Valkirye Turntable Support

Tweakers' Asylum

Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

THE VALKIRYE TURNTABLE SUPPORT
Ive had a few email queries regarding my support, so thought Iâ€™d post the general instructions on the asylum.
My floor is carpet on suspended wood, on the fourth floor of an apartment block. When a bus goes by on the street below the whole floor bounces. When I walk the windows rattle. Currently I canâ€™t use a wall mounting, so Iâ€™ve spent the last year looking into different types of floor supports for non suspended turntables. Iâ€™ve tried a number of different combinations of isolation, including magnetic, sand, air and plywood. Though this project is ongoing, the Valkirye system works well.
1. If your floor is seriously out of level (as mine is) make some pads (say 4x4 inch) by gluing thin cork sheet to a thin sheet of hardwood. Use at least one sheet of cork and one of hardwood for each pad. The pads go with the cork on the floor, and the hardwood facing up.
2. THE BASE. At least 10 Sheets of 25mm BIRCH plywood, size 16 x 24 inch. The plywood usually comes in panels 4 foot by 8 â€“ so you get 12 sheets of 16 x 24 from each. You ought to be able to get the supplier to cut it for you. Sand the edges. Then glue the 10 sheets together using standard water based wood glue, painted on one side. The glue acts as a de-coupler for each set of panels.
3. THE AIR LEVEL. Make a box out of 25mm birch ply which is 16 x 24 inch by ca. 11.5 cm high. The base of the box needs to be cut with 5 cms off one side and one end. Screw the side panels onto it, and then screw metal corner brackets inside each corner to strengthen (not strictly speaking necessary, but a precaution). The top of the box should be 5mm shorter than base on one side and one end. Fill the box with tennis balls â€“ leaving space so they are not tight or too crowded against each other or the edges â€“ so you could fit 2 or 3 more balls in). The tennis ball box is then installed upside down, making sure that the smaller unattached base panel does not touch the sides of the box. (This box can also be sandfilled instead, which is cheaper. Or you can put the box upright and constrain each tennis ball with a small surround of sand for a slightly different effect).
4. THE TOP LAYER. Again strata of birch ply. Minimum 5, but preferably 6 or more panels, made same way as the base.
The CONES. I use Clearaudio RDC cones (from hififorsale.com) between each layer but they are not cheap. If you can find cheap aluminium or brass cones, those are fine as well. (Or see TNT audio site for other cheaper cones) Each layer is separated by cones (preferably 5 â€“ with the fifth in the middle and the others at the corners, but certainly 5 between the two top layers). Cones attached with blutack. The middle set of cones point upwards, the other two layers down.
The whole contraption weighs a lot (probably over 60 kilos).
REFINEMENTS:
You can cut a large spiral form into one side of each ply panel. Then glue some sand into the spiral hole for further vibration drain.
FINISH: the wood can be left plain, varnished, oiled or veneered.
NOTE: The Valkirye does not pass the glass of water test in my room. Ie. if you put a glass of water on the top of the support and stomp the floor near it, the water does tremble slightly. But I found the same using magnetic supports, which was surprising.
DOES IT WORK?
I can clumph around as much as I like and never had the needle skip, even using very light tracking force. Sonically I still have to test a couple of variables using sand, air and magnetic supports, but this is the version I currently like the best.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Signature Sound

[ Signature Sound Lounge ]

Topic - Valkirye Turntable Support - ebarker2 01:17:10 05/17/02 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.