A Copernican View of the Turntable System

But I think possibly the attraction of no plinth is primarily that it may introduce euphonic colorations that are ablated with a really good plinth that can render the turntable "neutral".

Hard to follow the logic here?

Dear Halcro, I don't want to spoil the picture of the "magnetically elevated above a shelf DD tt" with the "rigidly held, isolated armpod fixed to the shelf, so that the geometrical relationships with the elevated turntable/platter remain correct and immovable." - so let's give that model a short thought.
A few points, a) energy of the tracking process will still find its way through the magnetic field. b) due to the omnipresent curse of building resonance alone, there will a relative movement of the fixed-to-shelf armpod in relation to the magnetic elevated DD (due to the kind of "spring"-effect of the magnetic field).

Honestly, - the fv-diagram was just a simple proposal to illustrate that the energy inside a working record playback system will travel and where and how it travels. That energy, its amplitude and reflections are responsible to a large extend for the turntable's share of what we call "sound".

It was just a proposal to illustrate the physic behind sonic discussion of a component (here a machine).
I certainly am perfectly fine, if the discussion returns to and concentrates on the ultimate audiophile fallback position: "I and a few others prefer that sound".
Cheers,
D.

Dear Ct0517, in my 30+ years of high-end audiomania, most of the real great "sonic improvements" came out of giving things a deep and throughout thought. Plain field experiment and try-and-error is anyway as good as my approach.
It is just that I want to know why a system or a component does what it does the way it does.
Cheers,
D.

Dear Lewm, as a direct response to your post 01-18-11, I think that the most important energy in the turntable system is in fact emitted by the tracking process itself. The rotating platter is not the problem (in fact, it is a rather self-stabilizing force increasingly resting with increased inertia).
The tracking process (the more so with low compliance and direct-coupling cartridges - Ikeda, SPU, DECCA) does create a source of energy (vibration) traveling into the record, into the platter, into the tonearm and creating resonances, reflections and ( all mass and material depending...) standing waves in the material.
Those are the demons I want to illustrate.
That energy is traveling and should find a way to leave the system fast as possible with leaving as little resonances and reflections as possible along the way.
A poor plinth will react to that energy with resonances and reflections and such cloud, alter and spoil the sonic performance.
VTF is part of the problem ( but only in relation to the corresponding compliance ). Skating is not.
High-compliance MMs will be much less of a problem.
A reason why cartridges like FR-7, SPU, IKeda, DECCA/London do perform to their very best on high mass platter tt's with massive frames, very rigid tonearms and platter weight above 30 lbs. To me it's a game of energy and masses - and the material mix.
Cheers,
D.

Dear Halcro, Lewm, Raul, et al - I assume that on a whole we all do in fact agree on the topic of "bad plinth" tt vs "naked" tt ( in the sense of the absence of a poor designed and resonate plinth which doesn't add any good to the performance, but is just a source of sonic distraction ).
If we include tt-designs like Micro Seiki 5000/8000, Raven AC/BN, PV and the like into the "naked" camp, then I absolutely agree, that a "naked" tt has considerable advantages vs "classic plinth" - types with wooden frame around a spring-"isolated" sub-chassis.
Then we have main-frame types like Thuchan's Continuum Criterion, which falls somewhere in between ......
But here it is done with huge input (money- and manpower...) and some smart ideas.
Ultimately I think it always come down to this.
IMHO ( ... ;-) ...) the solution might be found in an extremely rigid and dead silent "mainframe" holding the armpod/base and the bearing. That frame should be pretty massive, compound and compact so to display minimal tendency to resonate.
Cheers,
D.