Turntable isolation - Help please

[khfm865]

Hi Chaps,

After having been to ikea to sort out my new hifi racks, which look great. I need to sort out some isolation for my tt. I can not fix a wall bracket as it weighs 70lbs and the wall is platerboard (I could if I installed it on to joists etc, but can't be bothered with all that). I don't want to be fiddling around making my own - although I must add that I have seen some great ones handmade on the forum. Finally the tt platform needs to be 50cm wide and have good WAF factor.

So I guess what I am really asking is which isolation plinths would be suitable for me and how much?

Bill

[Theo]

Hi Bill
What's the floor structure where the t/t will sit? Concrete or timber? What cladding?

[khfm865]

Hi Theo,

It is a suspended floor with underlay / carpet. If I even do a tiny jump anyway near, it will knock my cartridge. I have stuck the cabinet on a granite tile so far. The vibrations can be felt by placing my hand anywhere on the cabinet. On top where the table is, I am getting loads. The granite does not seem to vibrate itself, maybe it is conducting floor vibrations straight up into the cabinet. As the vol goes up, the vibrations increase massively.

Cheers

[karlinamillion]

Can you put the rack hard into a corner, this will help a lot as it will be resting on joists very near to where they are resting on a wall.
If it's away from a corner the joists & floor will act like a big trampoline!

[khfm865]

Hi Karl,

Unfortunately not, there is already a massive AV cabinet that can't be moved.

[Tel]

Be bothered and sort out the studding in the plasterboard wall and fit a wall shelf.

Then forget it and stop worrying every time someone moves a muscle.

In the long run it is the only solution with a bouncy floor.

[Theo]

If your floorboards are already 'bouncy', then no rack sat on this floor will successfully isolate the t/t - even the Townshend rack (I tried it when I had a similar problem), or granite/foam/granite sandwich (tried that too). Ultimately, I knew that the only solution for me was a wall-mounted shelf - and it works perfectly.

What else could you site the VPI on? Is there a heavy sideboard?

Edit: Tel beat me to it.

[khfm865]

Be bothered and sort out the studding in the plasterboard wall and fit a wall shelf.

Then forget it and stop worrying every time someone moves a muscle.

In the long run it is the only solution with a bouncy floor.

Fair enough - makes sense longer term for sure.

I was hoping to get away with something like the platforms by SRM Tech here: http://srm-tech.co.uk/shop/article_S...26aid%3DSS1%26

But I take your point.

[khfm865]

If your floorboards are already 'bouncy', then no rack sat on this floor will successfully isolate the t/t - even the Townshend rack (I tried it when I had a similar problem), or granite/foam/granite sandwich (tried that too). Ultimately, I knew that the only solution for me was a wall-mounted rack - and it works perfectly.

What else could the site the VPI on? Is there a heavy sideboard?

Edit: Tel beat me to it.

This is really frustrating, so will give your the bigger picture. I do have a very heavy AV cabinet made of elm - weighs an absolute tonne. I used to have my vpi on this with my outboard phono stage next to it. The distance from the phono to the pre / powers and digital was 4m. I ran an Aqvox phono with balanced out and did not suffer with noise issues. The table was immune to vibration on this cabinet, nothing seemed to get through all that mass!
Anyway - I got fed up with my Aqvox, needed some tubes in my phono stage and upgraded my pre to the Mac c2300 with on board phono. This meant that I had to re-position the table to the same area as the pre as I no longer had the outboard phono stage and wanted to keep the phono leads from the tt to the pre as short as possible, and defo not 4m. So I am stuck somewhat.

Bill

[khfm865]

My other thoughts outwith the SRM tech / audiophile base etc isolation platforms, was to place the entire cabinet on this isolation floor by Auralex. You can by separate pieces, so I figured I could buy this and plonk the cabinet on it.

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolati..._hoverdeck.asp

[Theo]

Seems like you had a good arrangement in place. I suspect money spent on sorting a suitable wall shelf will be far less expensive that that Auralex floor.

[khfm865]

I worked it out that 3 tiles for my kit, would cost £66 - not bad.

Who makes half decent wall shelves that look good and have WAF

[Theo]

http://customdesign.co.uk/catalog/pr...roducts_id=180
The obvious one, though may not pass WAF

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/4970
Love it or hate it, it's a fairly unobtrusive option.

http://www.hifigear.co.uk/quadraspir...all-shelf.html
Quite like this one, though it depends how heavy the t/t is.

Just a few options, alongside the need for some meaty plasterboard rawlbolt fixings.

[BobC]

http://www.gingkoaudio.com/cloud11.html

these platforms work and are what i based my home made job on. i have seen this platform with a large Clearaudio deck on, you could thump the rsck next to the platform and not a sausage of movement on the cart.....same with my home made affair. My deck is a non suspended Origin Live affair and sits on my platform on a home made rack on a suspended floor....no problem with footfall at all. take it off the platform and trhe cart would bounce all over the place every time I walked around.

[khfm865]

Great - appreciate that, Theo. Thanks. I think the quadraspire looks promising - 80kg load - that is superb compared to others I have seen. It is wide enough, too.

Nice one.

[khfm865]

http://www.gingkoaudio.com/cloud11.html

these platforms work and are what i based my home made job on. i have seen this platform with a large Clearaudio deck on, you could thump the rsck next to the platform and not a sausage of movement on the cart.....same with my home made affair. My deck is a non suspended Origin Live affair and sits on my platform on a home made rack on a suspended floor....no problem with footfall at all. take it off the platform and trhe cart would bounce all over the place every time I walked around.

Hi Bob,

I loved your blog on your platform - great job. Nice power amp too ;)

Where do you get the Gingko in the UK? They make a specific VPI classic product there.

[def]

Bit of a shameless plug I know but here we go.

Audiophile Base make decent isolation platforms. One of the honcho's at Hifi World used them under his TTs for years.

I've one 475 x 425 x 30mm £275 new £80 shipped. Search the classified there are some pics. Plenty of reviews/info on the web on them.

[Alfonzo]

Have you considered RDC stuff. I really rate the RDC shelf and cones under my Orbe TT

http://www.audiooasis.co.uk/en/resul...rlight%20Audio

[rabski]

Some decent alternatives out there for sure, but suspended floor + turntable is a disaster. I've used just about everything over the years, and over many rooms. IME absolutely nothing beats a wall-shelf. They aren't unattractive, they work superbly and they're comparatively low cost. Yup, if you've got a plasterboard wall, you'll have to invest about £20 in one of those little boxes to find where the studding runs, but that really isn't the end of the world, is it?

Just one upright bit of stud work is enough to give all the support you'll need, then anchor the other side with plasterboard fixers just to give some stability. Job done.

[khfm865]

Bit of a shameless plug I know but here we go.

Audiophile Base make decent isolation platforms. One of the honcho's at Hifi World used them under his TTs for years.

I've one 475 x 425 x 30mm £275 new £80 shipped. Search the classified there are some pics. Plenty of reviews/info on the web on them.

Too small. Needs to be 500mm wide. Bugger