Teres Turntable Support - concrete, wood, rack...?

Hi Oakiris,

I have a Teres (265) on a suspended wood floor and so do many others. It is much less sensitive to footfalls than my previous suspended table. The Teres has NEVER skipped or even audibly mistracked due to outside vibration of any kind.

My stand is not as sturdy or heavy as the one you're looking at, although it is shorter. Keep your turntable on the lowest stand possible, or at least on the lowest level that's convenient. The lower it is the less angular momentum there'll be to disturb it.

Because that stand is more massive I expect your Teres may do even better than ours, not only for resisting footfalls but also for dynamics and clean groove tracing.

Cheers,
Doug

I need to register a dissenting opinion regarding thick maple platforms. In my experience, thick maple platforms, whether butcherblock or the solid maple from Mapleshade, suck the life out of music.

I have tried both 2" solid maple and and 3" maple butcherblock under my Galibier turntable, my tube preamps and my tube power amps, and in EVERY instance the sound has been overdamped and lifeless. It is smooth and fairly detailed, but the loss of liveliness is much too high a price to pay, IMHO. I would also add that I noted an inadequate low frequency response as well.

These observations held true whether the maple platform was supported by cones, by Mapleshade Isoblocks, wood blocks, or sorbothane pucks.

Now I do acknowledge that many folks have tried maple and reported great success. But I would suggest that anyone who is interested in thick maple should try it for himself and reach his own conclusions. Don't simply assume from all of the favorable press that maple is the answer.

Incidentally, my 3" butcherblock is 18 x 24. I purchased it from Timbernation, and I was very pleased with both the appearance of the platform and the service from Timbernation. I would recommend them as a supplier. My caution only extends to the nature of the product itself.

Dave

Thank you for your responses and encouragement. As with everyone else, I am finding my journey fun - but increasingly expensive!!

Twl - I won't be able to get to CES to see your products but I am interested in the Sistrum Platforms. I take it the support rods are supposed to be filled with steel shot or something of that nature?

Doug - What rack or platform do you use? I currently have a Sanus rack with the maple finish - Sanus Natural Furniture Series It looks nice but I need another shelf for a turntable and the rack itself seems flimsy/unstable to me. I would like something sturdier. I know that the turntable probably shouldn't be placed on the top shelf, but shelf spacing constraints may dictate that that is where I have to place it. Guess I'll figure that out once I choose the rack!

Dave/Salectric - I really like maple and like the look of the Timbernation offerings, but I have not definitely made up my mind about buying a maple equipment rack. I also rather like the look of this rack - Sonus 5-tier rack but from what I have read, glass shelves really don't help the equipment sonics. Though many other people swear by butcher block platforms, heavy wood racks, you have obviously had negative experiences with wood platforms and racks. What do you use instead?

Oakiris - just one other suggestion on the platform. I read in a recent thread here of one user having great success with a Prometheus stand/support coupled with a Nuance shelf - for an unsuspended turntable (can't remember which one, but it wasn't a Teres). The Prometheus stand is spring loaded (seeminly at odds with traditional views of supporting unsuspended turntables), but the guy seemed quite adamant that the improvements were substantial. Sorry I can't think of which Audiogon thread it was offhand. Still, might be worth researching further. I'd love to try such an approach. Also, even if the stand doesn't work well for the Teres, it could probably be used with great success for another component. Just another suggestion.

Oakiris, the supporting legs of the Sistrum TT platform, and other Sistrum multi-shelf platforms, can be filled with our proprietary MicroBearing fill, which enhances the performance of the stand. This is an upgrade, and we also have some other upgrades too.

The Microbearings are very very small steel balls, which are so small that when you put a few ounces of it in a drinking glass, you can swirl it around like a liquid. We don't recommend using any other type of filling material for the legs. This is an engineered product that is designed for our stands, and will work properly. Other materials may or will reduce the performance of our platforms.

If you'd like to email me personally, I'd be happy to discuss anything about this that you'd like to talk about.