-
Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
“Proper rack” necessary or OK to put turntable on amp?
- Thread starter sfgumshoe
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2017
- Messages
- 2,828
- Likes
- 2,461
I have a TT on top of a very solid preamp, it works but is not ideal, for the following reasons.
1. An amplifier needs ventilation Having anything on top reduce cooling and shorten life, worse for integrated and power amps. Heat from amp below can affect belt drives -speed issues-due to temperature variation..
2. Vibration, Amps have transformers they vibrate, and this is transferred to the turntable and pickup more easy when placed on top.
3. Electrical. vinyl signals are extremely small in level and proximity to other electrical stuff , think hum and noise can enter the audio path if close.
I can measure the impact and problems on my unit, but they are low in level and not audible problem, but technical noticeable
But placing a TT on top of another component is probably the worst possible location.
You may use elation/feet to increase distance and improve ventilation
I accepted the compromise to make room for a second TT…I use a preamp machine with Low power usage, less heat less critical ventilation
1. An amplifier needs ventilation Having anything on top reduce cooling and shorten life, worse for integrated and power amps. Heat from amp below can affect belt drives -speed issues-due to temperature variation..
2. Vibration, Amps have transformers they vibrate, and this is transferred to the turntable and pickup more easy when placed on top.
3. Electrical. vinyl signals are extremely small in level and proximity to other electrical stuff , think hum and noise can enter the audio path if close.
I can measure the impact and problems on my unit, but they are low in level and not audible problem, but technical noticeable
But placing a TT on top of another component is probably the worst possible location.
You may use elation/feet to increase distance and improve ventilation
I accepted the compromise to make room for a second TT…I use a preamp machine with Low power usage, less heat less critical ventilation
Last edited:
- Thread Starter
- #4
What an excellent idea. Done…
- Thread Starter
- #5
- Thread Starter
- #6
Never got a reply from McIntosh
Apesbrain
Addicted to Fun and Learning
tineared
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I don't know if the heat will hurt your turntable from being on the amp, but as @Apesbrain said, the amp needs ventilation for cooling.This looks like an ideal solution:
IsoAcoustics zaZen II Audio Component Isolation Platform (40 lbs Max Capacity)
$259.99
Any reason not to get this?
Again: this platform will sit on top of amp and turntable will sit on platform.
I would forget about the platform and either relocate your tt or raise it at least 6" above the amp with ample air flow beneath it. Your amp needs to breathe
Last edited:
Barrelhouse Solly
Addicted to Fun and Learning
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2020
- Messages
- 889
- Likes
- 957
I don't think the turntable is in as much danger as the amp. An amp needs good ventilation. A turntable without a preamp converts mechanical motion to electrical impulses by generating electricity from the movement of the stylus. Heat isn't much of a problem unless it's hot enough to fry the cartridge. An old rule of thumb is never put anything on top of an amp.
Kind of painful to see Macs mistreated in this way. Racks are cheap compared to Macs and there is no substitute for them.
Or perhaps you like your LPs fried crispy as they sound more "open"?
Don't see any case where this would be good for either turntable of the amp. Who suffers worse is to be seen by age.
Or perhaps you like your LPs fried crispy as they sound more "open"?
Don't see any case where this would be good for either turntable of the amp. Who suffers worse is to be seen by age.
The amp needs ventilation. The turntable should not be on top of it.
Roland68
Master Contributor
There are several reasons why placing a turntable directly on top of an amplifier is a bad idea, regardless of whether or not you use an additional, often overpriced, stand.
The first is clearly the reduced cooling and airflow for the amplifier, and the resulting heat buildup can definitely shorten its lifespan or even cause it to fail.
As you can see from some of my posts, I am strictly against the often unfounded heat hysteria surrounding amplifiers, but in a case like this, where natural airflow is intentionally restricted, I feel compelled to issue a warning.
Secondly, there is the excessive heating of the turntable itself.
A properly set up turntable is a precision mechanical instrument. Frequent heating and cooling can affect the very precise and extremely sensitive platter bearing, as well as the mechanics, bearings, and tonearm adjustment.
The slight vibrations that are unavoidable in many amplifiers are also detrimental to turntable playback.
Since the Spider Racks are no longer available, I can confidently recommend the E&T replica.
For me, it's one of the best racks on the market because it's still affordable, very stable, and has the best ventilation imaginable in a rack. The included equipment feet provide excellent decoupling of the devices.
The whole thing, with three levels, shipping from China, and taxes, is even cheaper than the isolation platform you were looking at.
If your floor is wood and speakers are also floor standers I would recommend a purpose built wall shelf if wall is brick.
Turntables are susceptible to vibration.
On the science side of things it would be great if a member could come up with a small lightweight vibration measurement circuit board. Maybe powered by button cells.
That way all our views on isolation would be based on measured vibration.
Turntables are susceptible to vibration.
On the science side of things it would be great if a member could come up with a small lightweight vibration measurement circuit board. Maybe powered by button cells.
That way all our views on isolation would be based on measured vibration.
Apesbrain
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I have seen phone apps that can measure vibration.
DSJR
Master Contributor
Can I jump in where even devils fear to tread?
Puts tatty old dealer hat on -
I appreciate that some of my anally held ideas regarding vinyl playback have been called into question, turntables of at or near the bottom rung 'sounding' extremely good if carefully sited and if a sympathetic-to-the-tonearm pickup with decent-profile diamond stylus is fitted, but one or two things still hold true if I may be so bold...
The 'squiggles' in a record groove are microscopic, especially those 'squiggles' concern air, space and 3-D depth in a given recording. Any potential vibration/added resonance getting into the deck and through to the stylus can often cancel these things out - or modify them unnaturally. I appreciate the Mac turntable is an expensive and solid looking beast, with a platter than supposedly contacts the vinyl better, but do please bear in mind the physics of the process (forget foo expensive 'solutions' as a light, rigid board with a set of sorbothane 'footers' would do the same job for a fifth the cost of that Iso Acoustics thing (remember dealer margins on accessories here).
The Mac amp may be very well shielded, but on lesser pairings, the hum-field of a typical traditional amp's power supply can risk getting through to the pickup causing a background hum. Said hum may not be directly audible, but it can subtly affect the sonic quality. Surely common sense regardless should tell anyone that any form of induced hum is unhealthy for a sound system?
So, I'd still recommend separating these two boxes myself and get the tonearm-pickup area of the deck as far away from the amp mains transformer as reasonably possible please.
OKAY, I admit it, I spent years selling Rega decks that have practically NO shielding, even in their older pickups and hum at disc centre could be an issue back then. I was told that hum-induction can be cumulative and proved it when said decks and cartridges were on top of a rack with the amp on the shelf underneath. I love the vintage Quad FM3 tuner, but even six inches under my venerable Dual 701, there was slight hum which varied as I slid the tuner from side to side. The almost as old Arcam Delta 80 tuner in situ doesn't do this at all!
Tatty old dealer hat now packed away again...
If these two not-cheap units have to be vertically sited, I'd still do as much as possible to sensibly separate them if at all possible, checking with volume up to see if any hum exists in the first place (and turning volume straight back down once ascertained). You have two statement products which cost a lot of money by many people's standards, so well worth trying to get the very best from them
Puts tatty old dealer hat on -
I appreciate that some of my anally held ideas regarding vinyl playback have been called into question, turntables of at or near the bottom rung 'sounding' extremely good if carefully sited and if a sympathetic-to-the-tonearm pickup with decent-profile diamond stylus is fitted, but one or two things still hold true if I may be so bold...
The 'squiggles' in a record groove are microscopic, especially those 'squiggles' concern air, space and 3-D depth in a given recording. Any potential vibration/added resonance getting into the deck and through to the stylus can often cancel these things out - or modify them unnaturally. I appreciate the Mac turntable is an expensive and solid looking beast, with a platter than supposedly contacts the vinyl better, but do please bear in mind the physics of the process (forget foo expensive 'solutions' as a light, rigid board with a set of sorbothane 'footers' would do the same job for a fifth the cost of that Iso Acoustics thing (remember dealer margins on accessories here).
The Mac amp may be very well shielded, but on lesser pairings, the hum-field of a typical traditional amp's power supply can risk getting through to the pickup causing a background hum. Said hum may not be directly audible, but it can subtly affect the sonic quality. Surely common sense regardless should tell anyone that any form of induced hum is unhealthy for a sound system?
So, I'd still recommend separating these two boxes myself and get the tonearm-pickup area of the deck as far away from the amp mains transformer as reasonably possible please.
OKAY, I admit it, I spent years selling Rega decks that have practically NO shielding, even in their older pickups and hum at disc centre could be an issue back then. I was told that hum-induction can be cumulative and proved it when said decks and cartridges were on top of a rack with the amp on the shelf underneath. I love the vintage Quad FM3 tuner, but even six inches under my venerable Dual 701, there was slight hum which varied as I slid the tuner from side to side. The almost as old Arcam Delta 80 tuner in situ doesn't do this at all!
Tatty old dealer hat now packed away again...
If these two not-cheap units have to be vertically sited, I'd still do as much as possible to sensibly separate them if at all possible, checking with volume up to see if any hum exists in the first place (and turning volume straight back down once ascertained). You have two statement products which cost a lot of money by many people's standards, so well worth trying to get the very best from them
I would be concerned about voiding the warranty on the amplifier. If it fails for any reason, McIntosh may reply that the amplifier was not used as prescribed in their documentation.
If the turntable cartridge does not pick up hum from the amplifier's power transformer, then I see no problem, unless the amp run hot and needs open space above it for heat to escape.
Similar threads
