DIY turntable suspension

[Digby]

Anyone done this? I'm getting footfall noises through my turntable (SL1200) as the floor is wooden. The wall is not strong enough to mount it on, so was thinking some kind of suspension set up, perhaps with bungee cords. Is this sensible or stupid?

Is it worth DIYing a solution or is there something relatively cheap on the market that works?

 

[DSJR]

Use with lid off to start with (yes I know, the disturbance is coming from underneath... You'll be amazed how much the lid affects overall feedback in this type of deck.

I'm a long time fan of sorbothane and some 'boots' of this material under the feet may well help (I can't remember if the existing feet are adjustable or not). the mid 70's SL1200 was a feedback horror but the model most remember (mk2 onwards) is supposed to be rather better here.

Sitting on a paving slab is another way of mass loading the thing. Others made a sand lined and hopefully sand sealed wooden box to site the deck in I remember.

One final thing is cartridge choice. If the stylus assembly compliance gives an lf resonance at just the frequency the suspension works at (albeit slightly), you may well get issues every time you walk past the deck when playing. A different pickup may help perhaps (I don't know what you're using).

The above is subjective tweaks I can think of, but hope they might help a little.

 

[sq225917]

As dsjr says, lid first.

My kuzma sits on a wooden block on a kids bicycle inner tube, works fine, kills footfall, adjust air pressure to taste.

 

[antcollinet]

This is my solution to a slightly different problem - I was getting some horrible resonant pickup through the chest of drawers it was sat on.

So now there is half a solid oak door (that is heavy) sat on some foam damping material (actually automotive sound proofing), then the TT is sat on some more of the same material between it and the oak door.

Seems to work.

In your case, since it is footfall you want to eliminate you might need softer but thicker damping material below the heavy platform (if you wanted to go that way) (Edit - just seen above, (I like @sq225917's inner tube idea)

 

[Elkerton]

Bungy cords have been used in NYC DJ bars where the systems are generally played Very loudly.

Since you can't mount the turntable on the wall, which is too bad, the first thing I would do is wedge the stand to the rear wall so that the energy of your footfalls travel down it instead of causing the stand to rock.

As DSJR writes, play tunes with the lid up.

I would also place the stylus on a stationary record and turn the volume up. if there is no feedback, you're good to go. If there is, a cheap solution is to mount the turntable on a board that is resting on a partially filled inner tube. The footfall rock may reappear. That is why the DJs suspend their tables.

 

[Speedskater]

At work we were doing a very low frequency FFT test of a large machine that's job was to measure rotational irregularities. The shop floor was picking up other vibrations, so we hung it from the ceiling for the test..

 

[mhardy6647]

Even in the 1970s -- sometimes folks would suspend tts from the ceiling. (EDIT: Just saw that was mentioned above -- so consider this an endorsement. )

to the OP: are you sure that the combination of arm & cartridge isn't partially (or wholly) culpable? I'd encourage you to check the resonance behavior of the system (either by calculation or with a quick & dirty tool such as Audacity provides) if you don't know for sure.

Along similar lines: what VTF are you using? Higher might be better.

EDIT^2: The OP might want to consider trying four of these, which are inexpensive (as long as they don't have an audiophile brand name on them) and quite competent.

Anti-Vibration (AV) Pads | DiversiTech

www.diversitech.com

Anecdotally, folks who could probably justify spending much, much more on isolation gizmos use 'em.

 

[mhardy6647]

Or, go onto the used market and snag a set of these (no longer made or sold by A-T, unfortunately).

Springs Under My Speakers: What's Happening?

https://isoacoustics.com/iso-puck/ For the same purpose

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[wwenze]

What about dishwashing sponge? They work nice for my HDDs. And they're cheap.

Figures anything that works for speakers would work here too.

 

[gene_stl]

Vibration isolators from Barry Mfg. or Lord

Home | Advanced Antivibration Components

AAC carries cylindrical, base, square mounts for damping and reducing vibration and shock protection.

www.vibrationmounts.com

4 Barry Controls TTB-3 Silicone Shock Isolator Vibration Mounts | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4 Barry Controls TTB-3 Silicone Shock Isolator Vibration Mounts at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[DonR]

What about dishwashing sponge? They work nice for my HDDs. And they're cheap.

Figures anything that works for speakers would work here too.

I use foam sanding blocks on my sub. I have seen them also used on TTs. I guess it's really a question of budget.

 

[DVDdoug]

I think you could easily make some from hardware store springs and rubber feet. The feet would be too tall but you could trim them. Or I just Googled "spring isolation feet" and I got some promising hits.

with bungee cords. Is this sensible or stupid?

It would probably work great for isolation but it would be difficult to level and to keep level and they would be in the way. ...Springs underneath might be a bit tricky too because the turntable may not have equal weight on all 4 corners.

Or, you could move into the digital age...

 

[Godataloss]

I use a combination of mass and sorbothane. The marble sits on 8, .5x3' pucks. No more foot falls and my 7 year old can dance all she wants.

 

[Digby]

Thanks for all the responses, some interesting ideas to ponder.

 

[Thomas_A]

You would probably need a low resonance to protect from footfalls. Sylomer pads?

 

[dlaloum]

My solution - on a suspended wooden floor:

1) Start with a large (2' x 2') concrete paver on the floor, sitting on sorbothane pads/pucks (assumes a standard 19" rack type format - if you have something wider, you may need more than one paver) - I sealed the paver using Danish wood oil, to avoid any cement dust...
2) I used lightweight Ikea Lack tables - their cardboard hex internal construction is excellent for absorbing high frequency vibrations - and they are perfectly sized for rack sized components.
3) The you get to play with various TT feet / pucks / mag lev etc...

Best is to use your stylus as a "sensor probe" - make sure motor is turned off (!) - and just gently pop the needle down on the platter - that way you are measuring any vibrations that come through the TT...

Record and measure (yeah you will need an ADC, etc..)

Add or Change the platform / absorbing mechanism - and measure again.

Trigger the resonance / vibrations by stomping around the room, and/or playing some CD's or streaming at high volume

It should be pretty clear on the recorded output of the cartridge!

 

[Blumlein 88]

If you try springs, put some very lightly stuffed foam in the middle. This will frictionally damp out resonances as the springs move.

 

[Audiofire]

Anyone done this? I'm getting footfall noises through my turntable (SL1200) as the floor is wooden. The wall is not strong enough to mount it on, so was thinking some kind of suspension set up, perhaps with bungee cords. Is this sensible or stupid?

Is it worth DIYing a solution or is there something relatively cheap on the market that works?

I bought rubber mats from a local hardware store and placed them under my self-made hardwood rack, as well as loudspeakers.

Sorbothane is more expensive and bungee cords are unreliable for a turntable, so not sensible to me.

 

[dlaloum]

P.S. - my suspended Revox Linatrack - had only very slight issues with vibratons, my unsuspended JVC was a vibration party....

Both sit on seperate shelves in the same rack... resolving the issues with the JVC, as described, also marginally improved the Revox... But for the Revox on its own I probably would not have gone to the substantial effort I did, as it's built in suspension made it a relative non-issue!

And... in days of yore... Technics had an SL1600mk2 - which was a suspended version of the SL1200 ...

 

[mike70]

I use a thick marble base with cheap washing machine foot pads under my technics tt ... working perfectly in a wooden floor with a sub.