Isolation Feet for Garrard 301 wood plinth


Now that I have my table competed (almost) and table set up. I am looking for some suggestions as to what to put under the wood plinth, the plinth's main structure is bamboo ply, with Padauk wood feet 1.75" x 1.75" x 1" in height. the feet are machined square and true and look very nice with all the other contrasting woods. Bamboo, Padauk (feet and arm board), rose wood and maple inset. I have pictures in my profile. I have the table sitting on a 18"x24"x3 granite slab 165lbs that is sitting directly on the 3 posts of the top shelf of my Lovan Stand with each shelf sitting in pin points all the way to the floor and sitting on brass cups about 2" in diameter and 1/2 thick. I have fantastic stability and very little movement when walking around the room but I do get nose when taping the plinth and stand through the system ie cart etc. Its a dull thud but I think some sort of isolation may be in order between one of the layers most likely the plinth and granite. This set up worked very well for my previous set up the oracle Delphi. I would like to find something that is not going to take away from the visuals of what I think its a beautiful plinth but give me what I need to solve the issues. I also can not afford to replace my whole rack system at this time maybe in the future. budget up to lets say $1000. I will need 3 min but most likely 4 as the table is about 60lb total now. Have to say it sounds wonderful best move I made in audio in a long time picking up that Garrard 301 and building a table out of it. I will be adding some upgrades in the future like platters etc but for now i'm enjoying music again.

I added a Herbies audio record mat and looked at there feet they would work but to be honest not very attractive, I've seen some nice brass feet can not remember if they had any isolation.

Anyway to you my like minded hobby friends

128x128glennewdick

So this older post came up when researching something else. Amazing how things progress since my 2017 advice quoted below. Forget the cones and pointy bits. Use springs - better soundstage depth and layering.

Directly coupled to granite using metal points. 

@glennewdick 

i'm using some steel pin points i find they help focus everything better then the sorbothane I have also tried. seems everything I used that isolated softened the presentation the hard points tighten everything up and adds to the detail.

I have a custom 301 with high density compressed bamboo ply / birch ply hybrid plinth I built myself. I have also put together a 301 with double layer high density compressed bamboo ply and a 401 with engineered stone plinth for friends.

I prefer rigid feet to ground the TT. The only exception I have found if you have feedback is the Isoacoustics footers (trialled on a 401/Kuzma 4point combo ).

I use only 3 feet asymmetrically placed to ensure the motor and tonearm centre of gravity are within the triangle - 1 to the centre left of the motor. 1 behind the arm & 1 on the right front.  3 feet always sounds better than 4.

Personally I am not a fan of granite - have tried it over the years in various applications and to my ears always seems to add a resonance ( ring ) - high mass does ameliorate this but it is still there.

late coming back but,

in the end a set of three Iso Acoustic feet sized to my overall table weight were ultimately the best overall sound. 

I have quite a history of experiencing footers under Plinths and Sub Plinths and equipment.

I used Manmade Products such as, Composites both Hard and Soft, Putty Type Substances, Sand Box, Sorbothane, Sorbo-Rubber, Foams of Different Densities (This always available), Adjustable Footers from certain brands with slight differences to the designs, AT 616 Pnuematic Footers, Solid Tech Feet of Silence Footers and Metal Spikes.

For Natural Materials used, I have Cork ( This is always available) and Black African Hardwood such as mpingo.

From the list of the above, I can assure that the mpingo was the shortest used on a trial and not kept. The Composites and Putty Types were superseded in use in the early days and the Sand Box and Sorbo Type Materials were used, the Sorbo Rubber for very heavy equipment.

To Date I still use foams of various densities and Cork, these materials are very good at tweaking a colouration out when detected, when working with these materials, even mixing them. By adding them in layers to increase the depth, the process of building up the layering can significantly contribute to gathering a loose bass and improve on this. The real attraction is that it is cheap to have available in a 5-8mm thick material.

I went onto the 'AT 616 Pneumatic' which was a very impressive introduction and that was bettered by the 'Feet of Silence', when directly under the Source. I use these to date with the 'FOS' supporting the source and the '616' Supporting the Sub Plinth.

My Local HiFi Group loaned the '616' and 'FOS' and become converts. 

They then brought in readily available feet to compare for the ease of purchasing and for the fairer pricing, the footers the Group have bought into are Iso Acoustic, of which I know some use the Gaia and some others use the Orea. As these are offered at a discount through a source a Group Member knows, there are systems utilising multiple sets of Iso Acoustic Feet.

My last demonstration of an Idler Drive in use was a Garrard 401 > Origin Live Illustrious> Sumiko Pearwood which was mounted in a Bamboo Plinth and a Sub Plinth of a material l supplied with AT 616 Footers. To this date from all recollections, the 401 on this occasion was the best I can recollect one performing during a demonstration or from personal usage experience.