What is the ideal weight/mass for a turntable?

Chris,

A truly excellent, objective summary of the subject, thank you.

"I personally believe that a well implemented unsuspended turntables deliver more satisfying and accurate sound. But I certainly can understand why someone else may prefer the "suspended" sound."

As for myself, I belong in the latter camp, having just purchased what I believe is one of the best implementations of the suspended types - the Sota Cosmos. But I can certainly understand why someone would prefer the "nonsuspended" sound!

The comment from Chris of Teres is obviously intriguing.....I wonder if carbon-fibre is used in Teres' new composite material for their latest platters....

Also why not build a plinth from carbon-fibre....is this too difficult or expensive?

"Also why not build a plinth from carbon-fibre....is this too difficult or expensive?"

We have done some experimenting with carbon fiber and it sounds very good. The texture and detail that we hear with dense hardwoods, but lacking some of the warmth and delicacy. A very good material but in our opinion not quite as good sounding as hardwoods and quite a bit more expensive.

Thank you, Teres Audio, for the clarification.

How about a carbon-fibre frame filled with lead-shot and/or sand?

Would that reduce the cost of the plinth while giving the benefits of rigidity?