How do you choose a turntable ?

@inna spacedeck is very cool. Enjoy!

I think one’s needs for isolation should drive the turntable choice a LOT more often than it actually does. These factors increase your need for isolation:

• Small "high energy" rooms
• Bouncy floors
• Rack rigidity, dimensions (tall an narrow is bad because it kills rigidity), and bracing (buys you back some of the rigidity you lost by having a stupid tower rack)
• High SPL playback levels - none of this really matters if you’re just playing Diana Krall at 70 dB. 
• Deep bass produced by your mains or subwoofers
• Proximity of turntable to speakers / subs

If you’re lucky, you don’t have egregious issues (audible feedback, woofer flapping, amp clipping, skipping) - but even without obvious issues, how a table manages stray energy colors its sound. E.g. I believe some tables are reactive in audible bass frequencies, which can "seem like" a stronger bass response. 

If you get "lucky" (concrete slab, good rack) then go nuts and choose on the other audiophile parameters: multi-arm support, speed control, looks, subtle sonic signatures etc - otherwise you have 2 approaches to serious isolation:

• Add a proper isolation platform with true low-frequency rejection: Townshend post/platforms/podiums or a Minus-K. Now the problem here is being big enough to properly hold your table while not being too big for your rack.
• A table with a GOOD suspension built-in. The SOTAs are really good: underhung 4-point (much bigger area than the platter) for stability, and a super-low resonant frequency. Not too bouncy like old Oracles, Linns, or ARs. The more "bouncy" a suspension, the easier it is to energize (that’s bad). SOTA used to boats in their manuals how their approach was just a mindful application of high-school level physics, and well yeah - your see a LOT of other approaches that totally IGNORE common-sense physics!

The squishy feet and the like (ISO Acoustics), butcher blocks, constrained layer damping etc - I find USELESS. I know they have "some good effect" in some systems but their effectiveness trails off fast in bass frequencies and they’re doing nothing at all in the subsonic range. And that’s where a lot of the "severe" issues live. It’s nice to think we can convert stray energy into heat (CLD) but the reality is for our application very little energy actually gets converted and the rest is passed on. 

Just piling on mass is often useless and sometimes does more harm than good (e.g. if your rack is a non-rigid mess).

My first real table was a SOTA Star III in beautiful Koa wood. I chose it because I spotted it on consignment at the local shop and was smitten - the wood was iridescent in the evening sunlight! It ended up being a great choice in all parameters, just by random chance. 

My later upgrade tables (Clearaudio Innovation, then Master Innovation) I chose based on looks, auditions, and multi-arm support. They’re great sounding tables BUT they are incredibly reactive to subsonic energy because of their magnetic bearing (oops, someone forgot that high school physics!). You have to add some serious isolation as part of the package. 

More recently I also added a SOTA Cosmos for my "high energy" room because these SOTA decks are just so great - high energy, no problem!

I do play most of the time at 70db, just not Diana Krall. My turntable is on a maple block with brass cones on the floor, without Nottingham MDF platform that comes with the table, and with Boston Audio graphite mat. I can walk around it without paying any attention, jumping is no good. Suspension or not is a big discussion subject.

I do play most of the time at 70db, just not Diana Krall. My turntable is on a maple block with brass cones on the floor, without Nottingham MDF platform that comes with the table, and with Boston Audio graphite mat. I can walk around it without paying any attention, jumping is no good. Suspension or not is a big discussion subject.

~ 70dB => life on easy mode for turntable isolation! Congrats. All the usual audiophile footers, pads, and maple block "tricks" can have effect in the midrange and up for sure. But not for heavy duty isolation needs when high energy and low frequencies are involved. 

Right. Another advantage of tape decks, I guess, though they need isolation too.