So, I'll admit, the following project is a bit crazy and will probably get some shaking of heads and "dude this guy is crazy" comments... but what the hell I'll share it with you guys anyway.
The project started with a perfectly working Denon dp1800.
I always found it be a bit ugly so I decided to make him a new plinth and isolate the base of the tone arm from the motor vibration
The new plinth is made out of mdf that I submerged in white resin making a 1cm thick skin. The black layer sandwiches between and below the white layers are HPL (a tough resilient material-a bit like what Wilson Audio claim to use in their loudspeakers).
The tone arm construction is sitting on the 7kilo metal cylinder and not touching the plinth.
It is bolted to the base layer (hpl-mdf-hpl) which on top is a layer of memory foam which on top sits the plinth. I have later discarded the memory foam in favor of Isoacoustics Pucks (better).
Now for the crazy part 😜
I have decided that all of this is not enough and such a construction needs a good base.
So... here is the construction of an earthquake proven base (took me 2 weeks to think about- your welcome 😀)
The project started with a perfectly working Denon dp1800.
I always found it be a bit ugly so I decided to make him a new plinth and isolate the base of the tone arm from the motor vibration
The new plinth is made out of mdf that I submerged in white resin making a 1cm thick skin. The black layer sandwiches between and below the white layers are HPL (a tough resilient material-a bit like what Wilson Audio claim to use in their loudspeakers).
The tone arm construction is sitting on the 7kilo metal cylinder and not touching the plinth.
It is bolted to the base layer (hpl-mdf-hpl) which on top is a layer of memory foam which on top sits the plinth. I have later discarded the memory foam in favor of Isoacoustics Pucks (better).
Now for the crazy part 😜
I have decided that all of this is not enough and such a construction needs a good base.
So... here is the construction of an earthquake proven base (took me 2 weeks to think about- your welcome 😀)
The box is filled with 90kilo gravel and has 4 tubes.... the inner tubes are filled with concrete thus about 15kilo each. They are decoupled also from the bottom.
I have bolted all tubes to a single plate (hpl-mdf-hpl) and thus created a floating platform for the turntable. Knocking on the side of the box revealed that it is indeed doing what it supposed to do, decoupling vibration yet giving a stable and heavy base.
Vs ipad laying on the isolated platform 👌
Vs ipad laying on the isolated platform 👌
Very cool! It's always good to know that you'll be able to continue listening to your records during an earthquake! ;-)
Great work on the isolation setup. People underestimate the improvement in SQ gained from proper isolation.
That's a good looking execution of a logical idea! 👍 Is the floor sturdy enough not to sag over time?
Years ago, I saw something similar but even more extreme in a luxury custom house. For a large dedicated sound room, one concrete/rebar footer formed in a 16" (maybe bigger) sonotube ran a couple meters underground into heavy rock. The cylindrical concrete footer was mechanically decoupled from everything -- it rose up some 3.5' through the floor and was used as the stand for the turntable. Can't recall how the gaps around the post were sealed, but no question this worked to eliminate 99% of all structure borne vibrations.
Years ago, I saw something similar but even more extreme in a luxury custom house. For a large dedicated sound room, one concrete/rebar footer formed in a 16" (maybe bigger) sonotube ran a couple meters underground into heavy rock. The cylindrical concrete footer was mechanically decoupled from everything -- it rose up some 3.5' through the floor and was used as the stand for the turntable. Can't recall how the gaps around the post were sealed, but no question this worked to eliminate 99% of all structure borne vibrations.
Thanks 🙂
I guess if I could this route I would have too,
Reminds me of the article just showed up in soundstage-
https://www.soundstageultra.com/ind...pinion-menu/1185-the-ultra-rack-i-didnt-build
I am fortunate enough to have my very accepting wife not kicking me through the door after such weekends project 🙃 and ho I have so many ridiculous projects under my sleeve I could probably open my own facebook page.
Here is another one I made about 3 months ago and it works so good
Yup, the article you linked was pretty much what I saw in that uber-rich Vancouver house. But only for the TT.
Your record rim + center weight clamp is clever. Is it heavy? Copper pennies embedded in the center weight? 😅 Does it improve the sound of all LPs or only the warped ones?
Your record rim + center weight clamp is clever. Is it heavy? Copper pennies embedded in the center weight? 😅 Does it improve the sound of all LPs or only the warped ones?
I haven't thought it will bring much... but! It made and still makes a huge difference on any record I'm putting it on. I had some friends listening to the difference as well, we all concluded that the music sound cleaner and with better dynamics. Some very faint details were much easier to hear, like stuff in the background... it was a really good lesson on the importance of vibration control and damping especially in the sensitive turntable area.
The commercial rings are 500$ so for 20€ in parts you get a magnificent sound upgrade 👌 😀 and the "f##k the system" feeling I enjoy so much 😀
What is the material used for the ring? It must have some weight -- and a lip or flange that ends up higher than the LP surface -- how high is that lip? Does the cartridge catch on the lip when set on the lead-in portion of the groove on some LPs?
You might know about the Oracle, Canadian high end TT with built in screw-down clamp and Sorbothane mat? No ring needed - the LP was more or less forced into intimate contact with the soft mat, and a small washer type ring under warped LPs helped press the whole record down, with some "warping force" of its own. It emerged in the high end TT market created by the Linn LP12. There was some lively debate about whether the resulting suppression of vibrations in the vinyl helped or hindered accurate data retrieval from the groove.
The latest versions -- https://www.oracle-audio.com/delphi-mkvi-second-generation -- have something they call Micro Vibration Stabilizer System: Basically a 3-point silcone damping system for the 3-spring suspension system to "capture and dissipate the micro vibrations that are present within the floating sub-chassis without short circuiting the efficiency of the Oracle suspension system". It's much like paddle-in-oil tonearm damping.
Also, you must have run across this? -- https://theanalogdept.com/minus_k.htm
ps -- I find it amusing that after all the clever & extreme solutions you created, you're still using a coin atop the shell!
You might know about the Oracle, Canadian high end TT with built in screw-down clamp and Sorbothane mat? No ring needed - the LP was more or less forced into intimate contact with the soft mat, and a small washer type ring under warped LPs helped press the whole record down, with some "warping force" of its own. It emerged in the high end TT market created by the Linn LP12. There was some lively debate about whether the resulting suppression of vibrations in the vinyl helped or hindered accurate data retrieval from the groove.
The latest versions -- https://www.oracle-audio.com/delphi-mkvi-second-generation -- have something they call Micro Vibration Stabilizer System: Basically a 3-point silcone damping system for the 3-spring suspension system to "capture and dissipate the micro vibrations that are present within the floating sub-chassis without short circuiting the efficiency of the Oracle suspension system". It's much like paddle-in-oil tonearm damping.
Also, you must have run across this? -- https://theanalogdept.com/minus_k.htm
ps -- I find it amusing that after all the clever & extreme solutions you created, you're still using a coin atop the shell!
Thanks for the links Mike I’ll check them up, never heard of the oracle I’m quite new to the turntable lps world.
The ring will have to go some edge trimming if I want to use it and hear the first song 🙂)) it’s the stuff I have to deal with my half baked inventions!
Long story short I’ve routed twice making a step, put the 5cent coins my young enthusiastic daughters have brought and poured resin on it, waited 48hours and sanded it. If your going to try it don’t forget to wax the base your routing, the resin won’t stick it.
Don’t worry about the 5cent resting on the headshell 😉 I’ve made my self a new tonearm, based on the supertac tonearm, a really ingenious idea and relatively easy to copy.
Doesn’t the base have to resting on some kind of floating gyroscope sub-base, to be earthquake proof?
ah supatRac! Interesting. Do you have a build sequence? ie -- pics showing how you made your clone?