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Tonearm mount on the plinth or on Pillar ?

Folks,
I am looking to buy a custom built turntable from Torqueo Audio (http://www.torqueo-audio.it/). They have two models, one with a wide base plinth where the tonearm would be mounted on the plinth (as usual) and the second is a compact plinth where they provide a seperate tonearm pillar to mount the tonearm. According to them the separate tonearm pillar version sounds more transparent and quieter because of the isolation of the tonearm from the TT. My concern is whether seperating the tonearm from the plinth would result in a lesser coherence in sound ? Isnt sharing the same platform results in a more well-timed, coherent presentation ? Any opinions ?
pani
lewm
13,008 posts
 
Flieb, Exactly what part of what I wrote, specifically, is BS?  Would you use an outboard arm pod with a suspended turntable? I don't think so. You are arguing specifics (it might not work well because of this or that), and I am talking about the ideal goal.  As I also said somewhere further up the thread, the engineering problem is to make the tonearm/platter behave together.  I never said that was easy to do, but that should be the goal.  If you mount the tonearm on a separate structure, then you have abandoned hope of achieving that goal, or at the very least, you've made it more difficult than it needs to be.  Certainly, there are subpar executions of the integrated turntable/tonearm paradigm; that's one reason why turntables sound different from one another.
terry9
2,333 posts
 
I propose that Ralph be enrolled on the calendar of saints. His restraint is supernatural - a miracle thrice renewed!!

halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
I propose that Ralph be enrolled on the calendar of saints. His restraint is supernatural - a miracle thrice renewed!!
Yes indeed...because Ralph can, with the same conviction that he demonstrates his turntable theories....can postulate that OTL valve amplification is the only true path to audio Nirvana....despite the observable distortions.
And pray tell us terry9......do you run your amplification using OTL devices?
fleib
1,124 posts
 

**As to sound pressure- we get about 90-95db of noise going on when mastering. The vacuum system is enclosed in its own chamber, but still makes noise when in operation.**

That's a direct quote. Now we learn the motor is at the end of a long hose. Does it produce 90-95dB of noise in room?  If so, is this noise + mechanical vibrations? 

The measurements are based on this story and now it looks inappropriate. This is the same as the music coming off a turntable?

Looks like we have no relevant measurements.

fleib

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 

True, a suspended-subchassis table will always have a plinth common to the platter bearing and arm pillar (at least as far as I know!), while a non-suspended doesn't have to, the later fact the impetus for this discussion. When I was said I would not consider a table without a common plinth, that included non-suspended tables, which I agree with the others is, in regards to the importance of the mechanical integrity between platter bearing and arm, no different than a suspended-subchassis design. How that plinth is isolated from what is below it (by springs---commonly---in suspended tables, and whatever method in non-suspended) is a related but separate issue. But the "correctness" and superiority of a common plinth turntable design does presume the plinth provides an inherently rigid mechanical connection between platter bearing and arm pillar simply by virtue of it being common, too large a presumption as well as an over-simplification, I realize in hindsight. The rigidity of the plinth in different tables varies, and is a major contributor to the sound of every table. Their designers have invested a lot of time, effort, and money into either maximizing the rigidity of the plinth, or at least strengthening the mechanical connection between platter bearing and arm pillar.

My table was designed with this matter a very high priority, it's non-suspended plinth made of steel in the shape of a shallow upside-down baking pan, and filled with plaster of Paris, to make it much stiffer and more non-resonant than the common MDF, acrylic, or aluminum (or combination of two or all three materials) plinth. Recognize it? But the designer of this table took his intention and dedication to making the mechanical nature of his deck as stiff as possible to another level by addressing the other area of mechanical integrity in turntable/arm/pickup design, the front end of the arm. Free to vibrate (how much and at what frequencies dependent on the stiffness and resonant characteristics of the headshell, arm tube, all the way back to the arm's bearings and counterweight, and down into the main pillar), it will and does! When the end of the arm, and therefore the cartridge, the measuring device of the LP groove, is free to vibrate and resonate (especially cartridges employing low-compliance stylus'), it is surely adding to or subtracting from the output of the cartridge. That is a major source of lost or added information in the playing of an LP, and only one table in the world addresses the issue. Now do you recognize the table?! ;-)

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