As just another audio nut with his own opinion and the related anatomy to go with it, here's my take...
Covers on a normal turntable playing vinyl causes an unacceptable sound quality. And sure, if you have the money for a big isolation platform and your cover fits over the entirety of the whole TT, then I can see where it would be workable.
As to amps, I had a fabricator make a Faraday cage just for the amp transformers, leaving the tubes open to the room. It greatly improved the sound, but the main power transformer, while working within its operating temperature range, got hot enough to degrade the sound after about an hour. So, then i installed a cooling fan within the cage. Problem solved.
After buying custom racks, all kinds of footers, including custom made pointy footers from solid brass, I went to mass loading. At the one large aluminum recycling place in north Denver, they have every size of solid blocks of this metal, including 2 by 4's. Placing these and moving them around to find the right spot on small & large components was beneficial and inexpensive.
A word about vinyl. I somewhat scientifically cleaned 1,000+ records with a Loricraft followed by critical listening. The most important things learned were that regardless of all the other variables, you MUST not use rubbing alcohol as it is to strong of a solvent (use denatured up to a maximum of 25% in solution) and you MUST re-lubricate every record post cleaning, even if the cleaning chemicals suggest they do so. The only product I found suitable was a tiny amount of Gruv-Glide applied per the directions. Otherwise the diamond will cut the crap out of a dry, clean record and ultimately degrade the sound. I estimated that 16 tiny pops were added each time a "dry" record was played. Lastly, always clean every record before play, new or used. New records are greasy and sound smeared and dull. Used records flip dirt into the cartridge wrecking the cart suspension.
Bill Utz
Covers on a normal turntable playing vinyl causes an unacceptable sound quality. And sure, if you have the money for a big isolation platform and your cover fits over the entirety of the whole TT, then I can see where it would be workable.
As to amps, I had a fabricator make a Faraday cage just for the amp transformers, leaving the tubes open to the room. It greatly improved the sound, but the main power transformer, while working within its operating temperature range, got hot enough to degrade the sound after about an hour. So, then i installed a cooling fan within the cage. Problem solved.
After buying custom racks, all kinds of footers, including custom made pointy footers from solid brass, I went to mass loading. At the one large aluminum recycling place in north Denver, they have every size of solid blocks of this metal, including 2 by 4's. Placing these and moving them around to find the right spot on small & large components was beneficial and inexpensive.
A word about vinyl. I somewhat scientifically cleaned 1,000+ records with a Loricraft followed by critical listening. The most important things learned were that regardless of all the other variables, you MUST not use rubbing alcohol as it is to strong of a solvent (use denatured up to a maximum of 25% in solution) and you MUST re-lubricate every record post cleaning, even if the cleaning chemicals suggest they do so. The only product I found suitable was a tiny amount of Gruv-Glide applied per the directions. Otherwise the diamond will cut the crap out of a dry, clean record and ultimately degrade the sound. I estimated that 16 tiny pops were added each time a "dry" record was played. Lastly, always clean every record before play, new or used. New records are greasy and sound smeared and dull. Used records flip dirt into the cartridge wrecking the cart suspension.
Bill Utz