Turntable Isolation

@dogberry so if I stay outside of the box, and I let Brian Wilson do the raking, I should be good?

Ordered a Townshend platform. Got a good price on the largest size. 

Another thumbs up for the Townshend platforms. The Symposium Segue ISO shelf was the one that finally eliminated footfall issues for my Xerxes tt and eventually led me to Townshend. My next purchase was the Townshend  Podiums for my speakers and was such a revelation. Now also have their Platform under the cdp. I think you will be amazed by the isolation for your table. 

I had the same issue with a turntable in the bedroom. Putting a record on a walking around would make it skip.not the mention the impact on the sound quality too. After trying many things I bought a couple of heavy duty brackets online and 20 sq inch by 1.5 inch plywood board to make my own bracket. This thing can handle about 75 lbs. much better than the so many commercial brackets I reviewed. Works a charm even when I dance to rock music now! Now I have also added isopucks to the bottom of the table; however I don’t think they are adding much more to what I already had with the wall mounted brackets.

There are only two platforms that will work reliably, the MinusK and the Vibraplane. This assumes that your equipment rack or cabinet is laterally stable. Movement straight up and down is easy for the tonearm to handle. Lateral or sideways deflections are always a serious problem. When you walk on your floor it does not deflect straight up and down. It forms an arc which causes the rack or cabinet to sway. No turntable, not even a good suspended one can handle that. With a bad floor the first thing you do is keep the rack as short as possible like coffee table height. This decreases the distance the top of the rack will sway. Wall racks usually help but you say that is out of the question. Your budget puts the MinusK and Vibraplane out of the running. The turntables best able to handle a bad floor will be the Basis Inspiration, the SMEs and the suspended Sotas. You are more than likely wasting your money with the Townsend. I think you should probably get the turntable closer to the floor and make sure the rack is very sturdy without any tendency to rack. After that start saving for a good suspended turntable, The Sota Sapphire comes to mind. The reason the above turntables are best is because the chassis is suspended by the springs. This is a way more stable situation than the chassis sitting on the springs which can actually make the problem worse. I have seen the Sapphire successfully quell some pretty severe footfall problems. This is also another good reason to avoid longer tonearms. In the meanwhile I would practice your tip toeing. I forgot about one solution, suspending the turntable from the ceiling. You hang a shelf from the ceiling via 4 chains, 3 with turnbuckles for level adjustment. The holes for hooks in the ceiling can be easily patched. This is also an extremely cost effective solution. Chains, hooks, shelves and elbow grease might cost you a whopping $50.00. This also assumes there is nobody walking around upstairs.