Anyone have any fairly quick, easy & inexpensive solutions for isolating a TT from vibrations?

I really want to put my TT back into the fold, but don't have any money to invest right now in doing it right.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

Thanks, Moon

Quick, easy and inexpensive?

(1) Put the TT, phono stage (and maybe amp) in a different room than the speakers
(2) Run a high quality cable from the phono stage or amp to the speakers (length shouldn't matter too much with a line-level signal)
(3) Enjoy

Put the turntable on patio blocks. These are readily obtainable from Home Depot. To minimize the dust, you can spray paint them.

Yeah... My intial thought was to just move the TT into my office here right around the corner from my receivers & speakers. I think that may work also since all my gear is set up against the wall right next to the doorway between the 2 rooms.

I just have to do a lot of moving stuff around in the office, but that's still probably the easiest & cheapest way to go about it for sure.

Maybe I'll just go a head & try it now. I've been busy outside winterizing things all day anyway & have my old blood cells a pumpin' pretty good, so what the hey.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll let you know the outcome.
Moon

Hi moondog,

What model TT is it ?
Operating enviornment ?

Different tables (eg. solid plinth, suspended sub-chassis type etc. ) and room setups require different solutions.


cheers

In Canada they sell milk in packages ; three bags equates to a gallon.

This must sound strange but it works. Put two of the bags of milk each into another plastic bag and seal it.( This is only a pre-cautionally measure in case one of the bags break).

Level out the bags and balance the TT on them. The bags will obsorb any vibrations.

Thanks to all that responded here.

The update is I moved the TT into my office as I said I was going to try and now I'm proud to say "I'm Back In The Groove!" No problems at all.

Talking about a blast from the past! The first record I played was a mint copy of Pink Floyd's - "A NICE PAIR." Very Nice Indeed! :p:

Moon

Oh yeah... My TT is just a Technics SL-Q200 with a black Grado cartridge. Nothing too fancy, but it sounds pretty nice. I hope to change it up when work starts turning around a little bit & maybe get a Thorens, but time will tell.

Not sure if you moved only the turntable (and not the phono stage, etc) but I think the Grado Black is insensitive to cable capacitance (Moving Iron design) so it wouldn't make much difference in that case, even if you extended the length of the interconnects coming out the back of the turntable. However, if you change cartridges to a moving magnet type then the length of the cables connecting the turntable to the amp/phono stage becomes very important.

Anyway, glad to hear that worked out :).

Thanks for the heads up Moog.

Hi moondog,

One of my favorite cheap-yet-effective turntable isolation schemes is to place the TT on a maple butcher block, and then to put some relatively cheap isolation bearings between the butcher block and the component shelf. This it typically less expensive than purchasing a long run of high-quality interconnects, and does away with dividing your system between two rooms (a major inconvenience, IMO).

Cheers,
Brian

Originally posted by Upstateaudio
Put the turntable on patio blocks. These are readily obtainable from Home Depot. To minimize the dust, you can spray paint them.


Kinda what I did - placed table on 1/4 inch MDF, then ceramic cones and graphite blocks, then two 24"x24"x2" concrete slabs with 1/4 cork between each... worked out excellent.

Regards,

~Michael~

Thanks for the extra advise boys. I'll experiment when time allows.

Moon