The plinth or the base forms the body of the turntable. It is of crucial importance in a DD turntable where the motor is mounted directly into it. The plinth can be made of many different materials, wood beeing the most common on higher quality DD TT's. Cheap low-end models very often have plinths made of plastic. This is of course not an ideal material but it is cheap. The picture shows a Denon DP2800 with a Marble and laminated particle board plint - a very nice construction.

There are two major types of plinth constructions for DD turntables. By far the most common and often the best is the non-floating or unsuspended plinth with the motor and arm solidly screwed into the plinth. Hence, there is no suspension or isolation between the plinth and the motor and arm. The second type uses a floting or suspended sub-plinth design. The motor and arm are mounted onto a sub-chassie wich is then suspended by soft springs or rubber mountings and islolated from the visible plinth. Here the plinth material is of less importance since it's isolated from the sub-chassie. It is very important to use a good and non-vibrant material in the subchassie even though it is isolated since it forms the fundamental base for the motor and arm. Common materials for the sub-chassie are metal of some kind, plastics, even concrete, etc. If it's made of steel for example it can often be improved by adding damping material such as bitumen to it. The picture shows a Pioneer PL-530 turntable. Here the sub-plinth made of steel can clearly be seen under the wooden plinth. This type is often well isolated from vibrations and resonanses from the floor or from the speakers. Many Pioneers and some Technics DD TT's use this type of construction.

A solid unsuspended plinth does use some suspension though to isolate it from harmful vibrations mostly in the form of suspended feet. Often they are of rather simple construction and an improvement can often be achieved by replacing them with higher quality aftermarket feet. The plint can be made of a wide range of materials. Som of the best use different types of concrete or even stone or marble. Another very good material is birch plywood which often is laminated to achieve the desired thickness. These TT's are often very very heavy, up to and over 20kgs. As a general rule of thumb, the heavier the better for the simple reason that the weight makes the TT more stable and thus more immune to vibrations and feedback and serves as a stable platform for the motor/platter assembly and the tonearm. The picture shows one of the best plints made for reasonable money - a Kenwood KD-650 with a special type of resin and limestone mix which is molded and compressed under high pressure into shape. This TT weighs about 16kgs and is exceptionally unsensitive to feedback.