Best Turntable Isolation Materials

Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
What a coincidence. I've been wondering what material to use under my turntable to stop the needle skipping when I walk around. If I step lightly, it's fine. But, a "normal" step within about a metre is guaranteed to cause a skip.
Perhaps some maglev will work for you. :p


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GO-NAD!

GO-NAD!

Audioholic Spartan
Perhaps some maglev will work for you. :p


View attachment 70392
Well, I'm glad you kept your recommendation within the realm of practicality. :p
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
That's why I specified CD4....

a quick overview is provided here:
Oh yes! I had forgotten about that. It was another audio dead end. Manufacturers did not include decoders. The system failed to work as advertised in the home. The public wisely never accepted it. It had a very short life in the 1970s, probably less than four years. That was prime example of dead end technology.
 
ski2xblack

ski2xblack

Audioholic Samurai
What a coincidence. I've been wondering what material to use under my turntable to stop the needle skipping when I walk around. If I step lightly, it's fine. But, a "normal" step within about a metre is guaranteed to cause a skip.
We had similar problems. The solution I implemented is similar to what @Mikado463 did, only instead of a butcher block I used a granite slab (leftover from kitchen remodel, it was the sink cutout from the new countertop). The slab was further isolated from the rather heavy credenza it's on with three of those ballistic gel stress balls you find in the checkout lane at the local hardware store. Under all that weight, they pancake out such that they're not visible. Between the slight squish and all the mass, it's now capable of withstanding a clydesdale dance party.
 
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dlaloum

Full Audioholic
Oh yes! I had forgotten about that. It was another audio dead end. Manufacturers did not include decoders. The system failed to work as advertised in the home. The public wisely never accepted it. It had a very short life in the 1970s, probably less than four years. That was prime example of dead end technology.
Yes - CD4 died (although some excellent very high quality material was put out - and later re-released using digital surround formats!)
But along the way, it led to order of magnitude improvements in vinyl tech - from needle shapes, through cantilever types/effective mass, to vinyl compound composition... it defined the state of the art.... and led to a level that currently cannot be matched.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Yes--at least for me...but not necessarily "spiked".
IIRC, the brand and name 'Tip Toes' was sold in the 1980s to a couple of brothers in the Milwaukee area- I rarely see them but I can ask next time. They were customers at the stereo store where I got my start in audio and they were speaker builders, eventually starting their own company.
 
T

Tankini

Senior Audioholic
Here is a thought, hang your favorite turntable from the ceiling your choice, rope, chains, plexiglass wood works great never have to worry about the needle skipping ever again or anything affecting the waves from your favorite vinyl. Be it Virgin:eek::rolleyes: vinyl 180G R;) slap a CD R;) stream you Media.
 
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dlaloum

Full Audioholic
a thought, yes and a very dumb one at that ! ;)
Not really - some people have done such devices...

It still comes down to what the resonance/vibration problem is, and how it is isolated - hanging from the ceiling assumes there are no vibrations in the ceiling ...

But the hanging method could have damping/springing/absorption built into it - there are plenty of "suspended" design turntables out there!
 
T

Tankini

Senior Audioholic
a thought, yes and a very dumb one at that ! ;)
Still mad about them 4 Super Bowl lost?. dollar Bills, so get over it. Still sore about your political thread lost!! :D go take a cheap shot at somebody else it's not a stupid comment. WTF???:)
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
What a coincidence. I've been wondering what material to use under my turntable to stop the needle skipping when I walk around. If I step lightly, it's fine. But, a "normal" step within about a metre is guaranteed to cause a skip.
Mount the surface the table sits on to the wall. That surface, even if it's a dresser needs to be off the floor. I've done it that way for years.
 
Speedskater

Speedskater

Audioholic General
At work we built large (several 1000 pound) measurement machines. To check for vibrations (well below 10 Hz) we hung the entire machine from the ceiling and did a very slow FFT.
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
Mount the surface the table sits on to the wall. That surface, even if it's a dresser needs to be off the floor. I've done it that way for years.
Again, agreed, a much better option that a glorified 'swing set and a chain' scenario. With my situation my man cave / audio room is down stairs so with concrete I don't have to worry about floor movement.
 
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dlaloum

Full Audioholic
Perhaps some maglev will work for you. :p


View attachment 70392
From experience and actual measurements - mag lev is no different to any other kind of "springing"...

In my case I found that the damping provided by sorbothane, improved things more than the spring only behaviour of MagLev.... you can select different thicknesses and hardnesses of sorbothane to provide "springiness" - but maglev simply passes the energy through albeit refracted/difracted to a different frequency, whereas rubber/sorbothan style materials convert some of the energy into heat - so you dissipate more energy.
 

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