How to isolate turntable from footstep shake or vibration

Sadly for those who love them as one of the best sounding small signal triodes ever built, the 6SN7 is one of the culprits for being especially microphonic.

Actually @lewm IME the 6SL7 is the more problematic tube compared to a 6SN7.


@mijostyn Just so you know, the tubes in your ARC have to be hand-picked for low microphonics- every tube phono section manufacturer in the world hand-picks their tubes.


Electronics are indeed not as sensitive as a turntable. But they can be sensitive nevertheless which is why many people put platforms beneath their preamps as well as their turntables.

I get a Sota mostly because it has a dynamite suspension and is impervious to anything happening around it.

I had the Sota Cosmos for the same reason. However, I was friends with the guy that ran Sound Anchors (since retired; Sound Anchors has a new owner) and he helped me out with a custom stand. Immediately the Cosmos sounded better. Then I got an improved platform for the turntable and immediately the Cosmos sounded better. The thing about suspension and anti-vibration systems is that they work nicely together. We offer a damping package for the chassis of our preamps as an option; when a preamp with that package is placed in a good anti-vibration platform, the effect of doing so is more profound than if the preamp has no damping package. With analog I don’t think we’ve found how much you can do to improve its sound, on account of the operation being based on microscopic effects!

Use, 6SL7 is even more microphonic than 6SN7. But not as irreplaceable if ultimate sonics  are the goal. Gain notwithstanding.

Many problems like yours have been fixed by wedging an appropriate sized piece of lumber between the wall and the turntable support.  Easy to try...bet it works for you

I wasn't all that bothered by footfalls in my former house although it had suspended wood floors, and if you jumped by the turntable it wasn't good...my new place is suspended but not under my listening area...that's a slab...and man, nice...you could operate a jack hammer in that room and the table wouldn't notice except for the dust...still...also, the myth of coddling tubes because they're "all" somewhat microphonic is silly...they're not (some are...get rid of those). I've used and still use tube bass amps as well as many tube combo (if you don't know "combo" it means the amp is in the speaker box) guitar amps that make that point over many years, and my current tube pre and power amp also are seemingly immune to microphonic paranoia. Fear not.

@wolf_garcia , I though guitar amps were chosen based on the distortion they produced. How can you tell if a tube is microphonic or not if the amp is distorting it's backside off? Tube guitar amps are desirable because of the distortion they produce! (at least that is how I understand it) Interesting point though. Same for automobile systems although tubes are long gone in those.

@lewm, My understanding is that Upscale Audio and RAM labs do grade their tubes on microphonics and two other parameters. And, what do those tube rubber band damper rings that ARC supplies do? They obviously dampen the glass. Does that decrease microphonics? Are they the reason I can tap on the tubes and not hear it through the system?
I was tapping on the tubes because one of them went bad and I was trying to figure out which one it was. Tapping did not help.

@atmasphere , I have been using a Sota since 1981 and have had it on everything you can think of playing through ESLs. I have not found anything to be as important as using a dust cover during play attenuating airborne vibration by as much as 20 dB (not sure how accurate the meter was). Like protective earmuffs for your cartridge. And, everyone thinks this is poison (except Mark Dohmann). I guess like guitar amps everyone likes listening to distortion? With subtle differences I guess people prefer sticking with mythology than really listening? Boggles the mind.