Turrntable With or Without Suspension?


Hello yous guys.

So I'm looking to spend $500ish for a turntable with cartridge.

The main problem is that the turntable is going to live in a place where it will have to bear the brunt of my family stomping and clomping around it's vicinity.

Should I go for a turntable with built-in suspension or should I just rig something up or purchase some special mats to absorb the vibrations?

Let me knows what yous think.

J
jrthestar
Go with a B&O - there's a nice TX-2 with MMC3 cartridge on Audiogon right now for approx. $400. They are impervious to outside vibrations and sound pretty darn good when mated with one of their top of the line cartridges. I currently have a BG5500 with MMC1, MMC2, and MMC3 cartridges - the MMC1 and MMC2 sound fantastic and the MMC3 ain't too shabby, either...

-rw-
I had a Thorens that jumped every time someone walked nearby or closed a door downstairs. I solved the problem with some 4" thick foam rubber that had been part of a camping mattress pad. I cut a 16" square of the foam and put a 16" square 1/4" thick ceramic tile on top of the foam and then the Thorens on to of that. It was relatively dense foam. This did the trick and footfalls and door closures were not a problem any more.

Ultimately I got an unsuspended Rega TT got rid of the foam and ceramic tile. The Rega sits on a table top in the same location without any problem from footfalls or door closures.

Paul Green
I've had 3 tt's: a Technics (don't remember the model), a Rotel RP-900 and a VPI Hw19 MK III. The VPI is suspended and bounces like a trampoline. Fortunately my kids are grown, but I still have problems if I forget or a friend comes by and I forget to warn him. The Technics also had problems with footfall, if possible even worse than the VPI. The one that I had the least problem with, even when the kids were bouncing around, was the Rotel. The RP-900 is a Rega Planar 2 with springs in place of the feet. I'm not saying it didn't bounce, just that it bounced the least of the three.