@townsend-audio, I'm afraid that would be difficult to do. I do not even have 1/4" worth of room. If you look at my system page you will understand. As for the subwoofers, I have four of them and each one weighs almost $250 lb. That is a lot of jing for an experiment.
My thoughts on TT isolation methods.
I have done extensive research on isolation platforms and with help from the Audiogon community plus many hours of listening. Its not scientific and I did not measure results but here it goes. I have tried MDF board, Granite with both and alone and cork and or neoprene rubber and truck bed material as sandwich material. Granite and marble are beautiful and mass loading. It would probably be OK for a suspension loaded TT but not as good a choice for a mass loaded TT like mine. I finally invested in a 4 inch maple slab and 4 cork rubber sandwich supports that is common in industrial machine dampening. Its better and doesn't give the sound as much detail. With detail. =harshness. Its the best I have found. With less edginess and no harshness but more neutral detail. You can use 2 MDF boards which come close. Ok, if you want the absolute best for an expensive TT get an electron microscope isolation device which costs in the thousands. You could get one for a much cheaper TT but at that point you should just invest more in a TT for more bang for the buck. I think thats what Michael Fremers 100k plus Caliburn TT comes with. Look at one of his videos. The other very low cost option is a sand box. I heard a TT in one before and it sounded great but that was a 30k Clearaudio TT. I almost went with that. I thought about suspending it from the ceiling but mine is 80 lbs. I hope this helps!
Showing 12 responses by mijostyn
bdp24, The Townsend Seismic Pods are dampened compression springs of various spring rates. They can certainly be useful under certain circumstances. You can place them under your turntable and if you order the right ones should be able to get your resonance frequency below 3 Hz. It might be a little wobbly but I have not used them so I really do not know. Certainly with an unsuspended table they should make an improvement. I do believe Townsend makes a platform which would be better to use under a turntable. It is my personal belief and experience that putting springs under amplifiers and speakers is not beneficial. My system certainly does not benefit from this. |
No antigrunge2. It is not a feedback situation. If you put an oscilloscope on the output of your phono stage and place the stylus down on a record with the turntable off without adequate isolation you will see an varistey is low intensity low frequency signals that you will not see on a suspended table. Watch this all the way through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rgK0YMsJXM |
I guess I stepped on your toes townsend-audio. I just visited your site. Your seismic platform may be a reasonable solution for a turntable. It does place the load on top of the springs (compression) rather than hanging the load from the springs (extension) which is more stable. But, I noticed you springs have a large diameter which might help to stabilize them. I am certain that it is much less expensive than a MinusK platform making it a reasonable choice for the budget minded. Questions! How much does one cost and how are you damping the springs? |
Gone, that does not work entirely. It will stop footfall problems but it will not stop environmental rumble. As an example, the loaded dump truck driving down the street will get through just fine. Townsend-audio, a little long in the tooth but no argument here. The only addition I care to make is that the only device that needs this kind of isolation is the turntable. If vibration affects electronics our F22 Raptor will be in big trouble. |
That is the way it goes with most of us MC. We have to prioritize. Sounds like a good combination @ bkeske. The Sota is a joy to use. There is no turntable regardless of price that is as nice to use. You can rest your hand on it while Q ing without any ill effect. Jump up and down, make funny faces, hit it with a hammer. Nothing gets through to the cartridge. This includes a myriad of noises and rumble out in the environment. @slaw, it is a video that every turntable lover should watch. I pull it out at every opportunity. |
Sorry, the MinusK is better than all of them. The reason is that it's horizontal resonance is just as low as it's vertical resonance. In other words you can hit your rack on the SIDE with a hammer and it will not bother the turntable. Yes, it is a bit more touchy to set up but once it is you can forget about it. You could always just buy a Dohmann turntable with the MinusK ready to go. The MinusK negative stiffness design is said to be better than any active device in terms of isolation. Millercarbon, if you want to do it right you need to start working on your hanging turntable platform as described above. If you get it right it will work better than anything you are doing now. Promise:) Mike L, The Stacore has little if any lateral compliance plus you need to keep it pumped up. The MinusK requires none of this. Both it's horizontal and vertical resonance are less than 2 Hz. They also make a low profile version now which elevates the turntable 2-3 inches only. The only real downside I can see is that the platform is ordered based on turntable weight. If you were to change turntables it might not work. |
You can either buy a MinusK platform (what Michael Fremer uses) or if you are clever make a hanging shelf for your table by hanging a shelf from all four corners with springs chosen to produce a resonance frequency of less than 3 Hz fully loaded. Look at the SME 30/2 and the Sota Millennium. This is a much more stable solution than placing a shelf on springs. You can dampen the springs by stuffing them with foam. There is no other way to completely isolate a turntable. Mass and heavy shelves do not work. Environmental rumble and footfalls will make it right through. Sota owners are notorious for striking their turntables with hammers while playing without and sonic effect. This is where it all began. The only thing wrong with this video is the dismissal of anti skate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rgK0YMsJXM This is a must see for anyone interested in turntables. |