Help! Tweaking My Lovan Rack for new Big A**ed Transrotor Turntable!

Teeny update:

Before buying my Fat Bob S turntable, I thought I’d been on track to possibly buying a VPI Prime turntable - especially the rosewood version which in pictures looked gorgeous. But I couldn’t resist the great deal I got on the Fat Bob.

Just recently I was able to see a VPI Prime turntable in action (black, not rosewood), at a friend’s place. I was a bit surprised because I found the aesthetics less appealing in person that I would have thought. It seemed a little more "messy" and industrial looking vs the way my Fat Bob looks on the really nice roasted maple wood base. Aesthetically I quite prefer what I ended up with.

I’m sure the rosewood version of the VPI would add some zing factor, but even so I’m not sure I would prefer it over the Fat Bob/maple block combo on aesthetic grounds.

I had the Benzes in that range (Glider L2, Wood M2, Ref 3) and enjoyed the heck out of them when I started in vinyl 10 years ago. But when I heard my first Koetsu, and its fat lush midrange, it was probably the biggest WOW moment I ever had in hifi. Definitely made the Benz sound like it had relatively scooped mids. Between the Benz and Koetsu, I also had some Ortofons; I really liked the Kontrapunkt "c" (very good mids) which has been succeeded in their line by the Cadenza Bronze (also very good).

I do remember the Benzes sounding somewhat like what you describe, though they should have a nice balanced sound overall, so it's hard to tell if the midrange thinness you're hearing is much more than it should be due to setup, arm match, phono stage match, a combination of all these factors etc. At the time I had Benz, I didn't experiment too much with phono stages and arms; I used a Benz PP-1 (with some loading plugs) and Fidelity Research FR64fx, the latter of which is better optimized for lower compliance cartridges. Keep plugging away and trying various setup tweaks. Vinyl is a long journey of experimentation and learning.

Thank again.  Question though:

I find the sound coming from this Transrotor/Micro Benz cartridge to be in most ways remarkable - dead silent background, utter clarity, smooth, punchy etc.  The ONE thing that has me hesitating to fall in love with it is a persistent sense of "thinness" to the sound.  Like there is some scoop out somewhere in the midrange that makes things sound smaller and thinner.  It's a persistent tonal signature and it reminds me of a custom built tube amp I once had that had the exactly the same sound.  This was the case also in the brief time I had listening to it before the cartridge was knocked.

The Micro Seiki turntable with an old cartridge the Transrotor replaced had the opposite sound.  Bigger, fuller, more lush than my digital sources.

Any suggestions?  Is this possibly a VTA thing?  (My VTA apparently looks fine to my pal who re-set the cartridge).  Any other suggestions?

Believe me, I've been there before with the "does it sound different tonight because I messed it up?" cartridge paranoia. It's all in our heads. Do experiment with the VTA though; good suggestion on that. And yes, loading can have a big impact on the overall hardness vs. softness of sound. Welcome to vinyl!

Sorry to give a needless scare when I thought it was your cantilever that got knocked loose. Sounds like you got lucky and everything is fine; happy weekend listening!

Thanks folkfreak.

It's hard not to be paranoid. Every time I hear something I may not like I'll be left wondering "is this how the turntable/cartridge sounds...or is this an artifact of the cartridge having been damaged subtly?"

@prof sounds to me as if the VTA changed between old set up and new, likely it's a little higher than it was before. Alternatively the bump could have affected the suspension such that for the same tonearm alignment the VTA is different -- suspensions do settle over time so that's nothing to worry about, as long as you can dial it in so it works for you

First, thanks for the previous replies.

Ok, so my buddy came over today to re-set the cartridge and check it out.

It seems like the cartridge is ok, thank goodness.

Though after re-aligning it the sound changed. Before the cartridge was knocked askew I had been trying to decide if I like the impedance set at 100 or 250 Ohm (my phono stage makes the switch easy from the front panel). 100 Ohm sounded darker, wetter, richer and more relaxed, 250 Ohm sounded brighter, punchier, a bit more accurate and "real" in some ways.

But after the re-set of the cartridge today, that changed. Now the 100 Ohm setting sounds like the 250 Ohm did, and I have to knock it down to 33 Ohms to get it to sound like it did before at 100 Ohms.

Turntables. So puzzling.

folkfreak,

Yes it's exactly that AS tonearm (12").  It was sort of "unscrewed" slightly when I found the cartridge pointed a bit off center. Slightly tightening that top screw holding the cartridge on seemed to tighten up the cartridge to the arm ok.  I hope you are right and I got lucky with this design.

mulveling, yes it was the cartridge itself that was askew, not the cantilever at all.

Ah ok when you mentioned “loose and wiggly” I thought you were referencing the cantilever, which would be a no-recovery scenario. You might actually be ok here!

Is it one of the AS tonearms with the one point headshell connection? Like the WTB313? https://goo.gl/images/NUGojx

If so it could simply be that the connection point was loose and the headshell twisted. On most tonearms you couldn’t change the orientation of the cartridge that much without severe damage but with this design you may have gotten lucky. Have you tried playing an LP (with volume low?)

I put a record on the turntable (not playing it) and dropped the needle.  The cartridge/needle appears to sit fine on the record.  Does that tell me anything?

Sorry again man...with what you’ve described, the suspension is toast, and it won’t sound fine, if it can even take the weight of VTF without completely bottoming out :(

I’ve unfortunately seen a couple of cartridges get borked in my days; cantilever pipes themselves can take a hell of a lot of impact force and appear to be fine. But the stylus on one end (especially the way it attaches to the cantilever), and the suspension on the other (especially the way it attaches to the cantilever), aren’t as hardy.

Time to have a few brews!

mulveling,

Are you trying to plunge me into full depression?

The Benz Micro L was a much more expensive cartridge than I'd ever have bought myself and the fact the seller was throwing it in as part of the deal on the turntable was a selling point.  The idea of having to buy a new cartridge, or re-build (which I hear can be close to the expense of the cartridge) is too depressing for words right now.  I'm completely out of money for new gear stuff.

I looked as closely at the cartridge as I could, with a magnifying glass.
I can not see any damage to the needle, it appears perfectly straight as it was.  I can't see any damage to any of the wires from the cartridge to the arm. 

Where else should I look for damage and how can I assess if there is damage?

My friend with lots of turntable experience just told me it will either work and be fine, or if it was damaged we'll know it right off the bat from the sound.

Sorry man. Sadly that’s a tale I’ve heard FAR too often over the years. My friend Tom had a Dynavector XX-2 killed this way. The best surefire way to prevent this is having your analog gear in a room that can be locked off from access by the cleaning lady, and clean that room yourself. Or at least, get an arm with removable wands or headshells; remove and lock them up safe before a cleaning (you better remember each time, too). You’d be amazed at how ineffective verbal instructions can be. You need physical barriers.

Since at a minimum here the cantilever & suspension is compromised/destroyed (probably the coils too), a retip will not do. You’ll need either a full rebuild (e.,g. Soundsmith) or to trade-in for a new one.

Choosing a cartridge from a company with a good rebuild policy -- which I consider to be a rebuild for more than 50% off retail price of new (e.g. Koetsu, Ortofon) -- helps mitigate the blow at times like this. Benz used to have excellent trade-in & trade-up prices, but I’m not sure what they offer now.

I've owned a few Benzes, and I know that the Wood L was a really nice sounding unit :( 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!


Months of waiting to hear my new turntable, months of researching in isolation and re-making my stand and turntable base.

I got two days of listening to it.

And my cleaning lady takes out my EXPENSIVE CARTRIDGE!!!!!!

I came home and went to put on a record, and saw the Benz Micro L cartridge was totally askew, pointing out to the wrong side.  Then I touched it and it was completely loose and wiggly.  What the hell???

Turns out my cleaning lady had gone to turn on the lamp by that turntable, was holding some cloths and a swifter, and something caught the turntable arm (cartridge?) jerking it from the arm rest.  She heard a "bang" and saw the arm had come off it's arm rest, so she lifted it back on the to arm rest.

So now I have no idea just how effed up my cartridge is.  Did it slam on to the needle?  I don't know. 

I have literally the worst luck with equipment - literally every single thing I buy f#cks up when I get it.  I should be used to it...but this one really hurt.

Rant over.  For now...

I have some Townshend speaker platforms in my cart.

@prof 
That's awesome you got hooked up finally, and have superb sound! That's what it's all about. Personally I'd worry about making things too complex with multiple various isolators/platforms, and their interactions, on a less than stellar frame, but if it sounds good and you don't have feedback issues, then that is good. 

Still, in the future, consider something like an Adona rack! A good turntable deserves a rigid, substantial frame underneath it. Good isolation on top of a good frame should yield stellar results. 

I host most my images on imgur, or also you can easily post a Virtual System here on Audiogon! We'd all love to see what you've got. 

The thread lives?

I haven’t put pictures up as I don’t know where to host them yet.

Well I ended up with this:

Lovan rack:  Top shelf reinforced with steel plate, bonded by wall-damp material.  Rest of lovan racks damped with wall damp material, and wall damp material/sorbothane in the rack columns.  That really deadened ringing vibration just in the Lovan rack itself. 

On top of the Lovan shelf I have: Townshend isolation pods (spring) holding up a sandwich two MDF boards, 1/2" + 3/4", bonded together by wall damp material.  Then added a layer of steel (really deadened things), then the 2 1/2" Maple block on top of that, on which sits the Transrotor Turntable.

This means the actual shelf the turntable sits on is very dead and heavy, while also being very well isolated itself from floor-borne extraneous vibration.

I FINALLY hooked up the Turntable last night (with JE Audio Phone Stage) and took a spin of a bunch of records.

Holy moly!

Amazing.  High fidelity vinyl playback!  Super dark background, liquid presentation, spacious, clear...in some ways the best sound I've heard out of my system.  I'm continually astonished at how transformed every record, and recording, is on this system in terms of being able to hear into the mix every nuance so easily.   Now I really get what the vinyl guys have been saying :-)

bump for anyone to answer my last paragraph.

Ugh, another bump in the road:

When I swapped the position of the additional MDF boards to above the Townsend springs (and under the butcher block base) I forgot that this means the entire weight of the turntable and wood base is now sitting only on the top, thin MDF Lovan shelf.  This is precarious as, being a 3-legged stand, the back portion of the thin MDF shelf is only supported in the middle of the shelf.  I can see the lovan shelf bowing to the side already due to lack of corner support.  I can imagine the shelf even snapping at one point and everything tumbling down.

So, in a panic, I put in a temp solution: cut some wood posts to hold up underneath the corners of the lovan MDF shelf.  I did this for the next shelf down too.   So though the corners on which the posts are stuck are themselves "unsupported" spreading the load among several shelfs clearly added great stability.

But for a more permanent and nicer looking solution I plan to add a sheet of steel under the top Lovan shelf to support the weight of the turntable.  Not sure what thickness yet.

Since the other lovan shelves are so flimsy, I think I'll add a layer of steel sheet to those as well (and damp them).

My QUESTION:

While I'm out buying sheets of steel, I thought maybe I'd thrown a sheet - maybe 1/4" or 1/2" - into the mix of the base supporting my turntable.
So, maybe in between the maple block and the thick MDF boards that are held up by the townshend pods.

Any reason not to do this?  If figure the more solidity beneath the turntable the better. 

bdp24,

Tell me about it!

It's ironic you mention room acoustics:  One reason this has all taken me so long is that I'm juggling two newbie moments: setting up a new expensive turntable AND attempting for the first time to integrate two new subwoofers into my system.

It's been a whole other level of expense and hassle trying to "do subwoofers right" with opinions all over the place on that too.

Turntables are not for lightweights, ay prof?! It takes a lot of work to maximize their performance, but if you have a lot of LPs it's well worth it. Then there is room acoustics!

When we hooked everything up we only got one channel playing!

Panic!

Cable-swapping time.

Thank goodness I had my experienced turntable buddy there because he ended up checking the wires of the RCAs coming from the Transrotor and, sure enough, one of the channel wires had been pulled apart.

It must have happened one of the several times I'd taken the turntable on and off the stand.  Wow, it's really true as my friend says, turntables HATE being moved.  It didn't take much for this to happen.

My buddy says it's an easy fix, a snip and a bit of soldering which he'll do whenever he can make it back to my place.

So, sigh, all that build up to disappointment.  My longing to hear my turntable unfulfilled.

When I finally get it working, I'll report back to this thread-that-no-one-reads  :-)

Another entry into the thread that is no longer being read :-)

I received my JE Audio Phono Stage and finally...FINALLY...set up my Transrotor turntable!

But before I get to that, here are the final details of how I re-jigged my meagre Lovan classic rack.

As mentioned before, the MDF Lovan shelves are very thin and flimsy. I wanted to re-enforce the top Lovan shelf so I originally bought a 3/4" MDF piece of wood to place on top of the Lovan shelf. That did make it feel more damped and sturdy. Then on top of that I had the Townshend iso pods holding up the 2 1/2" thick maple block, on which sat the turntable. I also placed a disc of sound-damped steel between the top of each pod and the maple block.

Then I tried adding another bit of MDF - another 1/2 board to the 3/4" board and, wow, that made a surprising difference in rigidity and solidity.
Significantly more "dead" sounding on the rap test.

Seeing how placing more boards together increased deadening quality, I switched the location of the MDF boards. Instead of sitting them on top of the Lovan rack, then the iso-pods, I put them held up on the isopods so now the MDF boards were paired with the Maple block above the isopods. THAT really made a difference - the Maple block became significantly more "hard," solid and dead sounding when directly re-enforced by bonding with the MDF boards.

So here’s what I did:

To bond the two MDF board, I used the thin wall damping material recommended by bdp24. A sort of constrained layer approach.
Then I painted that board black, so it would disappear visually beneath the nice looking maple block.

My pal was coming over today to help set up my Turntable (he has all the right stuff for doing the cartridge set up etc). I then realized I had a bunch of damping material left over so why not use it?

I decided to take the top shelf only of the Lovan. I opened up the caps for the pillars, and attached a whole bunch of the wall damping material inside each. Then, I covered the bottom of the thin Lovan MDF shelf with the wall damping material. Next, I cut strips and placed the wall damping material throughout the metal frame of the lovan rack, to reduce ringing/resonance.

Finally, I used blue-tack to bond the top of the lovan shelf to the top of the Lovan frame.

Result: Wow! I didn’t know if the effort would produce a result but it REALLY deadened the sound of both the metal frame and the lovan shelf! It’s far more dead sounding with the knuckle rap test, and the metal doesn’t "ring" at all, unlike the other untreated shelves below.

Further, to my surprise, there was a significant reduction of measurable vibration via the ipad seismometer app. Where before the treatment placing the ipad on the top shelf, and rapping the shelf or rack produced huge spikes and ringing. Now the spikes were much smaller and virtually no ringing! And that’s even before placing the additional isopods/mdf boards/maple block/turntable on the rack.

I’m glad just for the peace of mind/fun of it I did that last minute tweaking.

By the time I get to where the turntable is sitting, everything feels super dead and solid. And the ipad app measures huge decreases in vibration both "getting to" the turntable, or if I rap the turntable or maple block it’s sitting on.

So, I’ve done my due diligence. It’s up to the turntable now.

Unfortunately......(next post)....

Not that I think there is any interest left in this thread but...

Bit more update:


1. Today I received my order of the ASC Wall Damp material, suggested by bdp24.  Thanks bdp24!

I ordered their cheapest box of 25 4"X4" self adhesive sheets.  My main goal is to use them as both a layer of damping material and a way to bond the top thin Lovan rack MDL shelf to the thicker 3/4" MDF sheet, to thicken up and strengthen the top shelf upon which my new butcher block/transrotor sit.

I was told by ASC that diminishing returns set in pretty quickly in using the damping material, meaning I don't have to cover every bit of surface in order to realize excellent gains in damping.  With that in mind, I'll probably cover about 75 percent of the area between the thin/thick MDL shelf, after which I'll have a bunch of sheets left over.  And I figure, what the heck, I'm going to attach them to the bottom of my butcher block base to add further damping to that block.

Also:

2. I received the Soundeck PM Black (platter mat), made by the sounddamped steel folks. (See my link in a post a bit earlier).

On sheer looks and feel alone I love it!  It's a nice, solid extremely non-resonant constrain-damped steel disc, with a really nice black/dark gray finish that has a nice bit of texture and catches the light with a bit of sparkle.  It looks perfect on top of the big aluminum Transrotor turntable, looks like it's part of the table and elevates the look even more.  Sonically?  I won't know until I finally have my turntable up and running.

It also gives a bit more grip between the top of the turntable (which is black...either rubber or acrylic or something, and a bit more slippery). 

On that note: I have also received with the Soundeck platter mat a thin neoprene mat.  And I received my Herbie's "way excellent turntable mat."  

My intuition is that I would want the record as "bonded" to the turntable platter as much as possible with as little possible slippage.  I tried the mats in various combinations and the best one seemed to be:

Soundeck (metal) platter mat right on top of the turntable platter, with the thin Soundeck neoprene mat on top.  There was the least "slippage" with this combination.  I could turn the big heavy Transrotor platter via touching only the outer edge of the record itself, and bring it to an easy complete stop by putting my finger only on the record edge, with no sense of slippage.  It felt bonded to the platter. 

Plus I like the way the neoprene layer gives a yielding, non-abrasive surface for records.

The Herbie's platter was very good that way, but not quite as good.  Plus, worryingly, the Herbie's platter seemed full of static!  Every time I touched, lifting it off, there were crackles of static.  There is nothing like this with either of the Soundeck platter materials.

I don't like the idea of dust gathering on my turntable's platter between record playing sessions.  So I've decided when I'm not playing records I'll have the neoprene layer with the Soundeck steel platter on top of it.
That way the neoprene layer is protected from dust when the turntable is not in use, and the metal platter on top looks far better.  I'll just reverse them when playing records.

I'm awaiting my phono stage and then finally I'll be able to hear my new turntable.

Over 'n out for now. 

Folks,

New question:

I have a bunch of new gear to accommodate in my rack, which means moving things around.  I need a new shelf for my Benchmark DAC.
I just realized that there is actually space for the DAC in between the top of my Lovan rack and the butcher block, since the butcher block is held a couple of inches high by the Townsend pods.

Is there any issue with placing a DAC under the turntable bass, in terms of any forms of interference?   Again, the maple bass is 2 1/2" thick, then the thick turntable above it.  The cartridge would be about 15" away from the DAC separated by the turntable/maple bass.

I also need a space to put my tiny raspberry pi computer (about the size of my palm) which feeds the DAC, and it could also fit under the turntable bass.

Any issues?  Thanks.

Just another little test tonight - ipad w. accelerometer placed on the Transrotor platter.  Wow.  What a difference between this and my previous Micro Seiki floating suspension design.  (As one would expect, of course).

When I'd placed the ipad on the Micro Seiki platter and tapped the turntable or platter itself, there would be a massive register of vibration and ringing. 

The different design of the high mass Transrotor shows up in this test.  When I put the ipad on it's platter and tap the platter, it only shows the tiniest spike of vibration.  In fact, no matter how hard I wack it, with the ipad right beside where I'm tapping hard, I can't really get more of a reading.  It just stays this tiny spike.

I guess that's what high mass does for ya.  (And the Townsend isolation system appears to help somewhat here too).

Fun stuff.

Update:

Finally received my custom made "roasted maple" butcher block for the turntable base.

Looks beautiful. It's 22" wide by 17" deep by 2 1/2" thick.

I did a temporary set up, put the block on top of my Lovan rack with the Townsend iso Pods (spring based) holding it up, then added my turntable.

I tested with the ipad accelerometer app.  As predicted, the isolation from vibration (at least from the tapping and thumping type vibration) was excellent.

If I place the ipad on top of the Lovan rack shelf and tap the shelf, or walk around or stomp the ground in the room, the app clearly shows big spikes, registering the transmission.  But if I place the ipad on top of the butcher block or the turntable, the stomping the ground or tapping the top of the lovan rack is barely registered at all.  Further, if I placed the ipad on top of the lovan shelf, and tap or bump on the turntable bass or the butcher block, there is almost no transmission showing up on the ipad screen.

So, at least in terms of the type of vibrations I'm creating, the spring based system seems to provide excellent decoupling in both directions.

I know people with a rack like the cheaper Lovan worry about "ringing" of the metal tubes and try to combat this by filling them with sand or led shot or whatever.  I don't feel compelled to worry about that given how decoupled the turntable seems from the Lovan rack.  I don't see how for instance the turntable will set the lovan rack "ringing" or, any music transmission (the turntable is in a separate room down the hall from my speakers), or how it would be such as to rise up through the spring system into the turntable system.

But, hey, whaddoIknow?   I'm just fooling around doing whatever gives me some peace of mind.

Yes, thanks, I'm aware.

My turntable and butcher block base would be between 75-80 lbs, and my Thiel speakers are 77 lbs each, so four Iso-Pucks rated at 20 lb each should work properly with either turntable or speakers.

prof, keep in mind the IsoAcoustic rubber Pods are rated to only 20 lbs each. The company is promoting the Pods for use with sources, amplifiers, and monitor speakers, and the Gaia Isolators for use with floor-standing speakers, which often weight more than the Pods can accommodate.

I think I'll try both the isopucks and the Townsend pods under my speakers to see how they work.  I only have four of each so can only try on one speaker, though.

Slight update:

I bought some Isoacoustics Iso-Pucks:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/IsoPuck

The Isoacoustics stuff seem to be all the rage these days, and I’m likely to try some of their Gaia footers on my Thiel speakers.

But for now I’m still playing with isolation devices for my turntable set up.

First impressions of the Iso-Pucks is that they are nicely designed with a feeling of quality and solidity. With the exception that one of the pucks, disappointingly, had some mottled, scratchy looking finish. The others were perfect, though.

They sit on a squishy bottom that seems to "give" in all directions (though the promo stuff would have one expecting it would give forwards and backwards, not so much side to side, as that is their approach).

I did my various tests: putting them under my micro seiki turntable, under a butcher block, tapping nearby with the ipad accelerator app measuring vibration. Also used the vibrating toothbrush to feel how much vibration seemed to get through the pucks, as well as measuring on the ipad app.

All this is usually done with the turntable/block placed on our pool table. So I place the turntable on the pool table, which is fairly solid, and tap around it, measure the vibration, then place the turntable on whatever isolation, or on the wood butcher block with isolation between it and the pool table, and re-do the tap tests to see if there’s reduction in transmitted vibration to the turntable.

Results were: I couldn’t notice any particular reduction in vibration with the iso-pucks. Putting them under the butcher block, I could wiggle the butcher block around somewhat, which is what they are supposed to do.
But I couldn’t notice by feeling, or measuring vibration transter with the ipad, any vibration reduction. There did seem to be a bit more ringing measured on the ipad when tapping the butcher block while they were suspended by the iso-pucks, perhaps due to the very slight rubbery wobble they introduce.

That said, they do have a really nice grippy feel, so the turntable or wood block feels gripped and very stable when sitting on the pucks. I like that.
The Townsend iso-pods have a felt top and doesn’t grip as much.

So after playing with the iso-pucks I went back to the spring based townshend isolation pods. While they clearly reduced vibration getting to whatever they held up (e.g. butcher block, turntable) they could also introduce a bit of ringing if you tap the thing they are holding, due no doubt to the slight spring wobble.

So last night, I thought maybe I should try adding more weight on to the butcher block. This is because I bought the "C" version of the Townsend pods, which are rated to hold more weight than I’ve been placing on them (I’ve estimated my Transrotor turntable plus the large butcher block I’m having made will be between 75 to 80 lbs for the pods to hold up).

So, with the butcher block sitting on the pods, and the turntable on the butcher block, I added some weights to the butcher block. About 15 more pounds.

THAT made a difference! Particularly to the ringing of the block or turntable when tapped or vibrated with the toothbrush.

There was a significant reduction of measured vibration when I had the ipad on the turntable platter. If I tapped the turntable itself, or the actual platter, the measured spike and subsequent ringing was well reduced, vs tapping the turntable when it was simply on the pool table with no isolation.

So my take away from all this is that, both measured in terms of "feeling" with my hand reduction in vibration transmission, and in measuring with the ipad accelerometer apps, it’s the Townsend isolation pods that are doing what I’m seeking. They reduce the vibration transmitted to whatever they are holding up far, far more than any of the other devices/materials I’ve tried. In fact, tapping nearby the turntable when it’s on any of the other materials produces little difference in measurement, whereas measured vibration is almost gone when tapping while the Townsend pods are in action.

And now once I’ve loaded the pods with more appropriate weight, I see a reduction of vibration/ringing even when vibrating or tapping the item they are holding up (turntable platter/base).

This settles it for me: I’m sticking with my idea of adding 3/4" MDF under my Lovan’s thinner MDF top shelf, as a sturdier based, on which to place the Townsend isolation pods, which will be "sandwiched" by the soundamped steel discs (seems a better combo than the pods alone).

That will hold up my 2 1/2" thick maple butcher block.

The turntable will sit on the block.

And just for the heck of it, I’m sticking some of the sounddamped steel discs under the turntable footers and under the turntable motor. (I’ve been impressed by how inert the sounddamped steel product is, and how it seems to do a good job reducing vibration, e.g. the toothbrush vibration test).

I’m also ordering a soundamped steel turntable mat to check out:

http://soundeck.bigcartel.com/product/sundeck-aluminium-black

As I’ve said, I’m actually a skeptic about most high end audio tweaks, especially the "vibration reduction" industry in which it’s held that virtually any piece of gear has to be "protected against spurious vibrations."

But of all the devices in which vibration reduction seems plausible to me, it’s turntables, for fairly obvious reasons. (They very device itself works via amplifying vibrations!).

Do I even think any of the things I’m doing here will make an audible difference, if I were able to easily compare just putting the turntable on my existing rack, vs the new butcher block, everything all tweaked out?

I’m skeptical of that too.

But...it’s been fun to investigate the subject, and to lots of hands on testing to help form my own ideas. The main reason I’m going the route I’ve chosen is that being able to actually feel, and objectively measure differences in vibration control give me a bit more confidence than simply "do I hear a difference?"

I still probably won’t be able to have this all up and running for another month or so. When I finally do I’ll report on the sound of my new turntable.

I may try it bdp24.  Thanks again.

prof, for the $18 a lb. the Wall Damp scraps cost (including shipping iirc), it is well worth a try, ay? That buys you about twenty-five 2.5/3" x 4" pieces.

thanks bdp24.  Good to know.

prof, the approximately 25 ASC Wall Damp scraps I received are all 4" by between 2.5" and 3". WD is just under 1/16" thick, with a layer of adhesive on both sides, like carpet tape. The odor you refer to, found in the roofing materials (tar paper products) people have been using in damping applications for decades (especially in the UK, in loudspeaker cabinets), is, thankfully, completely absent in Wall Damp.

Hey, that reminds me. Another good use for Cones is node Dampers on the walls, where max vibration occurs. It also occurs to me I sell Blue Meanies for room walls, one per wall, but as they have nothing to do with vibration or acoustic waves I probably shouldn’t talk about them. 

@bdp24

Sounds interesting!

How big are the sheets you received?

Also, do they have an odor?  I've seen quite a few comments by people who have bought more industrial-oriented sound isolation materials that they can give off quite a chemical smell.

You are the creator! It’s an art as much as a science. The shelf or top plate should be damped but not overly so. Oft times a thing that seems like a no brainer hurts the sound. Audio can be defined as an endless parade of trial and error. 😛

My turntable feet are pointed so the manufacturer must agree with you.
I'm thinking of putting a sounddamped steel disc under each point of the foot.  Couldn't hurt, seem to me.

I always use points down cones under the component and under the stand. It minimizes the contact area considerably, by what, a million to one?

Thanks geoff.  Townsend has several different pods/springs rated for a certain amount of weight, so I'd ordered the correct ones based on my calculation of the weight of my turntable/maple block base.  So in theory I should be good.

I go back and forth with using anything between the maple butchers block base or just placing it directly on my stand, since I notice when I place the ipad app simply on a very solid surface vibration and ringing tests seem very good - e.g. a tap test on the ipad yields a spike with almost no ringing, and taps beside the ipad yield little vibration.

Generally speaking, springs should be loaded according to their springs rate (stiffness). The more mass the lower the resonant frequency of the isolating system thus the better the isoalation, all things being equal. In the case of speakers it’s not really critical how you load them since speaker feedback via the floor to components cannot be less than what, 30 Hz or so anyway, whereas for electronics the seismic vibration goes down to 0 Hz. So for very low frequencies you definitely want to minimize spring rate and maximize mass. Thus, whilst stiff springs like mine or Townshend’s under speakers do prevent vibration from the floor being transmitted to the speakers, that’s a true statement, the real issue is mechanical feedback to the electronics.

The rule of thumb is to load springs until they are 2/3 of their uncompressed height. But it depends since springs have different numbers of coils, different heights, etc. But obviously you don’t want any coils to touch each other. Due to center of gravity issues for heavy objects like speakers, lateral support must often be increased by using the outrigger idea which I think Townshend does. The speakers/springs are way too unstable (top heavy) if you try to place springs directly underneath them.🏋🏻‍♀️

@geoffkait

The Townsend springs clearly isolate whatever is above them from vibrations coming from below. So from exterior vibration. My main concern has been what is the effect adding those springs in terms of the system vibration itself (turntable spinning, motor, cartridge reading vinyl vibration....).

The video demos of the Townsend vibrapods under speakers show a deadening of ringing when the speakers are tapped, when sitting on the pods. However, in some of my tests using the ipad app, it seems I get a bit more ringing showing up on the tap test with the ipad or turntable sitting on the springs. Which seems understandable if you are tapping something sitting on wiggly springs. That doesn’t seem like a good thing.

But I seem to remember this ringing reduces with the amount of weight I put on the springs - e.g. if I add the butchers block along with the turntable on the springs. Perhaps the pods need to be loaded with a certain amount of weight before they also help reduce ringing from the item they are holding up. Does this make sense to you?

slaw
Well knocking on a material, does give one a very good reference as to how it will react in audio applications when that person is an observant "knocker".

Holiday Hint: Don’t knock on the stand whilst music is playing. If your stand is on springs or air bladders the top plate is isolated anyway, so in the case of real seismic isolation the actual material of the top plate becames almost, uh, immaterial. It could be rabbits if you could catch em. 🐇 🐇 🐇 As I’ve observed previously stiffness of the top plate is a high priority. Furthermore, ANY residual resonance of the top plate can be controlled by damping.

All points taken, fellers!

I really am listening to everyone, though at this point I have so many voices in my ear it's easy to become derailed.  I have no idea how to figure out the resonant frequency of my turntable, stand or base.

So at this point what I'm doing is just having some fun experimenting and ultimately I'm going to go with the method that gives me some peace of mind.  It's not of course that I think I've solved any vibration issues scientifically.  I think it's more about the mind-set my experiments create.  Just being able to distinctly feel the differences various material make in vibration gives me a more tactile basis on which way to go.  Among the many different suggestions I've received, and all the many other threads i've read, no doubt there is more accurate info, but it's hard to discern which it is.  So, again, I have to ultimately go on what makes me happy.  I doubt anything I'll be doing will actually make an audible difference (I admit I'm pretty skeptical about the tweakier side of high end audio), but I enjoy the idea of making a design based on my own ideas playing around with various materials/devices.