Turntable Isolation Journey
Nearing the end of my journey to solve footfall & feedback issues in my small-room "home office" system with very bouncy floor and flexible walls. Turntable is the only source here -- and it’s a Clearaudio Innovation Compact with no suspension or special isolation feet. This system always sounded good, but was rendered nearly unusable at higher volumes due to turntable isolation that was inadequate relative to this room’s challenges. The worst artifact was when structure-borne feedback from the speakers would cause amp clipping on bass-heavy tracks. This clipping would manifest as an extremely loud singular POP sound, especially hitting the tweeters. It only occurred during the loudest parts of track with bass-heavy elements, and was so loud it was still significantly above the level of the music -- much louder than a POP you would hear from vinyl surface defects. The POP sound was startling, and clearly very bad for tweeters (fortunately my Tannoys seem to have survived several of these incidents). For a time I thought these POPs were from static electricity discharge, but they were NOT. In my quest I tried many solutions and tweaks over a few months, and I’d like to share a rundown of what worked versus what didn’t.
What Helped (MVP products & tweaks):
What Underperformed:
What Was Worthless (Don’t waste your money like I did):
I’m not going to bother expanding upon these; suffice to say they had no discernible positive effect.
The Minus-K solution looks amazing and was absolutely next on my radar, but the Townshend platform in conjunction with other noted factors has solved this particular system to my satisfaction :) That's interesting on the Vibrasystems rubber, I'll look them up - definitely cool how effective some cheap solutions can be. And conversely frustrating how INeffective some expensive solutions are; of course every setup is different! |
Hello Mulvening, I just went through this recently when I purchased a (new-to-me) Herron phono stage (I couldn't resist when it came up for sale recently). After getting it installed, I was having the same issues you are having. I spoke to Keith Herron about it,asking him about adding a resistor to knock those low frequencies out that are causing the problem. He talked me out of adding a resistor in the phono stage (which I had done on my Modwright) and just using an equalizer to get those low frequencies out. I ordered a Schitt Lokius unit, and even though it's inexpensive, is a very good little unit, absolutely quiet. I can recceommend it if your fix is involved around doing what I I wound up doing. Love the Herron, by the way. Regards, Dan |
Hi @mulveling It is no secret on the Gon that I have spent a lot of time over the years producing structures to support equipment and speakers. It was my loaning to a friend the AT616 Footers I continually utilise so they could experience suspended speakers, that made such an impression that they were prompted to try out an easier to acquire design, which become Townsend Bases and are now advocates of these. I am more very confident in suggesting them to be tried as I have first hand experiences of Townsend Bases in use and the benefits they create. We will have shared similar ambitions and intent, but our environments used for setting up the System are quite different to the one in your report. I started out on Concrete Floors and Concrete Ceilings with Brick and Plaster Finished walls. I am now using my Structures in an environment where there are Concrete Floors, Dry Wall Board Ceilings with Brick and Plaster finished walls. I also share the confidence you have expressed in the use of a foam, I use it as a Tier Material in a range of densities and even have one that has proven over the past seven years to be chosen over other options for materials that have a similar structural property. This foam is a product that is substantially compressed and weighs in at approx' 700Kg a Cubic mtr. As an up to date outlook, It does look like from now on Densified Wood is likely to supersede this Compressed Foam material in the positions it has been used. Many years ago I tried affordable footers, inclusive of Squash Balls, Spent Squash Balls collected from Sports Centres and Hockey Pucks (some will claim a Hockey Puck should be spent as well when used as a footer material). One other affordabe footer that might offer a further improvement is a Astronomers Tripod Footer, they are like a Hockey Puck but absorb energy that would cause the resolution of the Scopes reflections to be less sharp, due to energy transferral through the Tripod. I have really enjoyed the learning to be had over many years of creating structures, there is most likely a off the shelf short cut, but it will most likely come with quite a few 0000's in the price tag. Such a short cut will not allow for such investigations into how certain materials interfaced in certain ways can change a perception of how the audible qualities are effected. There is also the strong possibility the structures produced are performing as a close match or share parity with the off the shelf product. I will also mention Solid Tech 'Feet of Silence', used as a footer in direct contact with the Plinth of the TT in use, this footer has shown to be quite an attractive option in place of the AT 616. I am yet to discover a footer that has made the same impression as this one. There are designs of footer available that are variant of the FOS, and are much more affordable. One forum member who has contributed regularly to the Analog Section, has made it known in a previous post they use a variant design and are quite impressed with how they perform.
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+1 on the Townshend Isolation Platform. After hearing a great improvement in clarity with my Legacy spekaers using the Townshend bars over the Isoacoustic Gaia II, I tried the Isolation Platform under my Ovation. Previously I had the Isoacoustics Delos platform under the Ovation, and the Townshend improved over the Delos. While it isn't a night and day difference, there is defintely increase in midrange clarity, presumably by lowering of bass - mid bass resonance. Didn't really know it was there until it was gone! This wasn't as big of an improvement as going from the Gaias to the Townshend bars, though. Seems the Gaias were still transferring too much energy to my suspended floor.
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