We all have our opinions and whatever works in our environment and circumstances -- even with the same turntable, may not work for another individual.
I have a Thorens TD160 Super that I bought back in the 80's, and I have worked with it trying numerous damping and other upgrades to get the best playback. Some were, more or less, successful -- at least to my ears, and when it comes down to it, that is all that matters -- how it sounds to you. After all, you are the one who paid for it and listen to it -- not some pompous know-it-all on YouTube, who goes around being paid to tell you what you can, should, or will be hearing. Take them with a pinch of salt and as a basic guideline -- not as the holy grail.
The floating panel upon which the platter's bearing and tonearm arm board are attached already is dampened already; however, the bearing is now surrounded with Sorbothane washers to help stop bearing noise, and the bearing rests upon a small Teflon disk inserted into the bottom of the bearing to help stop friction. The tonearm has an extremely micro thin layer of special material that is between the tonearm base and the arm board to stop the intense arm resonance from hitting the arm board and returning to the stylus. The arm board was custom made of aircraft grade aluminum to accommodate my Signet XK50 tonearm. The motor has had a Sorbothane band put around it to again absorb motor vibration, and there has been applied a lubricated ball-bearing to the motor to lift the motor armature and prevent premature wear (like the spindle bearing and help with any vibration of the motor. The bottom particle board that was under the table was replaced by a very thick, high-quality acrylic board with four tiptoes to help with footfalls and speaker feedback. The original particle board was covered with felt and used between the new turntable acrylic board and the wall bracket's base supported by spikes upon which the turntable rests as it sits on the heavy metal wall bracket supporting the turntable.
Sorbothane was placed between the wall bracket and the wall, and also surrounds the spikes that support the bracket's base. The sub-platter as well as the main platter has felt glued to the underside to prevent the metal from ringing. An acrylic combination with Sorbothane by SOTA completes the platter's deadness and is topped with a SOTA Clamp to couple the vinyl to the SOTA mat.
The tonearm wire to the phono stage was replaced with Teflon Straightwire. These changes occurred over many years -- not adding everything at one time. As I found something either added or diminished the sound, I went on from there to see what could be further improved. It also allows one to hear what each step accomplishes or does not accomplish to your ear's satisfaction.
