Several years ago, I had heard about an inexpensive solution for procuring excellent turntable isolation: Get a sink cutout from retailer selling granite and quartz countertops. I’d heard that they sometimes give them away, as cutouts are usually considered waste and unusable. After calling around, I found one such store that was willing to set aside a granite sink cutout piece for me.
The rough-hewn granite sink cutout, with its keyhole shaped cavity that I originally procured for use as a turntable isolation platform now sits under our basement dehumidifier atop four hockey pucks.
When I arrived, I saw that it was a lot rougher around the edges than I’d like and, what’s more, it had a large, keyhole-shaped faucet cavity on one side. I was disappointed, but I took it, but asked if they had any other pieces. The attendance mentioned that they had some samples on a rack out back that I could examine. That’s when I found a nice, polished black and white quartz piece that looked about the right size. I asked how much it would cost me, and he said it’s free; take it! So, I did.
I found out later that those samples normally sold for $100 each, which is still a relative bargain. I originally set my new platform atop some AV RoomService EVP Equipment Vibration Protector pads, which worked nicely. However, my bride, Belle, didn’t like the look of them on our BDI Corridor 8179 four-door TV console. On the advice of a friend, I purchased a small roll of neoprene rubber tool mat material, cut it to size, and glued it to the isolation platform’s underside. Belle approved, and it sat there nicely — until she suggested that the combined weight of the turntable and platform seemed to be bowing the top of the console ever-so-slightly. I disagreed. After all, it was designed to handle upwards of 300-something pounds, as I recall, and this was well under that. However, she was adamant. She did not want our $3,000 console being damaged by this latest tweak!
So, I decided to move it, and to my horror, the rubber mat backing stuck solidly to the black glass surface. I panicked! I didn’t want to mar the polished tempered glass top of our expensive console during the removal process. Thankfully, with some careful prying with a plastic putty knife, I was able to dislodge the bottom of the rubber mat from the console top. Whew!
Then, I took a pair of weightlifting stands that my younger brother, Pablo (a skilled CNC operator), built for me years earlier, and employing it like I did when I reviewed a 160-pound Triangle Art Anubis turntable, I tucked it behind the Corridor, adjusted the height properly, and placed my rubber-backed quartz isolation platform and turntable on top of it. Problem solved!
That’s Pablo’s weightlifting stand (sans the safety top end bolts used to keep the barbell from rolling off) used when it supported the 160 lb. Triangle Art Anubis Turntable. At the time, I noted, “Belle noticed that despite a pair of weightlifting stands lending support, the top shelf of our Simpli Home Skylar 60″ media stand, with its stated capacity of 200lbs, sagged slightly under the burden of the Anubis chassis, tonearm tower, and motor on a wooden isolation slab. It was too much concentrated weight…the Anubis and wooden platform were transferred entirely to the weightlifting racks, and all was good. Just inches below, the Skylar’s steel and wood structure let out an ominous groan as stored energy released and it sprang back straight.” Thanks, Pablo!
I have read that soapstone is an acoustically superior material to make an isolation platform, but everywhere I called wanted to charge in excess of $200. However, if you want a heavy stone isolation base, you should be able to find one like mine for a reasonable price from a store selling granite and quartz countertops. I don’t know what the marble, quartz, and granite samples go for these days, but I can’t imagine them costing too much more than the $100 they were charging a couple years ago in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Alternatively, you can order a custom cut and polished quartz or granite platform to your specification for around $150-plus. Either way, I really like mine and, as an added bonus, Belle has often expressed admiration for its beauty, sitting atop the console in our beloved listening and A/V space of our basement. There’s something to be said for that!