoethecus Z-Slab) which sounds a little warmer under my CDP than a Black Diamond did, & is less expensive too. Stuart at Sanctuary of Sound can get the Zoethecus for you. A Symposium Ultra shelf could also do the trick. A thicker/heavier Black Diamond The Shelf for The Source might be your (& my) best bet here. I need to experiment further, but what works best for me won't necessarily work best for you too. Too many variables there, although both of our turntables are the suspended design.
Regarding cabinets, stay away from glass doors & shelving. Glass resonates like crazy & the effects are very audible in an undesirable way.
I really wish I had the room for a stand; had a chance to get a deal on a Lead Balloon but unfortunately I had to pass. If I could only convince the wife to do away with her video monitor then I'd be able to fit in a stand, but it'll be a cold day before that ever happens & she's a wonderfully supportive audiophile wife so...
The idea behind a dedicated stand is to couple directly to the large & quiet mass of the floor. Lacking that alternative I chose to isolate the big heavy Black Diamond shelf & couple to that as my deadmass. That's the theory anyway, but I have never compared to the performance of a stand.