Springs under turntable


I picked up a set of springs for $35 on Amazon. I intended to use them under a preamp but one thing led to another and I tried them under the turntable. Now, this is no mean feat. It’s a Garrard 401 in a 60pound 50mm slate plinth. The spring device is interesting. It’s sold under the Nobsound brand and is made up of two 45mm wide solid billets of aluminum endcaps with recesses to fit up to seven small springs. It’s very well made. You can add or remove springs depending on the weight distribution. I had to do this with a level and it only took a few minutes. They look good. I did not fit them for floor isolation as I have concrete. I played a few tracks before fitting, and played the same tracks after fitting. Improvement in bass definition, speed, air, inner detail, more space around instruments, nicer timbre and color. Pleasant surprise for little money.
128x128noromance
indrenilsen and mitch2,
Rubber bands under cables work about as well as springs under components. I stretched a rubber band around a Cable Elevator so the cable sits on the rubber band. Its hard get a good camera angle to show this but that's what's going on here. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Tried first under speaker cables, then power cords and interconnects. Was expecting improvement under speaker cables and was not disappointed. Wasn't expecting nearly so much under power cords and interconnect and so was surprised when it was just about equally effective.

Everyone has rubber bands just sitting around. Give em a try and see.

@millercarbon- Great idea and very easy to implement. I would try and report back the result.
Thanks.
Mitch, if you hear a difference you are blessed. Set up your system any way you want. 

Millercarbon, I have done that experiment with a tube phono stage, an oscilloscope and a test record. There was no difference to either my ears or the oscilloscope trace at any frequency. As for my speakers? My subs weight 250 lb each and I have 4 of them. My speakers are 7"11" tall and my ceiling is 8" so putting anything under them is a non starter. The subs are so heavy and stiff that they do not vibrate. I have Vinyl and CD sets on display right on top of them.  Trying to isolate a subwoofer is beyond silliness. When bass is produced by a powerful system capable of going flat down to 18 Hz the entire house vibrates isolated or not. Put on a 30 Hz test tone and turn up the volume. If you have a decent system everything in the house will start buzzing. Any movement of the subwoofer itself creates distortion. Mine don't move because they are so heavy and they are spiked to the floor. The stuff on top of them doesn't even move including my Mo Fi Beatles set. But turn em up and the entire house buzzes. If you think you hear an improvement in your bass by putting your speakers on springs it is purely psychological or perhaps your speakers sound better just because they are up higher. So get yourself a nice looking set of speaker stands. But, subwoofers to perform their best need to be right on the floor up against a wall or in a corner. They gain up to 6 dB in efficiency this way and eliminate the first reflection entirely, improving bass throughout the room. 

Millercarbon, with all the neat improvements you have made you must have one heck of a system. 



indranil,
another way you could try is to get the number of springs you have (hoping four?) under a heavy shelf, larger than the base of the TT you are using. Get the shelf completely horizontal, buy starting from the furthest edges of the shelf that will accommodate the leveling, moving the springs to suit under the shelf, creating the broadest sprung base. Now find where the TT with a record in it will sit on your shelf where that position will make the entire shelf and TT horizontal. Hopefully the center of gravity off the TT will align with the centre of gravity of the shelf in a vertical alignment.


millercarbon - now you can see why Townshend calls it seismic isolation!
I am glad you were willing to try it, to discover it for yourself.

And the springs on your wooden floors might be about the same as suspending the cables, have you shored up, or propped up under your floor where the springs are yet? Because if you have not, I wager money on it, there's more in store for you yet.