Granite Turntable Plinth - Thoughts?
 

I've got a remnant of our granite countertop that could be fabricated into pieces that could sit under my Rega P6 turntable its separate power supply unit and my MC275 amp. The granite remnant is 1.125" (~2.85 cm) thick.

The idea would be to have a .25-.5" deep circular recess 1.5" in diameter where each leg would be placed. I could have wooden 'plugs' in each recess so I could screw in legs. While using Stillpoints would be very nice, I'd rather spend my money on Stillpoints (eventually) attached to the components themselves, which are the objects needing isolation.

The intent isn't for the plinths to be functional in terms of adding stability or isolation, but something that would be a cool use of the granite, although I'm introducing something that needs to be leveled (conversely, if the credenza ever sagged, the plinths would be 'level-able' by design).

I've seen a couple uses of granite plinths with big amps sitting on a floor, and would be interested in anyone's thoughts about doing this, either from experience or pitfalls that come to mind.

Don't do it....especially with a Rega.

You'd be better off with the Rega just resting on top of an IsoAcoustics ZaZen turntable platform.

BTW, granite countertops ring like a bell.

Stephen, that's very logical given Rega's design philosophy. I wasn't aware of the acoustic properties of granite. Glad I put the idea out there! Now to figure out something else for that remnant! Thanks.

Yep..."low mass and stiff" are the Rega design principles their TTs are based on.

Cheers.

An easy way to determine how a material behaves it to get one of those little "bare" music box mechanisms; they're only a coupla bucks. Place it on different materials, turn the handle, and you can hear first-hand just how loud various materials or "dampers", isolators, etc., will "ring" or resonate.

Norm Varney of A/V Solutions has a great YT video demonstrating that. At one point, he puts the music box mech on a granite-cabinet speaker. It's pretty darn loud...;)

You can check it out here:
https://youtu.be/6G4HF6wJG38

I also made a little video, too, based on Norm's video.
https://youtu.be/-b1Vzxl7-to

Cheers.

An easy way to determine how a material behaves it to get one of those little "bare" music box mechanisms. Place it on different materials, turn the handle, and you can hear first-hand just how loud various materials or "dampers", isolators, etc., are.

Norm Varney of A/V Solutions has a great YT video demonstrating that. At one point, he puts the music box mech on a granite-cabinet speaker.

You can check it out here:
https://youtu.be/6G4HF6wJG38

Watched both videos and did not see granite used anywhere. The sub was described as "lined in & out with borosilicate" (glass) and the small speaker was ferro-concrete with the second vid using MDF of some sort.

I use granite shelves in my rack and under my speakers. The isolation between the granite and the shelf is a layer of anti-vibration rubber (purchased from Ivan a couple of years ago) and the isolation feet that came on the gear with the exception of my TT, under with I have Iso-Acoustic vibration pads.

I've noticed no ringing from the use of granite shelves and would not hesitate to use under a Rega to see what your ears tell you. Of all TTs, the Rega, as has been noted, is likely "the" TT which you do not want to mess with their feet in any way as are such a big design feature for the TT. But, setting the Rega on the granite may or may not work well. I would put some sort of isolation between the granite and whatever it is sitting on. Try it and see and let us know your results.

The #1 Isolation Bases in the World use Granite, along with many other materials & patents.

https://avisolation.com/product/m3x2...base/#features

There are many reasons why these Isolation Bases, and Racks are found at every high end Show, and the most demanding systems Globally.

Full disclosure: I own 8 HRS Rack Systems, and I am also an HRS Platinum Dealer.

The HRS products are superb. In the interest of accuracy (and physics) and for the sake of the discussion, the difference between an HRS base that utilizes granite as part of its composition, and a solid piece of granite (which will ring, just put a music box mech on it and turn the crank) is that the HRS base is comprised of several different layers of materials to provide constrained layer damping.

As such, these aren't the same supports, they have very different compositions, and they will have a very different response to imparted power or vibration. So, respectfully, in the interests of accuracy, we're comparing apples and oranges here.

I use the HRS Nimbus spacers and couplers, and they work very well under components that are minimally internally damped. In fact, I put a set under the Constellation Inspiration integrated a couple days ago, and Wowsa!

80B, certainly you should decide for yourself which platform sounds the best. If I may, I'd like to suggest an experiment for your consideration:

Get one of those IKEA Aptitlig bamboo cutting boards; the ones with three layers that has the bamboo running horizontally in the top and bottom layers and vertically in the middle layer. They're only 20 bucks. These work very well as a platform for a TT.

shorturl.at/mJR05

Place it on four Herbie's Tenderfoot footers; these are only $15/each.
shorturl.at/iqKY8

Put your sweet P6 on it, give it a good listen, then place your P6, on your granite base, give it a good listen, and see what you prefer.

Oh, and you can measure imparted vibration by getting the iPhone app, Vibsensor. Just place your phone on it and will measure imparted power RMS, as well as other metrics. Shown here is imparted power, RMS measured by VibSensor measuring vibration imparted by a small, homemade "slide hammer" on my rack shelf that my Schiit Gungnir DAC was resting on. Green curve is the stock Gungnir feet, red trace is the Tenderfoot, and blue are the A/V Roomservice EVPs, which work the best, but cost $90/each, and for that price, you could get the IsoAcoustics Zazen and save 140 bucks. Data plotted in JMP 15.

https://photos.imageevent.com/puma_c...ock%20Feet.jpg

Another app I use for just a visual check on vibration on a rack shelf, component, speaker, speaker stand or platform, is Hamm Seismometer, also for the iPhone (free, BTW).

If you do these experiments, please let us know what you find out.

Speaking of HRS, I'm hoping to get an HRS rack in at some point for review at TAS.:thumbsup:

Cheers.

Agreed; I just wanted to show granite being properly executed. :thumbsup:

Oh, yes....Mike at HRS really knows his stuff. I may do an interview with him as part of a review. Looking forward to it. :thumbsup: