Wall Shelf!
Dealing with Vibration on 2d Floor of Home
Happy almost-Spring, A'goners! I haven't visited in a couple years, but I'm back to ask for your help.
By necessity, my audio room is on the second floor of my home. I struggle mightily with vibration from my own footfalls those of others on the second floor while my turntable is playing. Even my careful footsteps away from the turntable to my listening chair cause the turntable arm to jump. Likewise, "normal" footsteps of other family members in the hallway or adjoining rooms cause the arm to move.
I'm currently using a "flexyrack" with heavy 2" thick solid maple shelves.
A couple years ago I purcahsed a Symposium platform to place under the turntable, but that only mitigated the issue caused by faint, distant footfalls. It is ineffective against closer or heavier footfalls.
Shy of spending $$$$ on a state-of-the-art isolation rack, is there a solution for isolating the turntable without altering the sound?
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- 15 posts total
You want to brace the rack against a wall. Strongest one you can (external, preferably). You could also try wall mount (assuming TT isn’t too large) but I like the wall bracing because it’s easy and combines strength of both wall & floor. In that configuration, your turntable is no longer "cantilevered" into space in any way. Using foam or ribber shims to interface, just push the rack firmly against the wall. That will clean up the bulk of shockwaves (footfall) and subsonic energy. If you still have leftover feedback in the audible range, a Townshend podium or pods is the best reasonable solution to mop that up. For bass frequencies (the toughest to handle due to amplitude) it’s much more effective than constrained layer damping or polymer or bearing feet, imo. A freestanding tall narrow audiophile tower rack on a suspended floor is about the WORST way to run a turntable. Sadly, this is how many are run. It needs bracing. |
I have the same issue, tried an IsoAcoustic platform and it didn’t do much. I then switched to a Townshend Audio Seismic platform and like @bdp24 I can highly recommend it. Their platforms are optimized based on mass, so you tell them how much your tt weighs and they tune the platform’s isolation to your particular tt. A wall mounted platform is another potential solution, as others have mentioned but 1) it may not work for your setup in terms of reaching the turntable conveniently if mounted on a wall, 2) not everyone likes to have a turntable attached to the wall from a visual perspective rather than on a console or rack, and 3) how effective a wall mount is actually depends on your wall. Just like floors, all walls are not born the same. |
- 15 posts total