Turntable placement
Hi,
The reason for my post is that I want to share what I discovered about turntable placement that has made a huge difference in the quality of the music I'm able to get out of my system.
My listening room is relatively narrow and long. For years I had my TT and other electronics up against the back wall between my speakers. My speakers were about 3 feet in front of my rack.
A few months ago I upgraded my tonearm wand to the new VPI 3d arm. I thought it sounded great on most recordings but started to notice that if I crank up the volume it would start generating a low hum which would get progressively louder. I quickly understood that this was a feedback loop between my speakers and the higher sensitivity of the 3d arm to external sources of vibration.
Anyway, it occurred to me that we spend so much money on top of the line racks and isolation footers and platforms but most pictures I see of peoples systems has the turntable sitting between the speakers which I assume has an effect on vibrations hitting the tonearm, especially unipivot arms.
It was obvious to me that I needed to get some distance between my TT and my speakers. I was using 8 feet of Clear Day double shotgun cables which I really enjoy and decided to call Paul from Clear Day. Anyone who's ever dealt with Paul can attest to the fact that he's just a great guy and a real pleasure to deal with. Anyway, I discussed my issue with him and asked him about getting a long run (18 feet) of the double shotguns. Instead of selling me the new cables, he suggested I first go and purchase some cheap wire at Home Depot and make sure the new placement of my TT eliminate the issue. I have no affiliation with Clear Day or Paul other than having purchased his cables but I have to say that it’s rare these days for a vendor to really put their customer's interest ahead of their own.
I followed Paul's suggestion and I was totally blown away by the improvement in clarity I obtained by moving my TT away from my speakers even with the long run of cheap wire.
I placed my order for the longer cable run (Paul also took my existing 8 foot cables as a trade in towards the new cables) and I can honestly say that moving my rack away from my speakers was one of the best system changes I've ever made.
The reason for my post is that I want to share what I discovered about turntable placement that has made a huge difference in the quality of the music I'm able to get out of my system.
My listening room is relatively narrow and long. For years I had my TT and other electronics up against the back wall between my speakers. My speakers were about 3 feet in front of my rack.
A few months ago I upgraded my tonearm wand to the new VPI 3d arm. I thought it sounded great on most recordings but started to notice that if I crank up the volume it would start generating a low hum which would get progressively louder. I quickly understood that this was a feedback loop between my speakers and the higher sensitivity of the 3d arm to external sources of vibration.
Anyway, it occurred to me that we spend so much money on top of the line racks and isolation footers and platforms but most pictures I see of peoples systems has the turntable sitting between the speakers which I assume has an effect on vibrations hitting the tonearm, especially unipivot arms.
It was obvious to me that I needed to get some distance between my TT and my speakers. I was using 8 feet of Clear Day double shotgun cables which I really enjoy and decided to call Paul from Clear Day. Anyone who's ever dealt with Paul can attest to the fact that he's just a great guy and a real pleasure to deal with. Anyway, I discussed my issue with him and asked him about getting a long run (18 feet) of the double shotguns. Instead of selling me the new cables, he suggested I first go and purchase some cheap wire at Home Depot and make sure the new placement of my TT eliminate the issue. I have no affiliation with Clear Day or Paul other than having purchased his cables but I have to say that it’s rare these days for a vendor to really put their customer's interest ahead of their own.
I followed Paul's suggestion and I was totally blown away by the improvement in clarity I obtained by moving my TT away from my speakers even with the long run of cheap wire.
I placed my order for the longer cable run (Paul also took my existing 8 foot cables as a trade in towards the new cables) and I can honestly say that moving my rack away from my speakers was one of the best system changes I've ever made.