Turntable isolation platform Recommendations?

To each his own, 3.

Just for the record, I was never an electron microscopist myself, but as a lab chief, I did have such a person and her microscope under my supervision for about 10-15 years out of my 40+ years as a virologist, and before and after that, there was always an EM in the vicinity of my lab.  In all of my scientific life, I never saw an EM that was sitting on an isolating shelf that is in any way related to a Minus K or Herzan vibration isolation device.  (So far as I know, Herzan make the Minus K.) This is at least partly because EMs are enormous, floor-standing devices, typically about 8 feet high from top to the bottom of the console.  (Maybe the latest most modern ones are smaller, but I have not seen such.) They are almost always located in the basement of a lab building, imbedded in several feet of solid concrete.  So, the major method used to immunize an EM from environmental resonant energy is mass-loading, at least in the good old days. 


That said, I do agree that the Minus K/Herzan might be the Holy Grail for a turntable, and I know for sure that similar tables are used in science and industry, but I am not sure for what.  (Huge used ones can be purchased on eBay.) Many less expensive methods also work adequately if not as perfectly for a turntable.  Also, I don't know why a platform HANGING from springs cannot also sway from side to side, as can a platform SUPPORTED by springs; I've heard that song from Mijo too many times.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

I think the point might be that your Luxman turntables do have spring-loaded and damped feet.  So yes, the Luxman should need nothing more than a solid rack, and sand is an excellent isolating material under such a turntable as yours.  In fact, any springy shelf or support under your Luxman is contra-indicated, because then you have the potential for two very different suspending systems to interact in a negative way so as to make matters much worse.  However, if your turntable is completely lacking in any sort of suspension or other isolating mechanism, then the addition of some sort of vibration or energy absorbing platform or feet or pods or whatever you want to call it may be merited.  In this latter case, it almost doesn't matter what you do; something is better than nothing most of the time.  In my opinion, the best set-up is to put a Minus-K or Herzan or Vibraplane platform under an unsuspended turntable.  Townshend Platform looks like a nice solution, too, if cost is an object. 


As you point out, the OP hasn't said he is having a problem with feedback.  This is why I asked the OP to describe any built-in isolating mechanism in his Clearaudio turntable.  Some of the other guys seem to know more than I do about that and have seen fit to try to advise him without too much feedback, so far, from the OP.  All's well that ends well.

Does the Clearaudio Ovation contain its own integral suspension system, of any kind?