The necessity of a plinth

Ultimately, you're talking about draining energy from the bearing/platter interface in this discussion. In this regard, the materials chosen are as important as the actual mass.

There are different ways to solve the problem, or alternatively, to screw things up.

For example, high mass with ineffective energy transmission (stores energy) is going to have a resonant signature at some frequency. It will be the mechanical equivalent of a capacitor having a high dielectric coefficient with resulting blurring and resonance. Low mass done poorly can be equally compromised.

As is typical in audio, it's the design/implementation of a particular architecture rather than the chosen architecture that makes the most difference.

All of my experiments have shown me that in a non-suspended design, high mass done right has an inherent advantage, but it needs to be noted that this is the path I've been led down, so I have a bias in making this statement.

The unfortunate reality (in terms of arriving at shared, transferable, reproducible results) is that you need to consider the experiences of SP-10 owners in the context of their entire system, their setup, and of course, their turntable shelf/stand.

I like to think a of the shelf/stand combo as a part of the turntable and try to be very careful in drawing conclusions because of this.

Context is everything, but you all knew that ;-)

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Your analogy between a turntable plynth (water down the drain) and enclosure-less loudspeakers is faulty. A loudspeaker is a transducer, a turntable is not. The cartridge is the transducer. So, maybe the question should be "does a cartridge need a body?" I have no experience with nude cartridges, but I know they have their proponents.

Dazzdax, You raise an interesting question, and I am glad that Raul responded with his experience. One logical reason for a heavy plinth on the SP10 was put forward by Mark Kelly, a person whose opinion commands respect. Mark noted that because of the torque of the SP10 motor and that of other tts with torque-y motors, a heavy plinth will serve to counter the tendency of the motor to twist itself and the chassis frame to which it is attached. I have thought about this a lot; I am not sure how or whether high torque motors would create an audible problem, once the platter is up to speed. (The full torque of the motor is only applied during the instant after turn-on when the platter is still at rest, I would think.) Albert Porter's plinth deals with motor/bearing vibration in a novel way that might mitigate the need for a super heavy plinth. (Go to the Sound Fountain website to see a depiction of Albert's idea.)

Hi Raul, I didn't know that. I thought a custom made plinth is a necessity with the SP-10 to sound great. Stock SP-10 is very good, but SP-10 + custom plinth = great. But now you are saying a bit the contrary and it's an eye opener for me. Do you also concur with the hypothesis that a plinth can actually add coloration (or drain away the life out of the music)? In this regard Thom Mackris is quite right: it takes a lot of expertise to design a dedicated plinth/base that brings out the best of the turntable without the draw backs (there are many variables to deal with: mass, dimensions, materials, structural design, attachment of the turntable to the plinth, etc.).

Chris