High mass turntable owners -- What Stand?

Depending on your tolerance for expense, one recommendation is the Walker Audio Prologue Rack http://www.walkeraudio.com/images/Rackforweb.jpg Designed to support the weight of the 300+ lb Walker Proscenium Gold turntable, while offering three additional shelves.

Jeeze, simultaneous posts... Sorry, didn't mean to be an echo.
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UHHHH - ditto. Like minds, you know..

If you can find one, a Merrill Stable Table.

Mrmb, please let us know what you decide on.

I'm using a Canadian-made Audiostand under my Verdier.

It has 4 1-1/4" shelves, each capable of supporting at least 150lbs. It has four aluminum columns comprising 10" x 2-1/2" dia tubes at each corner. This means that you have exactly 10 inches between the shelves.

It is 36" tall. The columns are on 16" x 24" centers and the shelves are about 20" x 28". If you wanted, you could place another platform on top, resting on the flat tops of the column caps. This way you could have pretty much as large a platform for your TT as you want.

Myself, I have a Timbernations 3" black lacquer maple platform resting on top, measuring 18" x 28".

This stand was about $1K

Best speakeer stands and platforms for florrstanders are from Bob Warzalla of Sound Anchor.He has multiple shelf odels availible but can custom make anything you want.I have never Talked to anybody who has beter grasp of engineering stands/platfroms (for floorstandeers) and nothing beats heavy iron especially on wood floors.He also has weealth of in for about basic and advanced Hifi engineering than an any stand builder I have spoken with.Ask him how his stands migh be same or differ from factory and you get idea where his long terms experience in field and many testing roomms pays off for consumers of his prooducts Tells me nobody who works for him has his or her stereo at home they make investment and then it ends up in one of hios testing rooms as opposed to their cribs.But that's his and his staff's deidcation.He has heard just about every material out there for platforms in terms of Maple to Corian and every point and bearing set up you might choose to mention.This is where decades of experience pay off.Only downside where as his prices are well worth it shipping is a bitch but nothings perfect.
Chazzbo
Chazzbo

I have my Galibier on a custom Sound Anchors stand, and I am very pleased. The sound quality is excellent and there is no rocking or wobbling. I would caution you about using thick maple as a mounting platform. I have found the maple to have too many colorations for long term satisfaction.

Dave

Salectric,

Assuming a high-mass, high rigidity stand sitting on a poured concrete basement floor, what would be your material choice(s) for top mounting platform? Please discuss advantages and disadvantages of the materials cited. Many thanks,

-Richard

Richard (Palasr), I haven't decided yet what material I like the most for a plinth in my setup. So far I have tried the following, each in a 18 x 24 footprint:

1. 3" granite surface plate----very nice bass and overall detail, but it develops a "shouting" coloration at loud volumes. I presume this is due to exciting resonances in the granite. Bob at Sound Anchors suggested that I try damping it with a rubber mat on top of a 3/4" MDF board, but so far I haven't done so. Lifting the 180 lb. granite on and off the stand is a challenge (understatement).

2. 3" maple butcherblock from Timbernation----very smooth with nice detail in the midrange, but too soft, slow and dead for my tastes.

3. 1 1/2" MDF----I found the MDF colorations too distracting to be able to listen to this for very long. I would describe the MDF as being "gray" and lacking in life and true tonal colors.

4. 3/4" maple----Lots of life and excitement and good deep bass, but too bright. Plus I don't think it can support the weight without some sagging.

None of the above is satisfactory for me long term. I will shortly be trying two other options: a sandbox with either a maple or MDF platform floating on the sand, and a composite platform consisting of 3 layers of Baltic Birch and MDF. Hopefully, one of these will emerge as a clear winner.

Dave

I use Solid Steel. They are made in Italy and available in USA. All shelves are decoupled with cones and they have no colorations.

Thanks for replies thus far.

I saw two mentions regarding Timbernation Timbernation. I'm using one of Chris' maple platforms, and am intrigued with his racks. The 3" thick shelf racks certainly look sturdy enough. And there's the rack that's formed by sitting one amp stand onto another. I'm not so sure how laterally stable the stacked amp stands would be, but I would think if one used spikes between them, they would lock in place quite nicely.

If anyone has had good results with Timbernation's racks, please speak up.

Sound Anchor and Solid Steel are on my short list.

Selectric: Thanks for you platform comparisons.

Bigbucks5: What Canadian made stand do you have under your Verdier? Is it a DIY model, or can one be purchased from a manufacturer/retailer?

Dave,

I recently built a sandbox type of rack for all my components. Picture this, if you can. 2 stands side by side. Each stand has 3 levels and is about 36" high. Each level is a 4" high sandbox containing about 50lbs of sand. These are made of MDF and painted gloss black. They are held together as a rack with 3" wide x 1" thick baltic birch posts (I actually bought a table top from Ikea and cut it into posts). Cones on the bottom of each post anchor them to the concrete basement floor. I use 3/4" baltic birch cutting boards from Ikea as the shelf placed on the sand. The wood is all finished using tung oil. Very striking and very heavy and inert.

However, my unsuspended turntable showed a marked thump when I knuckled the stand itself. I still needed some kind of isolation. I wound up using another 3/4" birsh shelf with some large diameter bubble wrap under it. This worked significantly better than many other types of isolation that I tried (rollerblocks, sorbothane, pucks and such). It's almost dead silent to the knuckle test now.

Please let me know if you come up with something that isolates better under the shelf.

Enjoy,
Bob

Bigbucks5: What Canadian made stand do you have under your Verdier? Is it a DIY model, or can one be purchased from a manufacturer/retailer?
================================
It is/was a commercially available stand.

Trying doing a search for audiostand

The Kuzma turntables I have here are each on SK Research shelves and three Thorp Audio Group (TAG) cones. The latter are massive stainless steel alloy cones shaped somewhat like Walker cones but have been found by others to be more effective. The SK shelves are 2" thick laminated Baltic birch plywood with some of the middle layer hollowed out and partly filled with lead and Kevlar pellets. MDF tends to suck the life out of the sound, as someone alluded to above. The Kuzma Reference with shelf and cones sit atop an SK rack, also built of Baltic birch plywood along with three TAG cones recessed into the bottom of the rack. Disclaimer: I am a dealer for the products mentioned.

Salectric,

Thanks for the responses. I ask, because in the near future I hope to acquire a new high-mass deck, and will need to adapt the stand I currently use which is a single shelf unit. I had my stand custom made by a welder, and it is essentially constructed of welded 2" angle iron, and follows a rough attempt at cloning a Mana type look, but of course in a much higher mass design. The stand weighs in at around 135 lbs, and sits on top of a poured fiberglass reinforced concrete basement floor. The stand was sandblasted, sanded and painted, and the "L"-shaped sections are dampened by high-density foam fill. Obviously, rapping on this stand produces no resonances whatsoever, but eventually I will need to consider something to increases its surface area, which means a shelf type thing. Since the stand was designed around my current table, and said table needs bottom subchassis access at all times, the deck and the stand have no intervening "shelf" type device. I am experimenting with 1.5" composite laboratory tabletop material, which is somewhat like Corian, but denser and flameprooof (actually it may asbestos impregnated which produces its own set of cutting difficulties). I am thinking of two layers of this material glued and pressed together with some type of elastomer type compound. No final thoughts as of yet, but I'm always curious what other people have tried, pondered or rejected. Good listening,

-Richard

I have used a Mana Reference under my Walker, Loricraft 501, and now Shindo Labs. I found a special Neuance shelf added a lot, but then found the Acapella Silencio far superior. Then I tried the Halcyonic Micro 40 active isolation base on the Mana; end of story. Expensive but clearly superior to anything I have heard.

The more expensive the better, so indulge!

Answer:
Harmonic Resolution Systems
http://www.avisolation.com/

They will custom make one for your table. $$$$$

Very much depending on your expense tolerance, I believe that Silent Running Audio's Craz Reference isoRACK plus is the best, and they can make it to your size specs. The owner is Kevin Tellekamp (reportedly, he does isolation work for the U.S. Navy submarines through a sister company which gives him machinery that no audio performance rack maker would generally have access to) and the Sales guy is Tim Miller.

http://www.silentrunningaudio.com/home.htm

See 7/2006 Mickelson Review in SoundStage. It gives you all of the disclosed technology.

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/silentrunning_craz_4.htm

I ordered mine at end of April and am hoping to receive it soon.

I am currently using the heavy duty TT stand from finite elemente for my Stabi XL (177 lbs). I have also ordered an HRS isolation platform which will sit on top of the stand for additional isolation, since I do not have the benefit of a concrete floor, but instead, am situated on the 3d floor, in an older wooden house. You can see the stand in the pictures of my system. No bargain, though.
The other option may be that active isolation platform that was a subject of another thread recently. They make one that comes with a floor stand, all integrated, and it can support a considerable weight. Price is in the same neighborhood as my combo, perhaps a little less.