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Which of these TurnTable pucks should I buy?

ToTo Man

ToTo Man

NEVER ENOUGH TOTO!
Hi guys,

I'm looking to purchase a TT weight to dampen unwanted resonances and have found the following two:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Solid-brass-p...5831777878QQcategoryZ3283QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Solid-alumini...5831777558QQcategoryZ3283QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The brass one is 776g, and the aluminium one is 386g.

My TT is a fully automatic direct drive Denon DP-45F. Which one would you recommend for my TT? Obviously the heavier one will give better dampening, but I'm frightened it may be too heavy. What do you guys think?
 
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What have you done to isolate the TT? That may solve unwanted resonances. Isolating your TT can be done fairly cheaply. There was a DIY here a couple of days ago with a homemade sandbox or if you can get a piece of stone (marble, granite, etc) that can do a good job too. I'd look for scrap stone from a monument or countertop maker.

Of course, you may still want to add a weight to the record itself.
 
I'm in the process of having one of those sandboxes made :)
Not sure what to use for the top platform though (current choices available to me are a 1/2 inch thick MDF slab or a marble chopping board). Does the sandbox need to be placed on feet or does it just sit flat on your cabinet? And do I need to make any modifications to the feet of the TT?

Those TT weights seemed quite pricey at first, but then I saw other ones on eBayUK for £70GBP; outrageous!!! What weight would you recommend?
 
If weight means anything then the brass[766 grams] one is about two time the weight[386 grams] of the aluminium one.
 
Simply placing a towel underneath it can help dampen things quite a bit on the cheap, if anything else you do isn't quite enough.

I know nothing about pucks. ('cept the rubber ones that are way too much fun to wack across the ice!)

- jw
 
I made a puck myself by gluing a 12 ounce piece of plastic shaped like a hockey puck to a plastic pulley with a hole in the middle.
I push the record down onto the platter with it then let it sit there while the record rotates. I'm not sure if letting it sit there is doing any good because once you tap it down wouldn't gravity hold it to the platter sufficiently?
 
the 'puck's' reall job is to couple the record to the platter, effectively making it part of the platter and the puck, therefore increasing its mass and eliminating vibrations traveling through the record. it also flattens the record and helps the stylus track through the grooves which, by virtue of lying flat, are more vertical and allow the stylus to get more info out of them. you have to know that your TT will not suffer with the heavier weight, and if it is sprung or unsprung. go with the heavier one if your tt is unsprung. in either case, i think you'd be fine with the lighter one.
 
press down on the plinth, and let go. if it returns to the starting position, it is sprung. and you would therefore want the lighter weight.
 
then yes its definitely sprung. guess i shouldn't leave a stack of LPs of the lid either then??!! - i'll know better in future!..... so would the 386g be more suitable then?
 
probably the same who hear differences in cables....wait, you didn't hear me say that, did ya? i think the real issue is protect the integrity of the table and compress the springs on a sprung table. that would then compromise them doing their job. i think the biggest issue is to couple the disc to the platter, and add rotating mass to stabilize it.
 
Your DP-45F is not a suspension model, it is a direct drive unit attached solidly to the plinth. The spring effect you get is from the mounting isolation in the feet alone. Suspension units like Linn or my Ariston RD 40 made in your fine country are great suspension type units that bounce like crazy when you release the platter.

You can use either weight you feel comfortable with, as the motor on the Denon should have enough torque to handle it. The pucks you are looking at are 14 and 27 oz.

I just placed a 5 pound (60 oz.) weight (an unbalanced dumbell) on my DP45F and got a "lock" light on both 33 and 45 RPM. I wouldn't hesitate to use the heavier model if you like it, but the lighter unit would match the silver Denon's accents better. :thmbsp:
 
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Dennis Gardner said:
The spring effect you get is from the mounting isolation in the feet alone.
Click to expand...

But wouldn't the same weight consideration apply to the springs on the feet? Or are those springs they pretty much guaranteed to be stout enough to handle the 27 oz weight? I suppose if you still have some spring left with the weight in place, they're probably fine.
 
Its more of a stiff mush, instead of a spring. No comparison to the totally suspended Ariston that would easily bottom out with that much weight.
 
Hi guys. I don't know if a puck has any real effect on a turntable like the Denon, but there are other ways get great isolation. The Denon in particular is a direct drive model that has a base made of MDF and rubber feet to rest on. A puck will not reduce vibrations or add any isolation properties - it will only couple the record to the mat, and the benifit of this is iffy if not small. Get a few pieces of MDF, make a shallow box a bit wider than the turntable itself. Fill it with playground sand and level it. Add a top - marble, glass, MDF. Get rubber feet or spikes and mount to bottom of sandbox as feet. Place your turntable on top and volai!! Instant isolation on a massive scale! Cheap too.

Here's mine:
DSC06351.JPG


Read about how I built it here: http://www.rycher.net/Turntable%20sandbox.htm
 
If I Wwere You

I would look into a J A michell record clamp. I have one for my denon tt and it works great. $45 US on ebay and there are some UK sellers listed too.
 
tankdonovan said:
Check This Out!

http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/bdrclamp.htm
Click to expand...
i have one of those. but i got it a lot cheaper, as it was b-stock. had some blems. (?!?) unless ya have a threaded spindle, i'd forget about it, tho.

that said, i still wouldn't recommend any weighted puck, even if the turntable can handle it. extra weight at the perimeter of a platter is a good thing, but it doesn't add any benefit if at the center. while it may not hurt things, why not yust get a clamp that will clamp down on a non-threaded spindle? this way, you add clamping force w/o weight. i also have one of these - an audioquest - which i use on the non-threaded spindle of my empire. not sure if they're still awailable, but michell makes a nice one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5832128522
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5833834000
4c_1_b.JPG


doug s.
 
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