Audio Furniture has its own sound!


I've been using a stand that I made about 12 years ago.  It's a flexi-type, with large rods, and I cut chrome curtain rods to cover the threaded rods.  For shelves, I glued two pieces of MDF together, routed the edges, and painted with stone paint.  Looks great, and it's really heavy and sturdy.  But, I got a little tired of the look.  I do think there is sound to furniture if it vibrates, but solid is solid, right?

So, I found a used Salamander Chameleon Sonoma 326.  It matches the other furniture perfectly, looks great in the room, and has a perfect amount of storage.  And, room on top for the turntable, as well as the Primaluna HP.  Makes it look like simple and elegant system.  The Salamander is very heavy, and made from solid wood. 

But, when I hooked it up, that damn Salamander rings like a bell, and that energy totally transfers to the tonearm.  I could not believe how horrible the system now sounded!  Clearly the furniture was the problem.  It was immediate, and completely ruined the sound.   I think part of the issue is that it has a metal frame beneath the wood, and the sides seem to cause the metal frame to vibrate and ring.

Now, I'm on an adventure to see if I can fix it.  My plan is 2 inch thick maple platform with vibrapods under the platform.  A platform for the amp, a separate one for the TT, and vibrapods under the phono preamp.  I have used an old tabletop from Ikea (it's honeycomb inside, and good dampener) with rubber feet, and it's helped a lot.  But, I can still tell this vibrates slightly.  I don't think it transfers much to the tonearm, but I'm still getting the maple platform.

I'm posting this because I've done some research oil Salamander as a TT stand, but didn't find much.  So, now you know... buyer beware!


128x128soundermn
Designed and made my metal racks for Luxman PD-444 (i have two), genuine turntable footers are suspended, metal rack filled with sand, stands on 4 adjustable spikes. Luxman is superheavy turntable with metal cabinet. No issues!

Over 20 years ago i designed this table (custom made), also metal filled with sand, Technics SP-10 mkII on it, no issues.

I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Speaking of furniture quite a bit of Pop! in the sound can be obtained by sticking cones under heavy furniture in the room. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: are you out of mind?
I also thought of Salamander as being a great product. It may be because it’s double wide, not sure.  I’ve ordered a maple platform and vibrant pods and cones. If those don’t fix it, I’ll go back to the homemade stand.  I guess it turns out that my own engineering was pretty good!  
An isolated turntable like a SOTA, SME, Basis or Air Force does not care what you put it on. It will always sound the same. Not that any stand a turntable is on should not be a sturdy as possible. 
Agree that a maple platform with vibration damping feet underneath it will probably improve your situation. However, I have found that sandbox isolation is even better with my Acoustic Signature non suspended table. The maple platform has a sound of its own with pleasant resonances. The sandbox is more neutral and lets one hear deeper into the mix with a considerably greater sense of environmental isolation vis a vis the maple platform. I have used both 2" and 4" maple platforms and the sandbox is superior to both in my system. My previous rack was a Billy Bags Pro and I'm currently using a Solid Steel 5.4. http://http//cognitivevent.com/sandbox.html