Springs under turntable


I picked up a set of springs for $35 on Amazon. I intended to use them under a preamp but one thing led to another and I tried them under the turntable. Now, this is no mean feat. It’s a Garrard 401 in a 60pound 50mm slate plinth. The spring device is interesting. It’s sold under the Nobsound brand and is made up of two 45mm wide solid billets of aluminum endcaps with recesses to fit up to seven small springs. It’s very well made. You can add or remove springs depending on the weight distribution. I had to do this with a level and it only took a few minutes. They look good. I did not fit them for floor isolation as I have concrete. I played a few tracks before fitting, and played the same tracks after fitting. Improvement in bass definition, speed, air, inner detail, more space around instruments, nicer timbre and color. Pleasant surprise for little money.
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Yes. I use them under my turntable, amps, and preamp. I had used metal spikes under my amps and switched to the Nobsound springs. I wasn’t expecting much. I even thought they might not work. They did improve the sound stage. I guess there were some microphonics I wasn’t aware of before the springs. I placed them under my turntable and there seemed to be some slight improvement. I didn’t notice any changes with my preamp. I’ve left them all in place. No reason to remove them.  

Suggest combining your springs with 3 cups and balls arranged in a equilateral triangle for even better seismic isolation.

After trying a tremendous number of things I had settled on BDR and was using Shelf, Round Things and Cones under everything. This went on for a good 30 years. Until around 2 years ago when I was persuaded to try spring isolation. 

Ordinary springs worked so much better and cost so much less it was hard to believe. Plain springs are cheapest and would be the way to go, except for how hard it is to find them in the right size dimensions and weight ratings for each component.

So I decided to try Nobsound, and quickly found they are equivalent to a single spring only with the added advantage of adjustability. 

Because of all these various factors, at one point my whole system was on springs, with Moabs and some of the subs on individual springs, and the rest of the subs and all other components - amp, phono stage, turntable - on Nobsound.

With Nobsound it is absolutely crucial to adjust the number of springs per footer by listening. If this is not done it is very easy to think they make the sound bloated (too few springs) or thin (too many) and I have seen people return them disappointed due to not doing this. 

That said, all the Nobsound and other springs have been sold or given away to friends as I have upgraded to Townshend Pods, as they are on a completely higher level. There are still a few plain springs- under the granite under my amp, the step down transformer, and conditioner. Not much else will work in these odd locations. 

The reason for trying Pods is an interesting story. With everything isolated and a DBA with incredible deep bass I began noticing intermittent problems with a very low rumble. I was at first thinking my turntable bearing was going bad after 20+ years. It even showed some marks, that might have been it. But polishing and refinishing, nada. Same problem.

Gradually dawned on me isolating the system on springs might have resulted in a resonance at this frequency. Testing showed sure enough, replace one Nobsound spring with a Cone, no more rumble. So it was resonance after all.

Pods are damped. John Hannant assured me no one had ever had anything like this with Pods. I gave them a shot, and not only eliminated the rumble but got a major across the board sonic improvement. One thing led to another and so today no more Nobsound. But they are totally the best thing for the money I have ever tried. 

On damping and cost - If you are using Nobsound springs and you flick the individual springs with your fingernail and they ring, wrap one turn of PTFE tape around the full circle. Tight enough to damp but loose enough not to deform. It may not be as good as Townshend (which I've not tested) but it will be $000 less expensive.