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isolation platform for wooden creaky floors

4-2-7 said:
Normal turntable Isolation doesn't work with the OPs situation he has bouncy floors and that's not a small vibration, it sways like a earthquake. Put you turntable on a trampolin with what ever common fix and you'll still get skips. If it's high up on a rack it gets worse, attaching the top of the rack to the wall can help.

When you have a crawl space and a joisted floor the expanse can be 15-20 feet, the wall might not have raised foundation under it if it's not load bearing.

The very first thing that really should be done and it will help his house not only his turntable, support the floors from underneath. And this isn't just by the table but throughout the expanse every 6-8 feet.

I live two blocks away from where I was born in the same type house, my Dad did this to the floor because they bounce probably in 1959.

View attachment 1035194 View attachment 1035195

Because we had a family of 6, and a big extended family that would party and need to walk around and dance.
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4-2-7's post for the win!
 
I was in the Design/Build/Restoration business for 30 years [now retired], before that I worked for a firm which specialized in historically correct restorations.

Fact: All wood floors bounce.

I've never seen an older house with anything approaching a 20' unsupported joist span [perhaps built by an amateur?]. However, 12' to 14' spans with 2x6 joists are fairly commonplace in pre-WWII homes.. And, while this is not up to present-day building code, it's just fine as long as the joists and sills are in good shape. If the bounce bothers you, there are certainly ways to lessen it, but it will always be present to one degree or another.

For fifteen years, my office was in a house built in 1927. We redid the entire foundation, leveled the floor [not level even when built], and added extra mid span support framing in virtually every room.
I still had to wall mount my turntable.

One suggestion. With a small child around I'd definitely mount the shelf at least four feet from the floor. The higher the better. Also make sure the shelf is very well fastened, as there's an excellent chance "someone" will, at some point, try to hang from it.
 
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DustyOldPile said:
Nonsense? I think not. There's no "magic bullet" solution for isolating a turntable, each situation will vary somewhat. The room, the system, the floor construction, whatever the turntable sits upon, all contribute in different ways. Squash balls might work fantastic for one person but terrible for another. I think everyone would agree that we try to avoid shelf mounts or hanging and save them as a last resort, because they're a pain in the arse. There's nothing nonsensical about trying to resolve the situation via other means first.

But in the case of the OP, probably best to just shoot straight for a wall or ceiling mount, judging by the description of the poster's situation.
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Nonsense? I think so. A Thorens turntable, or any other with a wobbly suspension, placed on a bouncy floor will be susceptible to skipping due to footfalls. Squash balls etc. placed under the turntable will not solve the problem. Any advice to use squash balls is nonsense.
I do know of one suspended turntable which is capable of playing even on a bouncy wooden floor, and that's the Alphason Sonata - unfortunately no longer manufactured. There are probably a few more, but they are all expensive.
Thorens, Linn Sondeks etc. will give you problems if the floor is bouncy and they're problems which won't be cured by squash balls or sorbothane or spikes.
 
So what would you suggest? I use racquetballs cut in half, stuck into chair feet underneath a non-suspended plinth, but atop of a 1" piece of solid granite, on top of an Ikea entertainment furniture thing. My floor isn't bouncy, but I *had* a problem with isolation before I added the racquetball feet. I had the granite before I had the racquetball 'feet', and the granite did help in creating some mass underneath the turntable, but it wasn't quite enough at louder volume because of the shape of the room, consequently I had feedback and if I tapped on the entertainment furniture thing, I'd hear it through the stylus. Now, after adding the ball halves, that feedback is 100% gone and the bass is tighter.

I had also posted in this thread that for a bouncy floor, the shelf or ceiling suspension is probably the way to go right out of the chute.

What's nonsense is your post and attitude.
 
DustyOldPile said:
I use racquetballs cut in half, stuck into chair feet underneath a non-suspended plinth...
My floor isn't bouncy...
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So, raquet balls under a non-suspended turntable on a non-bouncy floor work. Great. And that means that they'll work under a suspended turntable on a bouncy floor?

DustyOldPile said:
I had also posted in this thread that for a bouncy floor, the shelf or ceiling suspension is probably the way to go right out of the chute.
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Correct. It is.

And my attitude and post are nonsense?
 
4-2-7 has it right.

If the wall is an interior wall and not supported underneath, that is it's not a load bearing wall, then most likely a wall shelf wont help much.
From experience, I tried a wall shelf on a wall that had a 12" I beam supported with some steel posts but it still didn't help with my AR XA, Linn Axis or Dual 1019.
I could add more posts in between the existing ones but I have a movie theater under that wall and cant do that. So after seeing his video of his SOTA TT I had to get one.
found one locally for 800 buck sans a head shell and now i can bounce my floor all I want and i have no skips!!!!

Now If I Didn't have the theater I would have shored up my floor extensively . Over kill is a good thing for suspended floors.

looking back when I built my home i should have used 16" I beams . Id have no posts and minimal bounce. Saving $2000 back then seemed like a good idea but now
it was a mistake.

Nashou
 
Thomas S yes you can use a white MDF board for the shelf. Everything you need to know about building a wall shelf will be in a thread by AK member Arcorob, do a AK Google search dating back about 3+ years ago.
 
rothwellaudio said:
So, raquet balls under a non-suspended turntable on a non-bouncy floor work. Great. And that means that they'll work under a suspended turntable on a bouncy floor?




And my attitude and post are nonsense?
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Indeed, your attitude and post is complete crap. Do you even bother to READ what other people write before you bless the world with your infinite wisdom and insight into the One True Way?

My post, quoted again, in case you want to lower yourself and read it:
There's no "magic bullet" solution for isolating a turntable, each situation will vary somewhat. The room, the system, the floor construction, whatever the turntable sits upon, all contribute in different ways. Squash balls might work fantastic for one person but terrible for another. I think everyone would agree that we try to avoid shelf mounts or hanging and save them as a last resort, because they're a pain in the arse. There's nothing nonsensical about trying to resolve the situation via other means first.

But in the case of the OP, probably best to just shoot straight for a wall or ceiling mount, judging by the description of the poster's situation.
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If you'll notice, I never suggested that racquet balls -- or anything else -- were a one-stop solution for everyone and anyone's turntable woes. Each situation is different.
 
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my solution is to live on the 8th floor of a concrete building. no interference from dancing, but if i turn the volume up enough, i get a very low frequency interaction on the apartment door.
 
Depends on the construction of the home, check the basement for beams, length etc, one of my wall shelves works fine on an interior wall due to well built and designed construction of my home.
 
DustyOldPile said:
Then hanging becomes a better option. I prefer to do it from 3 points (easier to level) with turnbuckles for adjustment.
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You have to make sure that the ceiling beams are not resting the semi/unsupported wall, otherwise some bouncing of the ceiling may occur possibly affecting the stability of the hanging platform.
 
DustyOldPile said:
Indeed, your attitude and post is complete crap. Do you even bother to READ what other people write before you bless the world with your infinite wisdom and insight into the One True Way?
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Yes, I've read lots and lots of threads about bouncing floors and skipping turntables. I've read plenty of times the suggestion to try "isolation feet" of the sorbothane or squash ball type, but I've never read a single thread where the problem of a suspended turntable on a bouncy floor was actually cured by the use of such feet. Hardly surprising.

I'm sorry if my advice to the OP to not waste his time on squidgy or spiky feet but to use a wall shelf instead (if a rigid wall is available) offended you. Why it should offend you, I have no idea. :dunno:
 
rothwellaudio said:
Yes, I've read lots and lots of threads about bouncing floors and skipping turntables. I've read plenty of times the suggestion to try "isolation feet" of the sorbothane or squash ball type, but I've never read a single thread where the problem of a suspended turntable on a bouncy floor was actually cured by the use of such feet. Hardly surprising.

I'm sorry if my advice to the OP to not waste his time on squidgy or spiky feet but to use a wall shelf instead (if a rigid wall is available) offended you. Why it should offend you, I have no idea. :dunno:
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So either you didn't bother to actually read and comprehend something that I posted TWICE, or you're just that ignorant of the English language. I need to take the advice of a wise sage that once said, "Never attempt to teach a pig to sing...you waste your time and annoy the pig".
 
If you have suspending turntable with wall mount even then vibration isolation pads can improve turntable performance.
Turntable motor and also other equipment can generate Structure-borne vibration.

Also do not forget that speakers generate Air-borne vibration and large surface like shelf your turntable sits on can vibrate from Air-borne vibration.

After I suspended my turntable (Transrotor ZET 1) on proper wall mount I tried various vibration isolation materials form cheap sorbothane to magnetic suspension. And they still was able to improve performance. For me best solution was Audwave vibration isolation pads and feet.

But if you have to suspend turntable on the wooden floor probably I could recommend air cushion our magnetic suspension - I personally do not like how they affect sound but if everything is bad they can be some sort of solution.
 
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