How to isolate turntable from footstep shake or vibration


Even while the Oracle turnable that I use has a built-in springs suspension by design there is a low or even sub-low frequency boom every time someone walks in a room. This becomes really bad with the subwoofer’s volume set high as the low frequency footsteps make straight to subwoofer where they are amplified shaking everything around. It seems the cartridge is picking up the footsteps very efficiently as even a lightest foot down becomes audioable. What can be done to attempt to isolate the turntable from the low frequency vibrations? Interesting, that the lower the volume of the subwoofer, the less the footstep shake is evident and with the subwoofer turned off it is a barely a problem at all. 
esputnix
Do what I did - move to a residence built on a continuous slab......silent as a tomb. Of course, the motive of the move was not to exorcise demonic vibration hobgoblins from my stereo systems, but it was a factor in my decision to buy this particular town-home that is now mi casa. My Thorens TD 160, 160 Super, and TD-320 have now been rendered impervious to the vagaries of heavy footfalls.....the only worry is that a cat might decide to use one of the 'tables as a trampoline while it's playing.
I am also surprised @mijostyn that you doubt that a vibration platform would help with your phono stage.

What you don't seem to comprehend is that in addition to external vibrations, there are internal vibrations within components that can be drained with a good sub platform. Regardless of a slab or whatever. In these cases, you can get a multi layer platform instead of springs or podiums or whatever. From what I was told, SS is even more susceptible to this than tubes. 

Not so much on a turntable, so I buy the SME lack of need of vibration control. Also, the biggest beneficiary of vibration control is a CD player, even more that turntables for some reason.

Don't ask me, just ask Peter at Symposium Acoustics who has been doing this for 29 years.
@lewm , as far as F22 avionics are concerned I doubt the government would publish such information. For certain as you suggest the "brain" is oriented to gravity and it knows it's altitude and ground speed. It also knows how to fly the plane. There is no way you can protect the brain from the wild forces applied to it during aggressive maneuvering. The plane is capable of pulling at least 6 G's in any direction, more than any human could stand without a flight suit that supplies counter pressure. That would pull the wings off a 737. This is a lot more force than any coincidental vibration and there is no way to protect the electronics from this. They are just built to take it. I seriously doubt there is any "micro instability" Would you strap yourself into a Mach 2 fighter plane that relied on micro unstable electronics? I wonder what "micro instability" of 20,000 pound thrust vectoring would do?
You would think just looking at a tube with it's delicate appearing insides that it would be sensitive to vibration. Is this reality or lay instinct? I use a tube phono stage which uses 6922's. It is not the tiniest bit sensitive to vibration, at least as far as I can hear and I have done some pretty crazy things. I have 25 foot long RCA interconnects from my Krell amplifier days so we put my turntable and phono stage on top of a subwoofer just for fun and to prove that the Sota was impervious to vibration. I had no intension of testing the phono stage. But, tonearm interconnects are only so long so the phono stage went with the turntable.
@mijostyn  In case you are still looking for proof, please take my comments here as such that can be demonstrated **very** easily. What your test above didn't take into account was how much vibration was actually getting from the sub into your phono stage. At any rate its unimportant; the word 'microphonics' exists for a reason; it refers to a sound that an active device like a tube can make when its vibrated. For this reason Ampex iso-merically mounted the circuit boards in their famed 351 vacuum-tube tape electronics, just as we do. So as a tube equipment manufacturer I can tell you that not only are **all** low signal level electronics (like a phono section or line stage) affected by vibration, but when you take steps to prevent it, the electronics will perform better. This is both audible and measurable. And yes, I'm including solid state electronics here- if you think they are immune, you are incorrect, although they are certainly less susceptible than tube electronics. But that is different from immune.

Damping materials, anti-vibration platforms and stands will all help low signal electronics in this regard.


a tube phono stage is not a fly by wire computer, or 4 of them. 

While you might not find all that much about the particulars of the F-22 avionics detail design, you can learn a bit by looking for details on MIL specs for things like conformal coatings, potting, circuit boards damage, damage tolerance. ….

Some of us, who have built, tested and supported advanced systems will have a deep understanding of vibrational impact on both structures, analog and digital..including effects of EMP…

( in a time long ago, i had something to do with the F-22…. just a bit part…Let’s call it a third…. )

Aesthetix and Vandersteen both employ HRS products in or below products  for good reasons.

enjoy the music.