I am completing a brand new totally dedicated audio listening room. Of course I couldn’t resist upgrading some equipment, so I’m looking at a new turntable. I am not a vinyl fanatic (will probably spend about $1,500 on a new table/cartridge), but as with everything else, I want to maximize what I’ve got. I’ve seen posts here about where and how to position equipment to minimize vibration and it seems turntables deserve, for obvious reasons, special consideration. I have a good solid component stand with conical feet and it will be on a concrete floor, so if I put the components in front between (actually behind) the speakers, will I be OK? I do have the luxury of putting the turntable in a media storage closet on the other side of the double-wall and running cables through, so it would eliminate any effects by ambient sound in the environment, but of course would require me to go into the closet every time I want to change records. With my level of vinyl concern, do you think I’d hear a huge difference?
Hi! In my own opinion, it’s kind of hard to predict. 
Can you give a bit more info? Room dimensions? How far back the equipment will be from the rear of the speakers? Speakers? It sounds like the equipment will be between (and behind) the speakers, and not in either rear corner? Turntables can perform just fine in an arrangement like this, and (again, IMO) shorter cables are generally better than longer cables when you can get away with it. But, does the equipment have to be between the speakers? I ask because, in my own experience over many homes and equipment setups (I’ve moved a lot), I’ve found that unless the equipment is set pretty far back (some of this depends on the speakers, of course), the soundstaging does suffer some when the equipment is there. IME the staging always sounds better when that is removed. Not always possible, but as this is a new room for you it may be an option.
That sounds like you might be over complicating things… just put the turntable on either a dedicated shelf or on a vibration absorbing/insulating platform. I wouldn’t want to run longer than necessary phono cables…
Thanks for the responses. The room is pretty small 14-feet long by 11-feet wide. The speakers would probably end up about 3 ft into the room, so the gear would be about 2-ft back and maybe 4 ft from each speaker. I’m using Vandersteen 2s - which do have woofers pointing to the back, so there will be some energy back there. No subs. The closet is immediately on the other side of the wall where the rack would be located, so the TT cables could be no longer than 2 to 3 feet. I’m starting to think with the size of the room, there’s going to be a lot of sound energy running around behind the speakers.
For me, turntables are an added layer of process and complexity just to listen to music. While that type of isolation has a lot of theoretical acoustic positives, rarely is it a good idea to keep going in and out of the closet.
The obvious choice would be a Rega kit on the Rega wall-mount. You get plenty of ground-borne vibration through concrete and high frequency vibrations are just as much an issue for turntables.
Just from my own experience it’s a Big improvement !! I have all the equipment in a room adjacent to the listening room - only the speakers in the listening room. Much better sonically than having the equipment in the listening room. (What comes out of the speakers gets picked up by the turntable and cycles it all back through the system in a closed-loop!)
It’s only when the deck is separated from the listening room and speakers that one realises just how much the deck(s) is compromised. My turntable(s) sit on heavy wooden wall shelves - attached to solid, brick built walls. The wall that supports my turntables/shelves is 3ft thick engineering brick.
Lots of good ideas here. This is how I set up my turntable, when I owned one. Used a Rega wall mounted rack. Sandwiched pieces of maple with a Herbies vibration sheet product in-between. The table feet sat on another Herbies product. The right channel speaker was about two feet away from the turntable to the left. Standard American 2x4 stick built construction on sheet rock. There is an attached garage door perpendicular to this wall about 14’ away. Someone could slam the door pretty hard coming into or out of the house and nothing audible was transmitted to the table.
Hi Dirk, I have read things about how vibration can not only affect a turntable (which seems obvious), but other equipment as well. I believe I read something about a show Paul McGowan attended where they did A-B comparisons with components on vibration-isolating pads or stands and that even at a trade show, the difference could be heard. And I also have heard about sound staging interference by plunking your impressive equipment rack in between speakers. However, at some point, I have to decide whether I want to walk in and out of the closet to change volume (my pre-amp pre-cedes remotes), change records, etc. And do I really want to run 10 cables through a pass-through in the wall? So I think I might compromise, keep the rack in the room, but put the turntable in the closet. It’s where the records will be anyway! I could call it the Vinyl Room or the Vinyl Straw.
Well, since you no longer own a table, your opinions mean nothing . Seriously, I like this setup, but I also think more of what I’m concerned about is the vibrations in the AIR, not going through the floor or walls. No matter how solid or isolated the base is, sound can still hit the table/tone-arm directly, right?
Well, maybe the first thing to try should be the easiest thing to try. Since it seems like the equipment, with or without the TT, will likely be where you stated, start there. Set up your room with your existing gear, reserving a spot on the rack for the table. Once optimized, see if you like that to begin with. While you’re getting used to that, look for a table. If you find something that you like (regardless of how or where it will be mounted), get it and try it on the rack first. It may work just fine, maybe needing some judicious use of vibration control. If it has a drop down cover, even better. If not, you could consider having one made.
My friend’s room is 10x11, tiny. He runs a near full range pair of speakers with his equipment, including his Denon direct drive, behind the speakers. It sounds wonderful. It is possible.
yikes
I was going to reply with my experiences with Iso Acoustics products under my turntable, both Delos and Gaia 1’s (I do own a turntable) I believe the video referenced earlier was the A/B testing of Gaia’s under Focals
Now I’m a little scared
Best,
-JP
I think that was sarcasm …
yeah, i can usually identify it, but i figure it’s always good to toss a 
or a 
or a 
in there.
my comment as well…
Hey, to anyone who might have misconstrued my “your opinion doesn’t matter” quip, I was totally joking - it’s why I added the . I love to joke about how serious vinyl-fanatics can get. But if I offended anyone, I’m truly sorry.
Hey, I like the look of that wall mount. In fact, the turntable I’m looking at is the Pro-Ject Debut Pro, so it would probably be a good match. The only concern is that the wall I’d mount it to is not an exterior wall, but it is load-bearing and firmly bolted and liquid-nailed to the concrete floor (part of my specifications for all the walls in my audio room. It will also be an outside-perimeter wall - I’m using double-framing to completely detach the room itself from the rest of the house (a room within a room). So I think the wall should be plenty secure and isolated for a wall-mount.
Yep, a wall mount should do very well with construction like that.