Isolation Platform for my Sota Cosmos?

I have a suspended turntable and recently bought a self-leveling Vibraplane to place underneath it. The improvement was clear. I then ordered a custom steel ballast plate which weights 136lbs. This is large enough to also place my motor controller on it. This increased the performance even more. I have a very solid, rigid DIY rack with lolli columns in the basement supporting the floor under the rack, so there is no bounce to my suspended wood frame floor.

Proper, serious isolation solutions are a very effective way to improve turntable performance, even if the turntable is a suspended design. Photos can be viewed on my system page.

I had better isolation under my tt years ago and drifted away from that. Somehow, years ago I thought a granite base would be advantageous. I then learned some time ago that the tt sitting directly on granite was not a good thing. Now I have learned over again that the more isolated my tt is from the granite the better. I have listened exclusively only to vinyl the past few weeks having a rediscovery how good analog sounds. The bass is once again crisp and deep; as good as or better than digital. Imaging is tack sharp. This past Sunday night I was listening to Dark Side of the Moon. I was delighted to experience the holigraphic sound stage of this album again after several years. The oval pattern of the sounds moving left to right and back at the beginning of the record was very apparent; as well as the oval pattern in the footsteps on the next track.

Tonywinsc, As my system has improved, those sounds swooshing around in an oval patter have moved from above the plane of the speakers to now where they are circling above my head. I have not gotten the oval to go completely behind me yet, but it is indeed an amazing effect. A bit like helicopters in a big Summer Blockbuster movie. This is an LP that continues to sound different as the system changes.

Peterayer, that is way cool. Your turntable and platform look very good. I'm sure the sound is fantastic. I have an ARC preamp and it throws a deep/wide sound stage but never forward of the front plane of the speakers. It goes deep instead. My analog soundstage goes beyond the speakers and almost to the side walls (24ft across). My digital soundstage is just as deep but not nearly as wide. I also think that the better isolation reduced surface noise on my records. I can't really prove that however.

The fly in the ointment when using suspended turntables on isolation devices such as Vibraplane is that if the resonant frequency of the turntable's suspension is close to that of the isolating system the two systems can interfere with each other. Like a car going down the street with two shock absorbers for each wheel, linked in series. The passengers in the car will have a very bumpy ride. One way to test this theory is to disengage the turntable suspension and see wa' happen.