How to isolate turntable from footstep shake or vibration

Ah, another happy Sota user. Hope that sash doesn't break! Very creative though.

@atmasphere, My Sota has always been on a sturdy cabinet. The new one will be on a granite countertop sitting on a cabinet made of 1.5" walnut plywood loaded with over 1000 records on top of a concrete slab. 

Seeing that distortion on the oscilloscope certainly indicates a problem with that Sota or the way it was set up. Could be an interaction with the Sota's suspension tuning and the mass of the tonearm/cartridge with the cartridge compliance. It would not be airborne as that would not quiet down when the Sota was placed on a better rack. 

I have an oscilloscope program so when I get the table I'll have a look and see if there is any unusual distortion at various frequencies. 

I have an oscilloscope program so when I get the table I'll have a look and see if there is any unusual distortion at various frequencies.

You'll need an LP with test tones. I cut some low frequency stuff on my lathe; its easier to see when lower frequencies are present.


Allen Perkins (the designer of the Cosmos) went through the setup of the machine with me. It was suspended pretty well.

Miller Carbon wrote, " Mass will solve most problems, if you can get enough of it. That's the trick. Fortunately mass is dirt cheap. Literally: one or two 50 lb bags of play sand, in a box several inches deep, put a piece of MDF or butcher block on top, you are pretty much golden "
That was my thought when I built my turntable stand.  I cut a section of a well seasoned white oak log about  20" in diameter after all the bark was removed and 18" tall.  Then I sanded it smooth so that it could be nicely finished with walnut stain and mucho coats of polyurethane varnish.  I then mounted a large maple butcher block on top of the log section.   I enlisted the help of a competitive weight lifting son of a good friend to help me set it on a 15" high brick hearth well away from the fire place.  The turntable sits on the butcher block and seems to be impervious to foot falls or other floor transmitted vibrations.  This conforms to my philosophy that anything worth doing is worth over doing.

Jordan Peterson sold me on the idea anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. His point being too many people put off doing until they can figure out how to do it perfectly. In that case it is better to do it poorly, because then at least you learn from experience and maybe make it better next time. If you improve something even if only by a little bit, but keep at it, eventually it will be quite good. Or in any case a helluva lot better than when you started!

His point being too many people put off doing until they can figure out how to do it perfectly.

Perfectionism is procrastination and absolutely nothing else.