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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
photon46
1,082 posts
 
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
hdm
1,062 posts
 
" 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."

That has not been my experience in the past (albeit with a Michell Gyrodec.)

For what it’s worth my suggestion for shelf material would be baltic birch as opposed to maple. IMO it is more neutral sounding and the constrained layer formation in the baltic birch should technically be more effective (and is in my experience) in dealing with/reducing vibration to the component. It’s also very economical.

For support or footers, general rule of thumb will be that a harder footer will result in a harder, more aggressive sound while a softer footer will result in a softer sound.

Obviously there are some very pricey audiophile support devices, platforms out there (Gaia, Stillpoints, HRS etc).

At more economical price points, baltic birch shelving combined with some of the Herbie’s Audiolab isolation products (I would contact Herbie’s with questions and ask them their opinion on what they have that would be most suitable in your application) can be very effective.

Edit: Photon was posting at the same time. I have no experience with sand boxes but I would describe the difference between baltic birch and maple as being similar to how he described the difference between the sand box and maple. 

soundermn's avatar
soundermn OP
344 posts
 
I posted my experience so that others who wonder about this topic would have something to consider.  If I listen to you crazies, this is what I should do:
- $650 for aluminum balls under a platform
- $400 for a 4 inch maple platform
- Or $750 for the Gingko Cloud (looks interesting, actually)
- another $650 for aluminum balls under the stand
- $1500+ for a SOTA turntable
- engineer my own stand that is heavy and works well.  Oh, wait, already did that!  

LOL.  I'm going to try the maple platform and vibrapod setup.  If that doesn't work, I will go back to my own rack and call it a day.  I can sell the Salamander for the $400 I paid.  I bought it because I like how it looks... but if it kills the sound, it's gotta go.  I can't invest $1000 to fix a $400 stand.

You guys are just trying to make me spend my money!  :-)
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The resonant frequencies Fr of the platter, tonearm and cartridge are all circa 8-12 Hz, so they get excited by, you guessed it! - very low frequency seismic type vibration coming up from the floor that interfere with the audio signal. So, you need something under the table - an iso system - with a very low resonant frequency, say around 2 Hz, to be able to significantly attenuate the frequencies 8-12 Hz since the iso device acts as a 6 dB/octave filter. Hel-loo!
photon46
1,082 posts
 
Geoffkait makes an important point. One of the last instructions for the sandbox construction is to make sure that supporting feet have a very low resonant frequency so that the whole affair oscillates at 1-3 cycles per second. Rather than using racquetballs as the author of the "how-to" suggests, I experimented with various durometers of silicone to get  squishy feet I could cast with the same characteristics. 
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