Reducing Turntable Vibration with Racquetballs

My turntable was starting to pick up vibrations from my heating/air condition unit in the house, so here is a quick tip on how you might be able to fix external vibrations. Thanks again to Doctor Deadwax for reminding me of this trick.

[treadman]

Much props to your wife for all she is doing.

[AudiophileLaws]

Hi Kris,  
thats a great way to loose vibrations. I just wanted to let you know that a lot of dance clubs are doing this. They have their dj turntables right next to the big speakers and use the racquetballs under a stoneplate. There could be an earthquake and the turntable will be still spinning correctly. 
Thanks for sharing! 
Armien 

[flhdrvr]

It's amazing that this works so well. Placed 5 red halves under a 1/2 inch blue stone slab, was able to turn my MaC MX-130> MC-7300 from 18( no rb halves) to 32. While this was an improvement, I wanted to get more out of my AT Shibata stylus on my Thorens TD 145 MKII. Tried another layer directly under the TT. That made it worse(?). Returned the Audio Technica leveler feet and pondered how to extract more volume. My wife said why not place a set under the feet of your Seismic 10 sub? I stopped at 46! NO RUMBLE hitting 30-100W peaks. - Mind blown! American Beauty never sounded so good. Thanks for the $11 science lesson.

[TheRealMarkS]

There's so much voodoo involved with turntables, cartridges, mechanical vibration, and acoustic airborne vibration, one can really get lost down the rabbit hole - not to mention the cost of many fixes. This absolutely solved my howling bass feedback! 👍👍

[Paneeks]

Hello Kris,
I should have known that Doctor Deadwax was behind the reminding. I am sure that he has more tricks audio tricks up his sleeve. But what better person to share this inexpensive fix that yourself . 
My problem is that I have my turntable sitting on a single shelve that comes out of my wall and the shelve moves. I will buy some racketballs this week and give it a whirl. 
Thanks for sharing this Kris. Much appreciated~
Rob/Boston

[BioCYTE]

Time tested, true, cheap and mighty macho of you to bring the necessary info to the masses and slay some raquetballs in the process! - Lj

[vinylspin]

Pure genius in action!!!  Who'd a thunk it?  Coltrane warble ain't good.  Take full advantage of your temp bachelorhood and crank that Coltrane.  Loved your wife's facial expression to you Coltrane masterwork, priceless!!  Good tip.  That special needs job has to be very rewarding for your wife.  A brother of mine worked with the autistic. Enjoy the music!  ~ Jeff

[NowSpinningTV]

Great tip Kris! Cheap and does the job! You're da man!

[fatimasilvestre]

Hi, superb your trick. As I'm not native english speaker, can you tell me what is a raquetball? For instance wich sport we play with those balls, is it squash, paddel or other? Thank you for your support

[madcow]

I love these MacGyver-type videos. I'm fortunate that I don't have any vibration issues, but this is still great to know. 

[johnktechhead]

cool idea! glad u fixed your problem mate!

[edyoung]

Fantastic!!! couple of Racquetballs sure cost less than 200.00 ISO

[CoreysChannel]

Yes! Another money saving tip with Kris. Off to go pick up racket balls for my daughters set up I gave her. (those racket balls will screw up the aesthetics in my green music room big time ;) I'm going to cut them in half with a cutting board at work. 

[DoctorDeadwax]

I must have commented on this elsewhere? Anyway, I am glad this worked for you. Next step will be to replace the heatpump, or more the table onto another wall. Cheers :)

[doctordel]

Good Call. I keep my turntable on the same table as my keyboard. I found a record clamp stops the vibration issues I had but this would have done it too. Thanks for posting. Peace --- Del

[fernheap]

Dude this worked thanks! I've moved speakers around and have tried different things (space permitting)with no luck, I even bought a Technics 1200 rubber mat ($30 😡) in hopes that it would solve the issue. Not only is ALL hum between tracks gone but the overall sound quality has improved. Bass is crisper and the songs are smoother. I just cut all the way around with a sharp box cutter, easy money.

[Ninja_Gaijin]

No one seems to agree whether to use Racquet or Squash balls.. and some people even say to use a two tier approach using both. Any reason to go with Racquet over Squash balls? I imagined the Squash would be more useful (double yellow or orange dots) as they are harder and absorb more shocks than the bouncier Racquet ball?

[astraltweeks]

Wow, great tip. thanks, this will definitely help me out!

[earheadsix]

Would New England Patriot under inflated footballs work?

[onlycody]

I'm definitely gonna have to try this! Thanks for the tips! Btw, your wife's working near me. I live about 20 minutes away from Indianapolis!