Racks made of wood

bdp24

For less than a hundred bucks, you can get a set Ingress Engineering (Canadian) roller bearings to put under your table, or even the Ikea table itself. They will provide more isolation from floor-borne vibration than any non-isolation (microscope, etc.) table.

That's quite a claim! Can you please tell us how you arrived at this conclusion?

I, and others, bought some, installed them, and appreciate the difference they make. Have you? ;-). Not as effective as the Townshend Audio Seismic Pods (which I also have), or the rather-expensive microscope tables (which I don’t---they are all over $2000), but a lot cheaper. If your table does not contain a spring suspension, add a set of springs to the roller bearings for great isolation from very-low frequency vibrations for a pittance. Or don’t, your choice.

My daughter, is close to getting her first TT. She rents a small house with wood suspended floors and has an old TV stand cabinet with a broken back leg, that's no good for a TT. What a perfect opportunity to build and try the Ikea Lack solution. Her first TT and first DIY project. Oh, oh...I'm growing another Audiophile!
Kenny

@kennythekey

I’ve come to similar conclusions about the efficacy of springs for isolation.

As I’ve detailed in my thread about re-vamping my Lovan rack to accommodate my new high mass turntable, I’ve tried a great many types of isolation materials and devices, using a variety of (home-spun) vibration tests and nothing has come close to the isolation effects of the spring-based Townshend iso-pods I am now using. (Measurably, when using seismometer apps).

I’ve been trying to reduce vibration/ringing both getting to the turntable and it’s base externally, and also reducing the chance of vibration from the turntable/motor etc. It was easy to reduce vibration getting to the turntable: just put it on a base being held up by the Townshend springs. Viola. Stomp the floor, knock on the rack below it, vibration effects almost gone.

But reducing vibration effects ABOVE the springs was another thing.
Knocking or rapping on the turntable platter or base, or using other vibration sources (e.g. I would try a powered toothbrush buzzing on the turntable/base at various settings) didn’t show a big reduction in vibration on the equipment held up by the springs (and in fact could show a bit more ringing energy).

Eventually what I’ve found out is that I want as much mass as possible ABOVE the springs (within their load limit of course, which is pretty high for the ones I’m using). So the turntable is sitting on a thick maple block, with other layers of heavy MDF below it. This seems to gain the dual benefits of being isolated from vibrations "below" via the springs (e.g. floor-born), but also having the turntable anchored on a very heavy, dense surface and getting the benefits of less vibration/ringing that way. Now I can tap both the rack below the springs, and the turntable itself, and I see a big reduction in vibration/ringing in both cases.

Having gone back and researched other people’s experience I happened upon a forum thread where another guy had come to exactly the same conclusions about how to best employ springs. Rather than right under the piece of equipment, they work best at the "bottom" of the chain, so he tends to use them to hold up his rack (or somewhere down the rack).

FWIW....

(I’m a skeptic about the need for heroic isolation for things like digital sources/amps etc, but for turntables it makes more sense to me).

prof,

A number of us have reached the same conclusions, and I too have experienced the benefits of springs if properly implemented. I started with an SRA platform under my TT, but that did not eliminate the feedback from my subs. I then replaced the feet of my TT with upgraded feet with a built-in spring system. This did reduce the feedback to a degree, but did not eliminate it. I finally, added the Townshend product under my subs and voila, no more feedback.

My thoughts, are to add the Townshend Pods under my tube amplification to experience the results. I have some concern of how mechanical feedback may interact with tubes. This is speculation.

While, it was a labor of love building my flexi-rack, I would like to try to improve the sound characteristics by going with a more ridged framework and use smarter materials for resonance, like the Ikea idea. Racks can get very expensive and so can the Townshend products. It's then very exciting when you discover less expensive solutions that may work, like the IKEA rack and with some audiophiles who are making their own spring products. You have to try to know.
Kenny