Turntable on suspended floor - shelf or braces?


My setup is on a suspended floor over a crawl space.

I'm about to finally buy a turntable (Rega RP6 or RP8) and am going to have to to address the bouncy floor. I set up an old Thorens just to try it out and there is a severe foot-fall issues (who knows how bad other vibration will be).

Looking for suggestions on whether I would be better off to put the new deck on a wall shelf, or if I were to reinforce the floor itself?

The floor is over a crawl space with a few feet between the joists and the dirt, so I could easily install 3 or 4 jack-type supports that would bond the floor to the ground.

Does anyone have experience doing this? Would I be better off with a supported floor, or a wall shelf?

Thanks - djm
ctownj30

Showing 2 responses by pryso

Hi djm,

My living room has a suspended wood floor with 20' spans for L and W. A closet, enclosed stairwell and fireplace column on one wall prevent the dreaded "square room" for sonics. But the long span meant bouncy motion even when walking light-footed. I had a heavy cabinet placed by a sidewall but the suspended table still bounced the arm/stylus whenever anyone moved around the room.

I too have a crawl space so I installed three 4x4 posts on concrete footers at 5', 10', and 15' along the center axis of the room. My floor joists run perpendicular to the line of the posts so that helped distribute the support. That cured my floor flex and bouncing stylus problem.

An easier solution might be to mount your turntable support on a load bearing wall. But my floor supports also minimized the floor flex to improve bass response (stiffer boundary) so I gained two benefits.

If you have much flex to your floor it would seem to me any sort of suspension under your table would only be a band aid. Why not cure the ailment instead of taking an aspirin?

Good luck.
djm,

I should have explained that I used an automotive hydraulic jack to raise each of the three floor joists just enough to slip the carefully measured 4x4 posts into place. Then after lowering the jack I didn't even need to nail the 4x4 posts to the joists, but I did drive a couple of framing nails just in case.

Also heavy duty leveling jacks are available for mobile homes, but the three posts and footers were not expensive.