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Help in isolating a TT with spring suspension.

Hello,

I recently got an old Pioneer PL-10 TT at an estate sale. After cleaning it up and getting a new headshell and belt for it, it looks and sounds to be in NM condition.

It sounds great as long as you just sit there, but as soon as you start walking around, even softly with no shoes, etc., it causes the tonearm to skip around a bit. I replaced the rubber feet the springs rested on and leveled it, but it still vibrates when you walk.

Are these types of TT's normally this sensitive? I find this unacceptable. I'd like to keep this TT if I can eliminate this problem. It's original rubber feet are pretty hard and chintzy. Would getting some kind of cone feet help? It is resting on a vertical rack which isn't exactly audiophile quality, but isn't light weight junk either.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, but please make them somewhat reasonable (no $900 Harmonix feet)!
128x128chris_383
donaudio
129 posts
 
Or you could try an Arcici Airhead. I had one under my Weel Tempered Reference for many years and it worked well. Basically it is a wooden platform floated on three inner tubes.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Check or increase your tracking weight.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Chris, if you can't do a wall shelf, you have only one alternative and that's to secure the floor. The easiest way to do that is to put two or four posts (depending on the joist spacing) in the crawl space to support the floor joists right under where the rack sits (so that the floor won't bounce, at least in that area!) You need to go into the crawl space and use some (rented) jacks to jack up the floor joists an inch or two, and then slip in some 4x4 posts under the joists (set on those little pre-cast concrete piers so the posts won't rot ;-) It's simpler than it sounds and works like a charm.

Setting something heavy like slate or stone on a floor that already bounces won't help.
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chazzbo
1,007 posts
 
I had a Brightstar inflatable platform and found it needed shifting.Was good under digital.But some folks build them wood box and inner tube (which Brightstar is).I think that if it's that bad wall mount or get out of table hate to say.But I like the Frankenstein Lab idea that Mechans came up with.
Chazz
lewm
12,460 posts
 
Depends on how flexible and creaky your floor really is. If you locate the shelving against a support wall of your house, that will mitigate the problem to some degree. After that I suggest a heavy hardwood shelf to go between your existing shelf and your tt. Between the hardwood slab and the support shelf, you might try springs that are available very cheaply from McMaster Carr on the internet. Select the springs based on the combined mass of the upper hardwood shelf and your tt. Dave Garretson has used these springs very effectively. You might search for his posts here and on Vinyl Asylum, under DGarretson. The other suggestions offered above might work but seem to me to be very expensive and time consuming.
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