I am sorry, but science just does not lie. Philosophies and strawman arguments of striking a pot with a piece of wood - saying things like the lighter design will store energy for less time - possibly - because if vibrates more quickly at dramatically(flying across the room or at least moving more) and since there is constant sources of vibration in a record player...that is not a good thing dispelling energy in a short amount of time means more dramatic vibration. Hey, if that vibration sound good...bingo!
Strike an empty beer can and it will fly across the table. Strike a full beer can and it may move an inch. Which one vibrates more? Trick question because it is more complicated than that. Sustained vibration attenuation is in the implementation and composition of the materials.. Lighter things can vibrate less than heavier things. A heavy bell is made to vibrate, where a check of wood is not.
There it is - the quality of sound is in the implementation. As is the same with pretty much anything in audio...Guess what...you can make a light turntable sound great and you can make a heavy turntable sound great.
But science is science and *in general* the heavier/denser an object, the lower the fundamental frequencies of the object will be. Do you want a lighter plinth that vibrates at a higher frequency - or do you want a heavier plinth that vibrates at a lower frequency? Additionally, Acceleration ( movement/vibration ) = Mass x Force. If you have less force or less mass(of the moving parts), then Acceleration ( movement/vibration ) is reduced.
In any case - *in general*...reducing the forces/movement inside a turntable will reduce acceleration and therefore vibration. This holds true to both light and heavy tables. But science says that imparting that force on a lighter plinth gives you more acceleration to the plinth because the same equation applies to the body being acted upon. It is easier to move a lighter thing and it takes less force to do so.
So these philosophies I see in audiophile circles are really more ideas..."what if we did this?" - then proceed to make up reasons why it is better only half based on science. Then make a great sounding turntable regardless of the weight. The correlation and misapplication of principles gives me headaches.
Unless you are using vibration to make something sound better( like a violin ), I do wish more people would focus on the absorption and damping of vibration. That is turning any produced mechanical energy produced by the turntable and from external sources into heat as fast as possible.
