Skeletal vs Plinth style turntables

Halcro, having bushwacked a VPI TNT through flywheel, thread drive with custom pulley assemblies to minimize belt creep, and a Mark Kelly AC-1 two-phase controller, I conclude from experience that that way lies madness relative to DD. IMO there are greater evils admitted through quadraphonic rubber belts than by heroically built cantilevered tonearm boards.

Hi Parrotbee,

What Halcro says then explains why people like Mike Lavigne are using very expensive microscope stands in their systems.

If you talk to those who have changed to a wall-mounted shelf or active isolation stand or concrete slab-on-the-ground installation....they will likely express amazement at the reduction in noise-floor and the silent 'blackness' they now hear through the turntable system.
My vinyl playback system is quieter than CD...😎
An easy test for any turntable whether mass-loaded, suspended, plinthed or plinthless....is to place the stylus on an unrotating record and gradually turn up the volume of the preamp.
If a droning feedback sound commences and increases without further volume turning.....you are hearing Structure-Borne Feedback through your floor and/or rack supporting medium.
If you are able to turn your volume to maximum with total silence (even when lightly tapping the plinth)....you are probably free of feedback issues. 😘
Good luck....

Did someone say....plinth❓
Or plinthier
Finished
He goes on to say....

The JVC TT-101 drive unit is now installed in 40" tall, 280 lbs (!), solid birch plywood, and using the Zeta tonearm and EMT HSD-6 cartridge, This is now the best TT I have ever heard, bar none (including the Kuzma Stabi XL4 with the airliner air bearing arm and Dynavector XV-1 cartridge). The sound-floor is 'Dead Sea' low, background is pitch black, the tonality is accurate (meaty and full bodied) and the dynamics are explosive. The top end is creamy smooth (speed stability). I am very happy I went ahead with this project...

...a stock Lenco starts with numbers like 60 dB S/N, wow and flutter at 0.6% and with a 4 pole (!) motor when the JVC TT-101 is a core-less motor with 75 dB S/N (DIN B), 0.02% wow and flutter. One can argue about torque differences and cartridge drag on transients, but then how much torque do you really need?!? One owner tested the TT-101's speed stability with a laser when 3 tonearms and cartridges were mounted and playing at the same time and got zero deviation. Compared to my previous Oracle Delphi Mk II, all the micro dynamics that the Oracle excels at, are there but with even extra air and detail. However the Oracle sounds like a CD Player compared to this TT. Watered down, anemic and lacking harmonic completeness, meat/substance and macro dynamics.

Its an illusion Henry, just like the hanging balls on my SP10. In the back is a door, it opens up to a beer fridge. A beer fridge for now. It will double as his coffin when the time comes. This is the only reason his wife allowed it in the house. :^)
I am surprised by your picture of the Victor that you only teased us with a glimpse of what is next to it. The now famous Canadian. In an obvious skeletal multi layer plinth.

I do appreciate the added 'warm and fuzzy' feeling this can impart together with the ability to mechanically fix the tonearm pods if their weight is insufficient....but apart from that..

right now in the middle of this cold winter - warm and fuzzy is sounding real good to me.

Parottbee - I found it a bit too warm for my tastes.

Why is it too Warm?

If we look at the bottom left side of the graph warmth is shown in the 150 - 250 hz range.
We all have our own personal tastes, different types of music we like to listen to. If I am with a friend setting up a system and they say something sounds too warm. I am assume it means an over emphasis in this 150-250 frequency range. You can have too little bass and it will over emphasizes the highs, or too much bass and things start getting muddy real quick. Get the bass right and everything will fall into place. With vinyl (due to different resonances, vibrations) you can mess things up really easy; but you can also fix things up as well.
The warmth can be fixed a number of ways. Two ways that might work. Raising the VTA a bit (or) assuming the speaker/amplifier relationship is a compatible one, adjusting the speaker location to the room boundary; or maybe just their angle depending on type of speaker to balance out the sound. If a guy (no woman audiophile would do this?) has 500 lb speakers. What are the chances of him moving the speakers around for adjustment to the best music from different turntables. Some tables produce music that is weightier, heavier, a fleshier sound. There is more meat on the bones. My direct experience in my room, La Platine is one of these tables. It can easily over power the room with too much bass and be out of control. There is a learning curve with it.

Also imo just for thought.
These public chat forums are no different than a bunch of guys getting together for a night of poker. There are different games to play. Some games have cards showing others don't. Some on Audiogon here are showing all their cards (virtual system) others none. Showing a list in a virtual system is one thing. Showing a room picture showing speakers and walls is the real deal. Showing this info allows for a better sharing of info and learning -

Dave G - WOW Big News. This audio business is crazy. As far as a I know no one is getting rich on it, and it is IMO all about audio passion. You have my utmost respect for entering it like everyone else. I have been asked to become a dealer 4 times. I turned them all down for personal reasons.

Wonder how many professionals (manufacturers, dealers, distributors, special interest individuals) are on this thread so far ?

Hmmmm...

Cheers

Halcro, I can't make out from the photo how that cutting lathe is set up. Our lathe incorporates the platter bearings and the bearing track for the cutter head itself as a single piece of metal (which is quite massive).

With regards to the photo of your 'table, if it were me I would have not employed a tower and armboard to mount the arm, instead I would have affixed the arm directly to the plinth, which, in order to accommodate the platter as shown, would have been rather massive. The reason for this is that the tower and armboard both represent moment arms which can vibrate interdependently of the plinth itself. A simple test for this would be to tap the armboard with a metal instrument and then compare to the tone thus created when tapping the plinth. If different, a coloration is imparted.