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Excessive woofer travel when playing vinyl

dstroyr

dstroyr

Active Member
I am have a problem with woofer travel when I use my turntable. The woofers pulsate about 4 time a second even at low volume, and the start to clip before the half way point. The pulsation do not coincide with the music being played. I have switched speakers , and used both phono inputs, and there was no change. This does not happen when I used the radio or ipod.
Components: Phillips 312 tt
Sansui 8080db
KLH Model Five
Wharfedale w70c
Any ideas?
 
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Sounds like you have some rumble in your turntable from either feedback from the room or motor noise. I had this problem with my Thorens TD-146 suspended table. My subwoofer would go nuts even at low volume. I tried many tweaks with the table on a stereo rack and nothing worked. I then put the turntable on a wall shelf and problem solved. I can even jump up and down in front of the deck and not a quiver from the needle.
 
If your amp\receiver has a "rumble, subsonic" filter, try engaging that to see if the problem goes away, slightly warped records may aggravate the problem.

Use of the "loudness" boost and \or bass may also contribute.

Mark T.
 
markn2wae said:
If your amp\receiver has a "rumble, subsonic" filter, try engaging that to see if the problem goes away, slightly warped records may aggravate the problem.

Use of the "loudness" boost and \or bass may also contribute.

Mark T.
Click to expand...

Correct. Many older receivers and amps had a high and low filter setting for exactly this sort of thing. I could never hear a difference with the low filter on, but it does protect your woofers, so I generally kept it on when playing vinyl.
 
first, which cartridge is being used? some arms will oscillate with grado carts and others.

the sliding weight on the arm is used to adjust the vtf but if you preclude its use for that, you can slide it out to the end near the headshell and adjust the vtf using the counterweight and a $20 digital scale.

this moves the resonant point for the arm and could cure the problem.

another problem could be isolation. the best for TTs is the wall mount. that could easily exceed the cost of the philips 312 (a not bad table but not the greatest).

whereas the subsonic or rumble filter is a cure of sorts, it is only a bandaid solution. getting to the bottom of the feedback problem and solving it physically is the best way.

as mentioned above, it could be that the suspension of the cart is gone. new cartridges can be affordable like the at95e and some of the lower ortofons.

good luck.
 
My wallmount cost me about $20 for the two brackets, screws and 1" pine board. DIY shelves for turntables are easy and cheap. You can experiment with different materials to put between the shelf and the turntable base. I have a 3 3/4" maple butchers block and the table has cone feet.
 
it could be REALLY simple : is this on ALL records or just a few ? Ive seen many records do this because of bad pressing ....makes the woofer oscillate : especially in a very compliant woofer ... doesnt get talked about much but I believe many old school woofers had stiff compliance to combat this .... obviously more likely with a compliant suspension ....... if it is just a few records ( a null groove in a record should introduce no side to side play of the stylus .... ie in between tracks ... a bad pressing can and will introduce some and it is at a subsonic frequency : hence the huge oscillation....... but makes a woofer stand up and take notice for sure) just ignore it ....if it is on ALL of your (good) vinyl : then you have feedback or rumble
 
He's referring to Chemistry teacher turned meth cook Walter White from the TV series "Breaking Bad". GREAT show!!
 
Thanks for the complements!

I had to go on line to see what the show "breaking bad" was about, as I have not seen it on TV, not that I avoided it, but just had other things to do than just "watch TV", also if it was only on a cable or satellite channel, I get my TV the "old fashion way" by antenna.

I consider the reference a compliment (thank you!) and hope I can "have the right answers" for those of us on AK that need them.:yes:

Sorry for the "slight hijack" here!:D

Mark T.
 
The cartridge is a Shure M95ED. Everything worked fine in it's present set up until recently. The sound is like an am stereo broadcast. As for the condition of the vinyl; all of the records played are clean, non warped, and like new.
 
I've got the same problem with my AR/Sumiko. I don't think this happened until I moved it up one shelf in the wall cabinet it's in. Due to the installatoin with other components it's almost impossible to move the AR.

Would a piece of granite/marble under it help?
 
d3imlay said:
I've got the same problem with my AR/Sumiko. I don't think this happened until I moved it up one shelf in the wall cabinet it's in. Due to the installatoin with other components it's almost impossible to move the AR.

Would a piece of granite/marble under it help?
Click to expand...

I put a approx. 100# granite surface plate under my TT and it helped reduce feedback thru TT immensely. The large mass is hard to move.
 
I'm thinking of some kind of dampening. I was thinking sand or lead shot. still no sure that will solve it.
 
I double bagged sand with ziplock bags and secured them inside of my turntable to add mass. I think 3 or 4 bags. It also helped quiet things down. Silent as a church mouse now.
 
I have used foam insulation and a heavy piece of floor tile to dampen. Still rumbles. I engaged low filter and the woofer didn't oscillate as much but still had a rumble and not as much bass(of course). i am convinced it is the cartridge.
 
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