opinions on how to build a wall Turntable shelf


I am going to build a wall shelf for my Thorens TD146 turntable. My stereo rack sits on top of a wood joist floor, but the wall behind it is a thick (load bearing) plastered brick wall :). I am going to build a wall turntable shelf. The shelf will be attached with lag bolts into drilled holes with the lead inserts into the holes. My question is: Do you think I should build it out of hardwood, with glued joints, or should I build it out of angle iron and steel, with welded joints? Any other design issues that I should think about? thanks, -JB
playtrim
4yanx - I like your method of combinig wood and metal for your turntable shelf.
As per your last pharagraph, that is why I want to build this shelf myself. For attaching the shelf to the wall, I was going to run two 5 foot parallel lengths of angle irons vertically on the wall, spaced 20 inches apart (slightly wider than the turntable). The shelf will be placed at the 2 1/2 foot mark, with half of the angle irons sticking above the shelf and half below. I was going to drill six holes in each angle iron, spaced about 1 foot apart. That makes 12 lag bolts holding the shelf to the brick wall. That may be overkill, but also, the tension force pulling the top bolts out of the wall will be way less than a short bracket, say 1 to 2 feet in length.
What do you mean by positioning for best sonic results? Assuming the entire wall is rigid, does it matter where on the wall the turntable is placed? (at least from the wall's point of view) Ceartainly, if the speaker is near the place in the wall where the turntable will be placed there may be feedback. The shelf sould be near the amplifier; I am under the impression that long interconnect lengths are undesirable and would affect the sonics. Thanks, -JB
Your idea sounds pretty "solid" : )

To add to what has already been said here, try to keep the TT away from a corner or a speaker. The closer you get to a corner of a room or a speaker, the more likely you are to encounter acoustic feedback. Other than that, i would suggest "floating" the shelf and not rigidly coupling it to the support structure. When doing so, just make sure that the shelf itself will support the weight placed upon it, will not sag over time and has some type of adjustability built into it. This will allow you to level it out, even if the holes that you drill to anchor the support structure aren't perfectly aligned. Sean
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You might want to check out "User510's" website he has experience with the type of solutions you seek. The website has photos and nice solutions for Thorens users.

Click the link below and scroll down to the "Do it yourself Dept. Built-from-scratch turntables, wall shelves and platforms" in the center of the page.

http://www.theanalogdept.com/index.html
I had trouble with wood floors for many years and despite a Brightstar sandbox and airmass, my TNT would respond quite audibly to footfalls. I finally decided to get some metal brackets made (by Mike at VPI himself) and place the VPI on the wall. I also have plaster walls on a brick house, but the beautifully finished brackets went into studs inside the wall. I then put screws in the top of the brackets to level a 2 inch thick piece of maple (made by Mapleshade) ontop. Without the four screws for leveling, the platform could not be leveled no matter how careful you are with the brackets. The turntable immediately sounded much more stable, bass was more extended, and best of all, I no longer have to worry about my daughter or anyone else disturbing my listening!
Randy