Turntable Isolation

There are only two platforms that will work reliably, the MinusK and the Vibraplane. This assumes that your equipment rack or cabinet is laterally stable. Movement straight up and down is easy for the tonearm to handle. Lateral or sideways deflections are always a serious problem. When you walk on your floor it does not deflect straight up and down. It forms an arc which causes the rack or cabinet to sway. No turntable, not even a good suspended one can handle that. With a bad floor the first thing you do is keep the rack as short as possible like coffee table height. This decreases the distance the top of the rack will sway. Wall racks usually help but you say that is out of the question. Your budget puts the MinusK and Vibraplane out of the running. The turntables best able to handle a bad floor will be the Basis Inspiration, the SMEs and the suspended Sotas. You are more than likely wasting your money with the Townsend. I think you should probably get the turntable closer to the floor and make sure the rack is very sturdy without any tendency to rack. After that start saving for a good suspended turntable, The Sota Sapphire comes to mind. The reason the above turntables are best is because the chassis is suspended by the springs. This is a way more stable situation than the chassis sitting on the springs which can actually make the problem worse. I have seen the Sapphire successfully quell some pretty severe footfall problems. This is also another good reason to avoid longer tonearms. In the meanwhile I would practice your tip toeing. I forgot about one solution, suspending the turntable from the ceiling. You hang a shelf from the ceiling via 4 chains, 3 with turnbuckles for level adjustment. The holes for hooks in the ceiling can be easily patched. This is also an extremely cost effective solution. Chains, hooks, shelves and elbow grease might cost you a whopping $50.00. This also assumes there is nobody walking around upstairs. 

I hate to say I told you so. Sorry about that. I guess I did not comment until after you had ordered the Townsend. All those feet thingies are also garbage. To properly isolate a turntable the suspension needs to be tuned below 3 hz, three bounces every second. That is so slow you can count it. 

Try this experiment. Put the turntable on the floor. If the footfall problem improves at all a shorter more stable rack will also improve the problem. Then down the line you can either replace the floor or get a Sota Sapphire, Nova or Cosmos. Easy choice I think. Hanging the turntable is another viable solution. People laugh at it, but it will reliable vanquish the footfall problem. All you need is a drill and a ladder. Get a big butcher block carving board, 8 hooks, chains and turnbuckles. 

@elevick I used an original Sapphire for 40 years and a Cosmos now. I am well familiar with the stability of these turntables. The hammer demonstration always amazes people. 

Hanging the turntable works great as long as the ceiling does not double as the upstairs floor. If the shelf and turntable are heavy enough it is much harder to get it swinging. If you have a good arm swinging will not bother it at all, it might make you dizzy. 

It seems we have a bunch of Sota users here. Some of us know a good turntable when we see one:-)