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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
rixthetrick's avatar
rixthetrick
1,060 posts
 
Recently I managed to get a solid piece of white marble, about an inch thick from a place that makes kitchen benches etc. They told me they often have offcuts and cutouts from the materials they use. It was very inexpensive to have them cut it to size and polish the edge for me.

I then used springs, coil springs, just like the ones an AGon seller was offering on this site. Mine were purchased when I was living overseas and are rated at 4Hz with a mass that loads them at about 50% of original height.

Metal springs are still one of the best vibration isolators, and also one of the most cost effective.
br3098
994 posts
 
All good answers above, but I think that the core problem has not been properly diagnosed. If your rack is resonating then you need to reduce the amount of energy the rack (and your turntable) are exposed to.  I'm guessing is that your rack is in between your speakers? Try moving the rack forward (away from the wall) and/or relocate the rack to one side of one speaker by at least 2'-3'. And you may try putting something absorbent on top of the shelf where the turntable sits, under the feet. Reflective surfaces can bounce low frequency energy to the TT and tonearm.

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
rixthetrick
I then used springs, coil springs, just like the ones an AGon seller was offering on this site. Mine were purchased when I was living overseas and are rated at 4Hz with a mass that loads them at about 50% of original height.

Metal springs are still one of the best vibration isolators, and also one of the most cost effective.

>>>>Hire this man!
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
br3098
Reflective surfaces can bounce low frequency energy to the TT and tonearm.

>>>By the grace of god there isn’t any energy flying around that is low enough in frequency to affect the turntable and tonearm, which are designed to have resonant frequencies Fr much lower ⬇️ than any frequency speakers produce.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
hdm, the Michell Gyrodec is not an isolated turntable. An fully isolated turntable will have a suspension, spring or air tuned to 2-3 Hz. Nothing gets through from 2 Hz down. On a wooded floor I can jump up and down in front of an SME or SOTA and nothing will happen even if I put the turntables on collapsible card tables. 
Having said that. The ultimate platform for an unsuspended turntable would be a 2" thick aluminum plate on leaf dampened leaf springs tune at 2-3 Hz. Getting the plate is not a problem. Any metal supply company can provide that. Then you can have it anodized any color you want. The right springs will require some experimentation. I would stare on the stiff side and work my way down. The springs can be dampened with foam or you could even construct an oil based shock absorber  like SME does. 
If your system is on a concrete floor you can just place the Aluminum plate on any decent stand using rubber grommets under.  
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