Don Hills
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Back in my vinyl days, we would place the stylus on a stationary LP and record it on tape. At the same time, we would play loud music from another source. We would then listen to the recorded results. Lid up/down, placement of damping material in the turntable chassis, type of turntable stand, positioning in the room etc all made significant differences. But by far the biggest difference was made at LF, by paying attention to what was under the stand. Since the most common house construction was suspended wooden floors, we sometimes had to go to heroic lengths. Basements weren't common, so we'd get under the house and place concrete foundation blocks under the turntable location and hammer in wedges to bow the floor up slightly. One person drilled small holes in the floor under long stand spikes so that they passed through the carpet and rested on the concrete blocks underneath, which didn't quite touch the underside of the floor.
Since houses usually had ready access to the underside of the floor, we also were able to neatly hide the speaker cables. We'd carefully pull back the carpet slightly and drill a hole through the floor next to the baseboard, then run the cables under the house. These were mostly rental properties, so when we moved on we'd just remove the cables and smooth the carpet back down... undetectable. It wouldn't be an option in houses with finished basements.
Since houses usually had ready access to the underside of the floor, we also were able to neatly hide the speaker cables. We'd carefully pull back the carpet slightly and drill a hole through the floor next to the baseboard, then run the cables under the house. These were mostly rental properties, so when we moved on we'd just remove the cables and smooth the carpet back down... undetectable. It wouldn't be an option in houses with finished basements.