Who out there has some interesting motor vibration reduction tweaks to share?
I'm currently using a Scout Jr, thanks in no small part due to Mat's generosity. I have little to no available funds, so unlike many of you folks, I don't really have the option of moving further up the line for better sound. That means that I have to get creative with tweaks to try to improve my sound quality.
One thing that I've done is to damp the motor pod housing using Herbie's Audio Labs grungebuster material that I had laying around. In place of the standard rubber feet, I placed small diameter thick grungebuster dots that I'd used under the motor of a previous turntable. I also noticed a fair bit of ringing when I tapped the top plate of the motor pod housing, so I unscrewed it and placed some scraps of thin grungebuster material both where the top and bottom plates meet when screwed down, as well as the bottom lip of the inner portion of the motor pod (the side that sits under the platter). This changed the ringing to a dull thunk, and actually worked great! Other tweaks that I attempted that were awful included trying a silk thread as a belt instead of the standard belt (much higher noise floor when trying this, very audible hum), as well as a ziplock snack bag filled with playground sand inside the motor pod to try to mass load it (this changed the sound in a really horrible way, and was immediately removed).
This said, after experimenting with voltage reduction with my motor controller (a Phoenix Falcon, sorry, I just cannot afford an SDS or ADS), it seemed that 95V was the sweet spot for keeping some soundstage depth, but this does still mean more vibration than desirable. I placed my hand gently on top of the motor pod and the noise floor dropped substantially. This got me thinking: Can something be placed on top of the motor housing to further damp vibrations while keeping the torque of higher voltage? I've seen mention of Walker Audio Resonance Control Discs, but at $50+ a piece, that's well outside of my financial reach. Would something like a couple of 50g or 100g brass weights placed on the outside corners of the motor pod, potentially with grungebuster dots between them (I still have some left) be a good solution, or would that actually make things worse?
I'm not terribly concerned with appearance (obviously). I just want better sound within my extremely limited budget. Anyone have any interesting tweak ideas to share?
Cheers all!