Why do turntables sound different?

I'll take the new Continuum Obsidian, you know, the one with the mag lev isolated platter with huge, and I mean huge bearing. Also vibration isolation system for the tonearm. You guys can fight over the rest of them. And I would definitely use the Audio Technica wet playing system.

Gnason wrote,

"Most turntables from medium to high end have a vibration suppression system built into the unit."

The trouble is when turntables do have some sort of vibration ISOLATION system built in, such as spring system, the built-in isolation system is not nearly as effective as a very competent outboard isolation system. The spring rates of the on board spring systems are just not as low as they should be to be effective. Obviously, the cartridge and tonearm are designed with very low resonant frequencies, which is intended to suppress acoustic vibration, but are still susceptible to very low seismic type vibration. While damping and resonance control for turntables might be issues, they are not substitutes for vibration isolation. Furthermore, some damping techniques are more effective than others. There’s a damping gap. 😳

 
inna OP
Right. This is a very scientific approach - let the others do the job and steal the design. Some would argue, though, that the one closest to tape sound would be the one to copy. Continuum, I don't know, I heard that that's Technics not Walker.

Whoa! What? Yo, check it out! Technics? What the ding dong?! 

Just borrow the new Continuum Obsidian, you know, the one with the mag lev platter suspension, or Walker turntable, COPY it the best you can and don't worry about it. 

Actually, Mr. Fremer wisely gets quite nervous about vibrational interference. That's why he uses the super duper Minus K negative stiffness isolation stand for the Continuum. The new Obsidian version of the Continuum incorporates a lot of vibration isolation in its design, including magnetic levitation for the platter and a dedicated isolation system for the tonearm. The Continuum might be a hefty beast but the Earth is a heftier beast. 

Since the resonant frequencies of the turntable platter, tonearm and cartridge are intentionally designed to be much lower than the lowest airborne vibration frequency you can pretty much ignore airborne vibration.