Turntable isolation for bedroom floor


Hi all

I was going to have my system set up in a room with a solid concrete floor but circumstances have forced me to use a bedroom (only for the purposes of a listening room!)

I'm currently using a Roksan Xerxes 20plus on a solid oak plinth under which are 4 magnetic isolation feet. The racks are Atacama Evoque Special Edition.

The set-up certainly helps with drastically reducing vibrations from my speakers (which are on Audio Physic VCF V feet), but it isn't good at reducing foot fall......any suggestions to reduce this...?

Thanks 

Rich 


128x128infection
First floor? Basement accessible?  Or upper floor?  

If it's an upper floor, a wall mounted turntable is a possibility.  For first floor with basement/crawl space access, you could put a jack(s) under the floor for support.
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If you have the bread, an isolation table from Minus-K, Herzan, Newport, etc. They isolate down to as low as 0.5 Hz. For a lot less $, a set of Townshend Audio Seismic Pods or Geoff Kait's springs will isolate down to 3 Hz.
Elizabeth, that will just lower the frequency the floor bounces at. It will still bounce. You would have to change the resonance frequency of the tonearm/cartridge which still won't work.

Infection, just go to home depot and get the heaviest wall brackets you can find. Then get a piece of 2" butcher block oak or maple cut to 18".
Find two studs which will be 16" apart, mount the brackets, anchor the butcher block to the brackets and you are in business for maybe $50.00 if that. The only other solution would be to get a table like the SOTA, SME or Basis. Now we are talking serious money.
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@goheelz it’s the first floor of my house.
Wall may be possible...to be honest I forgot about that!!

@elizabeth thanks, interesting approach, I’ll try it...

@bdp24 that would be very nice but at the moment I don’t have the funds...I spent the budget on a speaker upgrade!

@mijostyn yeah I’ll be looking into wall mounting as well...
The easiest change that will make the biggest improvement is to place the turntable on the floor. This is because the floor is gonna move anyway. But the higher the rack the longer the lever arm and the greater the move the higher you go. 

You can try a wall mount. But floors usually are a lot more structurally sound than walls. 

Your most fool-proof and cost-effective solution is the tried and true sand box. Dirt (heh) cheap and hard to mess up. You could if you want experiment and see for maybe $10 if that. Simply buy a bag of kids play sand, dump it in a tote. Tamp it flat. Find something flat and around 3-4" diameter, place that on the sand, place the component on that. Then when you have proven this works (and it will) you can decide how to make it look better. Build a box out of MDF for example. 

The bigger/deeper/more massive you go the more it will damp and the lower it will drive the fundamental frequency. My table for example does move when I walk up to it. But its in the range of a few hertz, and only when I'm right there. That's with over 500lbs but also on a rack over 40" high. For years before the rack mine was right on the floor. The rack is even better. But look how much mass it took to compensate for being that high. That's why more often than not the best rack is no rack.

My Clearaudio turntable has magnetic bearing in the vertical direction - its benefits are limited to the reduced friction & wear; it doesn’t do jack to reject footfalls. In fact magnetic suspensions can sometimes make footfalls even worse (e.g. Clearaudio’s magnetic bearing arms). However a properly tuned spring suspension can work wonders. E.g. I have a SOTA Nova that’s almost immune to footfalls. Though I haven’t tried them, Townshend sells spring feet & platforms that get good feedback - I’d look into those.

And honestly I'd toss out those magnetic feet. 
@millercarbon  that's very interesting, thanks for the suggestion. 
How about placing the one rack with the turntable in the sand...?
@mulveling  thanks for your input. I'll certainly try removing the magnetic feet. Maybe try sorbothane hemispheres...??
The difference of course is that turntable magnetic suspension isn’t intended to decouple the platter or provide any isolation. 
@geoffkait  what would you say is the purpose of the magnetic feet? When I had stand mount speakers I found they improved the sound significantly...
I know you can't really compare isolating speakers to turntables...
The magnetic feet are isolating the turntable. I was referring to the Clearaudio TT when I said the mag lev of the platter didn’t isolate/decouple anything, just reduced the load on the bearing.
infection asks
How about placing the one rack with the turntable in the sand...?


The general idea is to get your vibration control as close to the component as possible. Easy enough to experiment and determine for yourself. What you will find is putting a rack on a sand box and then putting the component on the rack is nowhere near as good as putting the rack on the floor and the sand box under the component. Turntable, CD, whatever, same deal.

The biggest misconception, and its a real common one, is that its all about isolation. This one you can disprove so easy it will make your head spin. Simply have someone go pick up your CD player or whatever while you listen. Minute they pick it up its isolated. Does it sound any better? Not on your life. Because its about vibration control. Even a turntable, most of the vibration that needs controlling is generated within the device itself. You could float the thing in orbit, couldn't get more isolated than that, still gonna need vibration control. 
Geoff,
I get tired of thinking I can do "good" by continuing to respond to the same old issue time & time again. I just think at some point, those with issues should try and do research...... then ask.
Elizabeth your method works. I’m not sure why people would dismiss an easy fix. Wall mount shelves work too. And springs. Pick one that makes sense to you. 
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BrightStar sand box on the floor with German Acoustic tone cones glued on the bottom works for me for 3 decades now.
The apollo turntable shelf is rock solid. Welded steel with your choice of glass or wood for shelf. Avail in black of gray. I love mine. Butcher block acoustics makes some nice isolation platforms in walnut or maple...your choice of leveling feet, spikes rubber, etc....
You can make your own isolation platform, real Cheap! Just buy a Wood Butchers Block on Amazon and place Isolation pads under it,  https://mnpctech.com/isolation-pads-for-vibration/