Thoughts On Turntable Clamps And Weights

@dwette 

In order for a suspension to isolate a turntable from environmental noise it has to have a resonance frequency between 1.5 and 3 Hz. This is a mechanical filter in which you have a mass and a set of springs with a given rate to produce the correct resonance frequency. If the springs are not tuned to the mass you have an ineffective method of isolation. In other words all that other stuff does not work. Turntables that have such suspensions include Basis, SME, Sota, Avid, some Kuzmas, The LP12, Dohmann and I am sure I am missing a few. There are platforms that you can order or adjust for the mass of your turntable such as the MinusK and Vibraplane. 

And a mechanism for damping the oscillation at the resonant frequency.  Otherwise, the TT will constantly bounce at its resonant frequency, once excited.  How does a car do without shock absorbers?  This has been an issue with spring loaded TTs since the original AR was launched.  The AR was actually better than some that came later, in that regard.

@coppy777 

You and any other Rega turntable owner , you might want to try the Clearaudio Clever Record clamp  , it's lightweight and uses friction to hold the record down .

@mijostyn Thanks for the info.

My turntable is a non-suspended design. At some point I will try a Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS E1X) isolation base for it. Those are tuned for type and weight of component, but it won’t work with my current setup space-wise. I have a isoAcoustics Delos sitting on top of a Naim Fraim rack that works well enough. I am in a smallish room (11’ x 17’) with large floor standers and a pair of REL subs. As it is I am getting excellent performance and don’t have isolation issues that I hear, even if I play bass heavy music at volume (although I mostly listen to classical and jazz at low to moderate volumes).

Next year I plan to move the system to a larger living room. At that time I plan to revisit siting my turntable, possibly on a wall shelf (I have a Solidsteel WS-5 in storage).

Still, I have no obvious isolation issues, so I’m not planning to throw an excessive amount of money at it. I have other priories. :)

As an individual who has trialled a range of materials as a Support and assembled these materials into various configurations of a Structure to support equipment, I can only encourage others to try out their own investigations.

I have not and do not intend on trying out a Isolation Platform from a Brand that comes with multiple $K's to be parted with for the experience to be had.

My journey has already got me to a place that I am very content with, at present I am not in the ball park of multi $K's spent and with the upcoming inclusion of a Board to be used as a Sub Plinth produced from a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood, even though carrying a increased cost than usually met, I have witnessed enough from the use of this material to be able to see this as my journey's end.