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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
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,007 posts
 

prof, you’ve discovered and proven the "secret" of mass-on-springs isolation: you want the weight of the mass on the springs to be as close to the spring’s capacity as possible, without going over it. Townshend offers the Pods in different models with spring rates in much finer graduations than does IsoAcoustics in their Gaia line of isolators.

I too am not overly impressed with the IsoAcoustics rubber pods (rubber is rubber!), and am sticking with the Townshend Seismic products. I have only one set so far, 3 of the "A" version (maximum capacity 27 lbs.) under my 27 lb. turntable/arm/cartridge.

prof OP
3,485 posts
 
I think I'll try both the isopucks and the Townsend pods under my speakers to see how they work.  I only have four of each so can only try on one speaker, though.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,007 posts
 
prof, keep in mind the IsoAcoustic rubber Pods are rated to only 20 lbs each. The company is promoting the Pods for use with sources, amplifiers, and monitor speakers, and the Gaia Isolators for use with floor-standing speakers, which often weight more than the Pods can accommodate.
prof OP
3,485 posts
 
Yes, thanks, I'm aware.

My turntable and butcher block base would be between 75-80 lbs, and my Thiel speakers are 77 lbs each, so four Iso-Pucks rated at 20 lb each should work properly with either turntable or speakers.
prof OP
3,485 posts
 

Update:

Finally received my custom made "roasted maple" butcher block for the turntable base.

Looks beautiful. It's 22" wide by 17" deep by 2 1/2" thick.

I did a temporary set up, put the block on top of my Lovan rack with the Townsend iso Pods (spring based) holding it up, then added my turntable.

I tested with the ipad accelerometer app.  As predicted, the isolation from vibration (at least from the tapping and thumping type vibration) was excellent.

If I place the ipad on top of the Lovan rack shelf and tap the shelf, or walk around or stomp the ground in the room, the app clearly shows big spikes, registering the transmission.  But if I place the ipad on top of the butcher block or the turntable, the stomping the ground or tapping the top of the lovan rack is barely registered at all.  Further, if I placed the ipad on top of the lovan shelf, and tap or bump on the turntable bass or the butcher block, there is almost no transmission showing up on the ipad screen.

So, at least in terms of the type of vibrations I'm creating, the spring based system seems to provide excellent decoupling in both directions.

I know people with a rack like the cheaper Lovan worry about "ringing" of the metal tubes and try to combat this by filling them with sand or led shot or whatever.  I don't feel compelled to worry about that given how decoupled the turntable seems from the Lovan rack.  I don't see how for instance the turntable will set the lovan rack "ringing" or, any music transmission (the turntable is in a separate room down the hall from my speakers), or how it would be such as to rise up through the spring system into the turntable system.

But, hey, whaddoIknow?   I'm just fooling around doing whatever gives me some peace of mind.



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