Simple & Cheap Way to Cut Turntable Vibrations

Folks, this is my OP. I must insist that we substitute the word "spheres" or the term "rubber spheres" if you wish for the word "balls." And substitute the word "glasses" for the word "cups." I'm concerned that the A'gon "PC" police will shut this informative and kinda funny OP down. ;>) LOL!

I had a Gingko under my VPI, and there was nothing worse. I love the guys at Gingko, and they make great products, but the VPI support destroyed the sound of my VPI. As I mentioned above....a SOLID support is best...the more solid, the better.

Lewm - you are absolutely right - I don't want the turntable to move sideways - I want it to stay motionless while the stand is vibrating.

So, the hi-fi stand has a sideways component to its vibration (i.e. music induced vibrations) the ball bearing/sorbothane will absorb it by moving ever so slightly under the turntable dissipating the energy, leaving the plinth staionary.

The sorbothane also takes care of virtical vibrations

It works very well for heavier Turntables like mine.

I do get a faint thud if I stamp my foot on the floor, but even kids moving normally in the room has no effect.

I tried the squash balls for a number of years, but they never come close to this method for isolation.

Of course there are serveral commercial variants available if you want to spend more cash - like
- Iso-Pod Isolation System
- Vibration Isolation (ball Bearing) Damper
- Vibropod
- etc...

You do have to "tune" the system to the component
e.g. when I first heard how well one layer of sorbothane worked I figured two layers would work better - WRONG. It sounded aweful, so I settled on one layer of 1/10" sorbothane for my turntable feet.

Heavier items like amps might do better with silicone sheet, but the gear I have works well with sorbothane.

I found ball bearings worked better than cones, because the cone anchored the foot, whereas the ball has no point so it does not act as an anchor.

Anyhow - Back to the music !

Dear lew, What about 'Miraculous Mandarin' composed by Bartok in advance for your invention?

Nandric, I went out to buy canned sauer kraut in water and decided, right there in the supermarket, that the Mandarin orange slices would be better, because there was more water in the cans and they are heavier. Turns out, the canned sauer kraut is just barely moist. That would not have been as efficacious. However, on a hot dog, I prefer sauer kraut over Mandarin orange slices. Had I chosen sauer kraut as a footer, what would you have recommended as a musical complement? Would have to be Wagner, I think, a sour kraut if ever there was one.