Setting up Analog In a New Room From Scratch


I am fixing to move to a different house in about a month. Where I am now, I have been restricted about where I could set up my system and I am doing the old everything on a rack between and behind the speakers setup. In the new place, I get my own room to do what I want and it is 20 X 16. I plan to use one of the long walls for the speakers.

I want to set up my turntable in the best spot possible, but not in another room like some do. Getting up at all is enough sacrifice for me, I am not trudging back and forth between rooms. Now, I get a bit of rumble if I turn the gain up too high, too quickly and figure that slightly bad bass response results from room interaction. Where is the best spot for the table? On a side wall? If so, at mid-point? Some point of minimum reflection? Back wall? That would seem worse than behind and between the speakers. Something tells me that corners are out, too. I have a wall mount for my table that is about 42 inches high.

Also, I have 10' speaker cables that cost me more than I want to admit. If I locate the table (and other components) somewhere farther than 10' from the speakers, am I better off to adjust by:

1) Locating just the table in the best spot and then running longer phono cables to my phono stage, located with all other components (but not between the speakers)?

2) Locating just the table and phono stage in the best spot (to minimize phono cable length) and then running a longer IC from phono stage to preamp where the preamp is placed near the amp and so that the preamp to amp IC remains at 1m and the 10' speaker cable length is sufficient to reach the amp?

3) Locating everything in the same proximity to each other and getting longer speaker cables?

4) Some other option?

Thanks
motdathird

Showing 3 responses by johnnantais

There is one easy fix for wall mounts, assuming you can mount the wall-mount close to your equipment. I used to own a Rega Planar 3 which I sited on a wall-mount with the same problem you have now. What was happening was that the shelf that came with the wall-mount was vibrating - not the 'table - when the music was loud enough, and causing the rumble from my turntable. So I went to an acrylic shop and had a shelf made from a slab of acrylic, which I glued to the shelf with two-way tape. End of problem. Of course, all the other options of moving your table around would also work. A slab of marble also worked in the same situation, and at one point I had a three-layer sandwich of acrylic, marble, and the original shelf. But with each layer, the music improved. Cheap, and no longer cables needed.
I see all these very complex and expensive solutions to your problem, and wonder why the simple solution of a shelf which doesn't flex isn't workable. It will not eliminate room interactions (which can only be mitigated at best), but it will solve your rumble problem without forcing you to the purchase of more expensive cables, assuming your shelf - not the frame but the shelf within it - is not already dense and inflexible (mass is the key in the case of non-suspended turntables). In order to test this theory, simply place a slab of something relatively inert and heavy on your shelf and see, a large kitchen cutting-board etc... If it works you've saved money and can simply site the shelf where it will work with the cables you have, if not, then you'll have to consider more expensive options. Precisely what type of 'table do you have?
Thank you, Dan, I was beginning to question my sanity. Your point as to finding a null is also on the ball.