Does Dynamat have a place in hot-rodding a turntable?

tnsilver said:
Stay away from it - it leaks tar or asphalt or both and is known to jam suspension systems. That stuff is advocated by the analog department and it's a shame. Seemingly, it works perfectly! Why not? It adds mass and does proper damping on thin metal surfaces but then it just sits there like a time bomb waiting to spill it's disgusting content all over the guts of your TT, You'll need lighter fluid and raw gasoline to clean that crap off. Hot summer days are the likely trigger to trip that disaster. It's a bad, bad idea and that material should have never left the automotive industry in the first place. It's also a bitch to cut and shape - totally inappropriate. Oh... and it ain't cheap!

^^
A bitch to cut?? Some scissors, and or a utility knife works perfect...

Look up "Sonic Barrier" lightweight sound damping sheets as an alternative. That's appropriate - and cheap(er).
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This is simply not true... Some of the lower end stuff has issues if not properly applied to some surfaces, but its designed to handle heat. I doubt any turntable (properly operating) will reach levels hot enough for it to start to "spill its content" all over.. Even on a hot summer day.

I can see what you mean if some were to blanket cover a table... If properly applied (all oils removed) and use sparingly in areas on the table to dampen vibration it can actually work well. (underside of the feet) for example, the bottom of a plinth, the underside of a metal top plate.

Now if you are talking about the peel and stick crap from home depot, yes I agree. But a good quality dynamat can help dampen vibration.

Its a poke and a pull. Also note that some brands use little to no tar/asphalt.
 
jobrewer1983 said:
Some of the lower end stuff has issues if not properly applied to some surfaces, but its designed to handle heat.
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That's a common misconception. It's designed to dampen rattling and thin metal parts of the car that separate the passenger's space from the noisy areas such as the engine, the exhaust system and the outside. This is from Dynamat:

We recommend applying Dynamat to any surface you can easily reach. In general, we recommend treating your vehicle in the following order: Doors, Boot, Parcel Shelf, Floors, Roof, Bonnet, Quarter Panels.

Anything here implies it was designed to "handle heat"? No, it doesn't! In fact, if you wanna dampen hot parts of your car (Dynamat refers to "floor boards" in their FAQ as some sort of an example for "hot" parts) they recommend another layer of a different product.

I don't know how this material got associated with turntables but IMO it is the least suitable of them all.

EDIT: To be honest, they're rather ambiguous about it but they do give a range of operating temperatures for their product, however, the certification they boast about is some DMV standard for fire proofing and has to do with burn rate, not leakage. It is an automotive product after all:

Material performance is optimized for temperature ranges between 14°F and 140°F (- 10°C to +60°C). Material can withstand temperature extremes between -65°F and +300°F (-54°C to +149°C).
 
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Years ago I modded the case of a desktop pc and it had a total of six fans installed. That box put out a high pitched whine that was loud! On a tip I covered the interior panels with sound damping sheets, careful not to block airflow and that loud annoying whine disappeared. Seems all those fans were causing a sympathetic vibration on the thin metal case. Far from the "boom/rattle of a vehicle. Some decks can use additional damping and others don't need it. For instance, the platter on my stock Sony TT is as well damped as the modded platter on my 'SL1200mk2. Refer to post #5 on this thread.
 
I used Dynamat to dampen my TD160 nine years ago and have had zero issues with the modification other than significant SQ improvement via a lower noise floor.
Regards,
Jim
 
tnsilver said:
That's a common misconception. It's designed to dampen rattling and thin metal parts of the car that separate the passenger's space from the noisy areas such as the engine, the exhaust system and the outside. This is from Dynamat:

We recommend applying Dynamat to any surface you can easily reach. In general, we recommend treating your vehicle in the following order: Doors, Boot, Parcel Shelf, Floors, Roof, Bonnet, Quarter Panels.

Anything here implies it was designed to "handle heat"? No, it doesn't! In fact, if you wanna dampen hot parts of your car (Dynamat refers to "floor boards" in their FAQ as some sort of an example for "hot" parts) they recommend another layer of a different product.

I don't know how this material got associated with turntables but IMO it is the least suitable of them all.

EDIT: To be honest, they're rather ambiguous about it but they do give a range of operating temperatures for their product, however, the certification they boast about is some DMV standard for fire proofing and has to do with burn rate, not leakage. It is an automotive product after all:

Material performance is optimized for temperature ranges between 14°F and 140°F (- 10°C to +60°C). Material can withstand temperature extremes between -65°F and +300°F (-54°C to +149°C).
Click to expand...

Some do have heat shielding properties. again, no turntable properly operating will get that hot.

If properly applied, it's good stuff.
 
ehoove said:
I used Dynamat to dampen my TD160 nine years ago and have had zero issues with the modification other than significant SQ improvement via a lower noise floor.
Regards,
Jim
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Good to know! Thanks for the info Jim. I'm going to be starting some work on a linn Axis table. Picked up a new PS for it as well. Should be a fun project. :)
 
I have used the cheap crap from Home Depot for almost 20 years with no issues what so ever. It works great and is cost effective. Maybe if I used a blowtorch on it , I would have a different opinion.
 
You don't put dynamat on the firewall because engines get really effing hot.

*Real* dynamat contains no tar. It's a butyl rubber compound. It's been used on millions of vehicles in conditions that far exceed the limits of what a turntable will ever see in a normal life.

The aluminum backed tar products meant for roofing use and often some as cheap sound deadening material are wholky unfit for the purpose, whether in a car or turntable. They break down, smell bad, leak tar (because they are tar) and on top of that are unfit for purpose-they do not have the viscoelastic properties necessary to make up a good CLD system.

I'd not mess with the moving parts, but dynamat is perfectly acceptable to use to deaden out thin sheet materials in a turntable. Just don't go overboard. The benefits of excess coverage or multiple layers are marginal.

In automotive applications, you're much better off using it to kill panel resonance via something between 25-50% panel coverage in the big unsupported flat areas and using a combo of foams to kill vibrations at interfaces (door card buzzing on metal door frame) and mass loaded vinyl to block sound from the exterior. Everyone thinks sound deadener blocks external sound, but it's primary benefit is panel vibration damping. Once the panel is critically damped the practical improvements past that point are marginal. The same principals should apply to vibration control in turntables. :)

Fwiw-I prefer the sound deadener showdown products.

Can't stand the management at second skin.

Cheers,
Nathan
 
In my experience Dynamat should only be used on metal. I have it inside my wall stand that the table sits on and I like it. But early on I tried it on the underside of my Rega P3 and it choked the sound.
Cheers, Doug
 
On cars there's larger surfaces and less cutting and shaping of the sheets is required. If it leaks, it's through the cuts, and with cars the leaking is less noticeable. I've seen folks wrap duct tape around the cuts to prevent leaks. Well... At least that...

What's the big fan club over Dynamat in turntables when there's much better, easily available dampening sheets, designed for audio applications, which are cheaper?
 
When I started damping customer's platters with silicon caulking, I would additionally run a length of the foil-covered roof flashing tape made for skylight installation around the outside of the rim that the idler wheel rides on.
While I have not gotten complaints, I no longer use the flashing. I had one of my Dual 1229Q on my parent's bed, as the room was unused. Apparently it got so hot in that unused room, that the flashing tape came loose.
 
billyz said:
I have used the cheap crap from Home Depot for almost 20 years with no issues what so ever. It works great and is cost effective. Maybe if I used a blowtorch on it , I would have a different opinion.
Click to expand...

Good to know, is it the peel and stick brand? I may pick up a roll to try it against the Dynamat and GTMat.
 
tnsilver said:
On cars there's larger surfaces and less cutting and shaping of the sheets is required. If it leaks, it's through the cuts, and with cars the leaking is less noticeable. I've seen folks wrap duct tape around the cuts to prevent leaks. Well... At least that...

What's the big fan club over Dynamat in turntables when there's much better, easily available dampening sheets, designed for audio applications, which are cheaper?
Click to expand...

Please provide links :)

Its more so what @EngineerNate stated above ^^, its a good quality butyl rubber. :)
 
I tend to use solid neoprene rubber sheet of varying thicknesses to damp different items. We have a circular cutter at work - very useful for tamping turntable platters. I fix it with impact adhesive. It seems to work very well.
 
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