Anyone seen or used this table tweak?

[Wardsweb]

The arm has a metal rod (paperclip?) attached to the arm and into a container of 50 weight pure silicon oil. It dampens the tone arms resonance, but the oil does not interfere with the movement of the arm.

 

[Billfort]

I've never seen it done like that but there are a few examples of the same concept in commercial tables/arms.

There's the Townsend Rock which uses a dampening trough at the cartridge end of the arm.

The Well Tempered arm has a dampening trough under the pivot area;

Then there is the Maplenoll linear tracker that again has the paddle/trough at the cartridge end of the arm. I have one of these that is in bad shape and is missing most of the parts for the pivoting trough but will make replacements on the CNC router.

Of the above I have only heard the Well Tempered and Maplenoll but really like what I heard, the main reason (aside from the challenge!) that I am going to undertake a DIY table around the Maplenoll air bearing platter/arm.

 

[Nat]

Damping minimizes the resonance of the cartridge/arm, so that there is less energy in the arm and tends to clear up the soundstage nicely. Too much and it can flatten the bass and dynamics. Almost all unipivots are damped to keep them from wobbling, and the damping contributes to the sweetness, clarity and precise imaging that they are often credited with (as well as the less than overwhelming bass many of them are accused of). Quite a few conventional arms also have damping troughs, sometimes as optional accessories -- the SME III, the Micro Seiki MA 505, the Mission arm that was designed by John Bicht, and others.

 

[melofelo]

i have a good review of the maplenoll ariadne if your interested...true superdeck if ever i saw one.. :yes:

 

[Billfort]

I'm interested melo!

 

[melofelo]

no problem..drop me a pm with an e-mail address and i'll dig it up and scan for you..

 

[Billfort]

Great, pm on the way.

Thanks!

 

[melofelo]

does that tweak make an audible difference ? :scratch2:
( would be willing to give it a shot on my planar 3 as it looks easy enough to try)

 

[CUlater]

The arm has a metal rod (paperclip?) attached to the arm and into a container of 50 weight pure silicon oil. It dampens the tone arms resonance, but the oil does not interfere with the movement of the arm.

Looking at THAT PARTICULAR 'tweak', its hard to imagine much coming of it - it looks like the 'dampening rod' is stuck on with bubble gum. I would imagine that a large part of any possible benefit would be dependent on the rigid mounting of the rod to the tonearm.

Secondly, this sort of system is going to add mass to the arm (even though its behind the pivot point, it's still mass and its still going to want to stay in motion once in motion...), affecting its compliance - which, I guess, is another way of saying you're changing the resonant frequency. I've always thought that lowered mass is generally better as far as accuracy and control goes.

Good? Bad? I dunno, but that's why its a tweek - YMMV! Let us know what you discover!