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Help! Tweaking My Lovan Rack for new Big A**ed Transrotor Turntable!

Folks, some input would be mighty appreciated.

I’ve been using a hand-me-down (though very nice!) Micro Seiki dd-40 turntable for a number of years and finally got the upgrade itch (it helps the upgrade itch when your cartridge is going on 30 years old, and sounding like it!).

I went down the rabbit hole and picked up a Transrotor Fat Bob S turntable, with an Acoustic Solid 12" arm and a Benz Micro Ebony cartridge. All with only about 30 hours of use at a great price. Yay!

Though I have considered getting rid of my old Lovan Classic rack for a new custom jobby, I’m pretty much spent out and I think I’ll have to make do for now, working with the Lovan.

The Fat Bob turntable is 55 lbs of solid aluminum and built like Thor’s hammer.

I figure this will finally get me to fill my Lovan stands for a bit more rigidity - probably with rice. The stand is the old 3 legged triangular shaped bass, which means the thin MDF shelves can feel like they sit sort of precariously on top. But the stand itself feels quite solid.

I want to incorporate a wood platform base, as many do, because I really love the look of a nice wood slab.

At first I thought maybe I’d have 3 spikes drilled in to the bottom corners of the wood base to directly couple it to the rest of the Lovan frame, vs resting it on the top mdf shelf. But I’m not sure that’s really necessary. And I’d like to incorporate some isolation as well, I think. So I’m thinking of just laying it on the top shelf, with something in between.

My first thought is to place a Symposium Segue shelf between the top of the Lovan shelf and the wood base.

Other than that...I’m flummoxed as to all the other choices...roller blocks? Symposium Fat Padz? Vibrapods? Herbie’s Tendersoft footers? Voo-Doo Isopods?  What should I put between the wood platform base and my Lovan shelf?

Any comments of suggestions on the direction I’m going?

Thanks!

(BTW, I’m an resolutely NOT a DIY/Handy-man type, so I’m not trying to go to heroic efforts, wishing this to be as painless as possible).
prof
prof OP
3,473 posts
 
Thanks geoff.  Townsend has several different pods/springs rated for a certain amount of weight, so I'd ordered the correct ones based on my calculation of the weight of my turntable/maple block base.  So in theory I should be good.

I go back and forth with using anything between the maple butchers block base or just placing it directly on my stand, since I notice when I place the ipad app simply on a very solid surface vibration and ringing tests seem very good - e.g. a tap test on the ipad yields a spike with almost no ringing, and taps beside the ipad yield little vibration.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I always use points down cones under the component and under the stand. It minimizes the contact area considerably, by what, a million to one?
prof OP
3,473 posts
 

My turntable feet are pointed so the manufacturer must agree with you.
I'm thinking of putting a sounddamped steel disc under each point of the foot.  Couldn't hurt, seem to me.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
You are the creator! It’s an art as much as a science. The shelf or top plate should be damped but not overly so. Oft times a thing that seems like a no brainer hurts the sound. Audio can be defined as an endless parade of trial and error. 😛
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,800 posts
 

ASC (Acoustic Science Corp.) offers a product named Wall Damp. It comes in 4" squares (I believe) and long strips, and was designed to act as constrained layer damping when installed between layers of sheetrock. I recently heard it's effectiveness (in Audiogon member folkfreak's music room), which is fantastic! Art Noxon states that the huge 4' x 8' sheets of drywall, when confronted with sound waves and other vibrations, behave as do drumheads when struck---bend, bow, and flex, creating an audible resonance. Rap your walls with your knuckles---they make a clearly audible sound, not a good thing. Folkfreak's walls sounded like slate when I rapped them! Wall resonance is a commonly-overlooked characteristic of the acoustic behavior of listening rooms imo---the final frontier! 

ASC sells the scraps and end pieces from Wall Damp installations by the lb., for real cheap. I just bought a lb., plenty for putting between 1- the two pieces of acrylic (or one of acrylic, one of aluminum; I haven't yet decided) that make up the pickup-arm mounting board of my newly-acquired turntable, and 2- the two 3/4" layers of my table's shelf. I will bolt or screw the two together, with a layer of Wall Damp between them. Sounds promising, ay? I can't see a downside, in theory at least.

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