Rega Planar Isolation

[marimo]

Plastico, Can you please supply a link to where you found the Tenderfeet?

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

http://herbiesaudiolab.net/compfeet.htm

This is them, right?

[marimo]

http://herbiesaudiolab.net/compfeet.htm

This is them, right?

Thanks, For some reason I could not find them on their site. Might have to check these out.

[plastico]

Thank you Dinohyus Hollandi for doing the footwork for me!

Cheers, Plastico

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

LOL! Hope you don't mind...

[plastico]

I love this forum... it is like a brotherhood!

Cheers, Plastico

[mr.datsun]

Isolating the Planar 3 (including the stock rubber feet) always left me with a feeling that there was more but that "more" was somehow restrained inside the table. At first I thought that there must be vibration going back into the turntable, so I added more isolation. That only made it worse: there was a certain "flatness" or "deadness" that I couldn't quite put my finger on. The table wanted to boogie but couldn't. So I removed the extra isolation and rubber feet and placed the table on regular cone-shaped aluminium spikes on the top shelf of my audio rack (a Solidsteel contraption that is extremely low on WAF but high on dealing with resonances, isolation and supporting your stuff). And presto: boogie, swing, PRaT, spaciousness, air and all other associated expletives were there. It's that "Blimey!"-moment when you stop reading your book and look up to check if a bunch of musicians suddenly were beamed into your listening area. Apparently the turntable couldn't get rid of its internal vibrations and the spiked feet were somehow able to get rid of that.

Dinohyus,

thank-you for the superlative description!

So, the problem of TT support is more complex than I thought and I think I have a better understanding now. In my need to isolate the Rega Planar 3, I assumed that you only had to stop energy going into the deck from the floor and up the stand into turntable and through the cartridge. I have some feedback in my system. (Although, I'm not sure how much of a problem it is, I know it is there.) So I thought that isolation was the main thing to aim for in choosing turntable support. Now that you raise the issue of the need for coupling in order to drain unwanted energy away from the turntable.

My question is then – how can a turntable support design deal with this contradiction? How to isolate and couple at the same time?

[plastico]

The STATEMENT IS: ISOLATION IS THE KEY. If you look at all the turntable designs that spiral above the $5,000 mark , what is the common element? ISOLATION! That means what ever component it is in design- feet, bearing, platter, drive system, arm interface, it all contributes to the end goal-isolation from outside forces! What we try to do with our humble Rega tables is to get a little piece of that pie with a smaller outlay of finances. I do not believe that coupling is the key, rather have each component in the turntable chain do it's work independently of each other.

Cheers, Plastico

[mr.datsun]

The STATEMENT IS: ISOLATION IS THE KEY. If you look at all the turntable designs that spiral above the $5,000 mark , what is the common element? ISOLATION! That means what ever component it is in design- feet, bearing, platter, drive system, arm interface, it all contributes to the end goal-isolation from outside forces! What we try to do with our humble Rega tables is to get a little piece of that pie with a smaller outlay of finances. I do not believe that coupling is the key, rather have each component in the turntable chain do it's work independently of each other.

Cheers, Plastico

Plastico, Ok, so given that, what is your recommendation for ISOLATION?

[plastico]

This isolation recommending thing... it is a very hot topic! From plasticene to silicone, Dynamat, sand , air tubes etc. etc. etc.. What was important to me, was to understand the mechanics of a turntable. Vinyl Engine was a big part in that.
You can see what I did with my table in my pictures.

Cheers, Plastico

[kstandsteve2]

Had a look at your pics Plastico - wow thats some isolation you got going on there!

Was thinking along the same lines myself and have made enquiries about getting a piece of black granite cut (my mate is a kitchen supplier so hopefully cheap). Change the Planar feet to something like yours. My only doubt is what to put under the granite, so may options here.

[plastico]

I find the butcher block works rather well. But then again I have a wall shelf. I also put Dynamat under the granite, then Herbies Fat Dots between the hardwood and granite, with the dots directly on the granite and hardwood.

Cheers, Plastico

[marimo]

The Rega feet are 1 1/4 inch outside diameter. I took my feet off, and substituted them with the Tenderfeet. The Tenderfeet has a Fat Dot glued to them, and I put the dot side against the plinth, and I used 4 Tenderfeet. Dinohyus Hollandi , I too found that a lot of materials that were supposed to 'isolate' just deadened the presentation. When I installed the Tenderfeet,that boogie, swing, PRaT, spaciousness, air all came back! That is when I started on the upgrade path, and I have not looked back since.

Cheers, Plastico

Plastico, did you use the regular Tenderfeet or the Big Tall Tender feet for your turntable?

[plastico]

Hi marimo. I used the Big Tall Tenderfeet.

Cheers, Plastico