Some tables have soul and some not

I found that as I tried to increase the damping of my TT's plinth I gained clarity but lost the "soul". Happily, I did find a balanced place where I was able to damp the plinth and retain the soul of the music. From this I would say that overdamping anything can remove the sould from the music.

Have you ever heard an overdamped room. It just doesn't sound natural. I think the same applies to components. You can reduce vibrations and unnecessary jiggly stuff, but if you go too far it starts to sound dry and uninvolving.

Is this distortion or coloration? Yeah, probably, but it is far more enjoyable than an over detailed, dry, unforgiving and joyless sound.

Wow, this thread has veered off into so many different directions, many of them useless and not pertinent to the original topic. What is really hard to believe is that people are still posting to it. If we keep it going perhaps it could become the longest thread about nothing in a while (aka Seinfeld - that show had soul).