Turntable Platform - What do you place your TT on


I am in that stage of my analogue expedition where I find the weakest link in my vinyl chain is the platform on which my TT is placed. I currently use a simple coffee table like furniture to keep my TT on. My TT is a Nouvelle Platine Verdier and as I see it, it is quite sensitive to the platform it is placed on. I suppose most TTs are like that.

My TT was acquired only few months back and I do not have any rack space for it so I placed it on a wooden furniture near my system. The sound is slow and woolly :-(. I tried placing a TAOC sound creation board between the TT and the furniture, this improved the sound quite a bit but still the immediacy, springiness, transparency that this TT can do is not yet there. I then tried inserting a Finite Element ceraball and that really got things going. Great transparency, speed and immediacy albeit at the cost of lean, hard tones.

These small experiments leads me to believe that the platform for the turntable is extremely crucial to make it perform anywhere close to its potential. More crucial than cables and power conditioning IMO.

The questions that I am trying to answer is:
1. Is it a wrong approach to try variety of platforms on top of a coffee table ? Do I need to invest on a dedicated rack to sort this out ?

2. Can I solve this problem within a budget of $1k ?

The rest of my chain is:
1. RCM Sensor Prelude Phonostage
2. Naim CD5X + Flatcap2
3. Naim Nait 5i integrated
4. Tannoy Turnberry SE speakers

Thanks a lot for your advice.
pani

Showing 1 response by 213cobra

If your "coffee table" is substantially less robust than the platform you are placing on top of it for the turntable to rest on, this will not be sufficient no matter what platform you use. Further, your Verdier is quite heavy and could be exacerbating the spring effects of a relatively light underlying table.

Unless you're using a wall shelf, which you already ruled out, I advocate placing heavy turntables relatively low so they are sitting on a strong structure with short legs spaced widely apart -- wider than the width of the turntable. I have three turntables on floor-standing tables. Two of these turntables weigh 65 lbs. each. They rest on custom-made solid maple tables. The top surface is 4" thick, comprised of twin maple boards laminated. The legs are inset and are 2-1/2" square. a 1-1/2" solid maple lower shelf further anchors the legs. Each leg has a 2" dia. sold brass cone resting into Herbie's brass/rubber/teflon receptor pads. The top surface of these tables is 18" off the floor. The turntables rest on Aurios Classic Media Bearings.

The third turntable is a Garrard 401 in a solid teak Loricraft-style plinth, altogether weighing about 50 lbs. This is on a similar maple table but is taller -- the top surface standing about 25" above the floor. That turntable rests on magnetic repulsion levitation feet, which breaks a feedback loop I'd otherwise have where I must place it.

There are many manufactured racks that can help you but you must remember that your table is quite heavy, and placing it on a tall, light, less-than-rigid structure may result in a variety of problems during rotation, from micro-teeter-totter to transmitted bass vibration via your floor into the structure. It's hard to go wrong with maple or laminated maple, and lower/wider will help your Verdier deliver what it was designed to reveal. Bearings may help further but you should experiment and be driven by results.

Phil