What type of turntable should I use?


I have a Sota Star Sapphire which uses hanging suspension but I'm wondering if I need any suspension at all.

My listening room is part of my finished basement. I live on a block where there is very little traffic. It is not a through street. So I don't get trucks and other heavy vehicles rumbling past causing vibrations.

My stand is very solid. I cannot detect vibrations from the speakers when I hold my hand on the equipment rack shelves.

All of this stuff can be seen by clicking on "my system."

What all of this is leading up to is, do I need a turntable with suspension, AND is there an advantage to having an unsuspended turntable?
128x128nrchy
if your turntable was designed with a suspension, you should keep it working that way. the suspension is designed to absorb the sinusoidal waves emanating from your speakers. the spurious vibrations created by trucks, footsteps or a dropped object are not sinusoidal waveforms. they would look more like a square wave (spurious vibrations) and can cause feedback through your speakers. so i believe it was sota's design objective to suppress the sound waves coming out of your speakers. i hope this answers your question. if it were my turntable, i would never defeat the suspension of the sota.
Dogcanskate,
I don't think Nrchy was contemplating defeating the suspension on his Sota. I agree with you that this would be a brave and, if irreversible, potentially foolish thing to do.

I think he was/is contemplating changing to a non-suspended design. As a Teres owner I'm happy with that, even on a sprung floor, but I haven't heard similarly high end suspended tables so I can't offer meaningful comparisons.

Theoretical advantages of a non-suspended design? Well, the less the table can move laterally in reaction to stylus motions, the more dynamic the signal will be. Of course a really well executed suspension might offer isolation from acoustic energy that you described, which should lead to a lower noise floor and cleaner groove tracing. In either case, quality of design, materials and execution probably matters at least as much as the theoretical differences.
doug, i totally agree with your post.my tt happens to be an lp-12. i could easily live with a tt that has no suspension if it's tuneful to my ears at least. both camps have wonderful offerings.