concrete (cinder) block tower with wood chopping block for turntable stand

Check my Virtual System for my basement set up. Sounds better than every stand I tried. 

Holy bananas do you have some cool stuff!!

If you tap on the cinder or concrete blocks with a hammer, and this is also true with granite, you will hear it ring.  Not really good materials for a turntable base.  I know because I also tried it once myself years ago.  Better materials to use will "thunk" when you tap on them.  Sand filled or small ball bearing filled wood boxes are a good way to add mass to a base.

Lastly, spring isolation of the base, provided the turntable is unsprung is very effective.

I agree with the efficacy of high mass for turntable stands. My DIY stand uses a section of sixteen inch diameter white oak log as a central pedestal. Three large lag screws in the bottom of the section of log serve as feet and allow leveling of the stand. A piece of maple butcher block serves as the table. Log and butcher block were sanded very smooth, stained with Minwax special walnut stain and given many coats of varnish. I had to get a friend who is a competitive weight lifter to help me get the stand from my workshop to the listening room. The stand works quite well with my unsuspended Clearaudio Performance DC turntable and looks quite nice.

I am not condoning this proposed method as a ideal Structure.

I do not see where there is a ubiquitous method to produce a structure that offers a support that stands out for the impact it has on a System and especially the Source. It is good to see one contributor has produced similar and has reported on the value of it in use. I again suggest a Phenolic Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board to be tried out as a Sub Plinth/Sub Sub Plinth.

I see the proposed method as affordable and a good place to commence with an investigation into producing a Structure, any changes that may be discovered to be worth making, will mean, if the Blocks are to be selected for exchanging there will be little concern for the initial cost of the items.

Some decisions to make changes are costly, especially when certain Footer Types are be exchanged out for others, there is concerns, when swapping out items with high prices to perform a identical role.  

I have a history of using Concrete Blocks and Sand Filled Boxes, I have good recollections of these in use, but have found methods which have produced a sonic that has superseded these, which has resulted in certain methods being no longer in use.

Additionally, I have tried out and remain using other Stone materials. I have also  been through numerous types of Board Materials and Sheet Material with a wide variance in their Densities, of which I have a few types that I will always have at hand ready for use.

Again for Vinyl as a Source, In conjunction with the above, I have a selection of Platter Mats, of which Four different materials are always at hand and being considered for how they can fine tune the sonic.

I have never used a Bespoke State of the Art Design Supporting structure for a Source. I know of some models and up to £5K can be spent.

I don't know whether my efforts fall far short, are parity or surpass such a device.

I do know for approx' a 1/4 of this cost across many years of learning, I have a supporting structure that works very well for me in my listening environment.

Tomorrow, I will be visiting a Home of a infrequent attendee of my local HiFi Group, and will be demo'd a 'New to Me' System. 

I will be taking along a few electronic devices, as well as  Two Tier Densified Wood Sub Plinth, with a AT-616 Footers as separators. I am really looking forward to day out, as well as witnessing the system owner hear their Source mounted on this assembly.