TONEARM DAMPING : DAMPED OR NOT ? ? USELESS ? ? WELCOMED ? ?


Dear friends: This tonearm critical subject sometimes can be controversial for say the least. Some audiophiles swear for non damped tonearms as the FR designs or SAEC or even the SME 3012 that is not very well damped in stock original status.

Some other audiophiles likes good damped tonearms.


In other thread a gentleman posted:


"  If a cartridge is properly matched to the tonearm damping is not required. " and even explained all what we know about the ideal resonance frequency range between tonearm and cartridge ( 8hz to 12hz. ). He refered to this when said: " properly matched to the tonearm ".


In that same thread that a Triplanar tonearm owner posted:


" This is the one thing about the Triplanar that I don't like. I never use the damping trough...... I imagine someone might have a use for it; I removed the troughs on my Triplanars; its nice to imagine that it sounds better for doing so. "


At the other side here it's a very well damped tonearm:


https://audiotraveler.wordpress.com/tag/townshend/


Now, after the LP is in the spining TT platter ( everything the same, including well matched cartridge/tonearm.  ) the must critical issue is what happens once the cartridge stylus tip hits/track the LP grooves modulations.

The ideal is that those groove modulations can pass to the cartridge motor with out any additional kind of developed resonances/vibrations and that the transducer makes its job mantaining the delicated and sensible signal integrity that comes in those recorded groove modulations.

 That is the ideal and could be utopic because all over the process/trip of the cartridge signal between the stylus tip ride and the output at the tonearm cable the signal suffers degradation (  resonances/vibrations/feedback ) mainly developed through all that " long trip " .


So, DAMPING IS NEED IT AT THE TONEARM/HEADSHELL SIDE OR NOT?


I'm trying to find out the " true " about and not looking if what we like it or not like it is rigth or not but what should be about and why of that " should be ".


I invite all of you analog lovers audiophiles to share your points of view in this critical analog audio subject. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT?


Thank's in advance.



Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.






rauliruegas

Showing 6 responses by bdp24

Right @rauliruegas. My point was that even if there were a "perfectly damped tonearm" (if such a thing is even possible), there will still be the cartridge/tonearm resonance that is produced by ALL cartridge/arm combinations. A poorly or non-damped arm may exacerbate that resonance, but it will be there even with an arm 100% free of it's own resonance. At least, that was the finding of the Cranfield research. 

For the highly-motivated: In the 90’s Townshend Audio offered for sale separately their Damping Trough, for installation and use on non-Rock tables. The DT Kit included the Trough, mounting plates (two, of differing dimensions) and hardware, a small bottle of damping fluid, and the requisite headshell-mounted plate and "paddle" (the little hollow aluminum tube that is mounted onto the headhsell plate and descends into the fluid).

I’ve never seen one for sale on the second-hand market, but ya never know. Mine will be, but not until after I die. My ancestors (on both sides) lived relatively-long lives (into their 90’s), so don’t hold yer breathe ;-) .

While I’m here, let me make something clear (if it isn’t already): The Townshend Audio Rock Turntable Damping system is not a "tonearm damper"; it addresses the issue of the tonearm/cartridge resonance that is inherent in the LP phono system, REGARDLESS of the specific arm and cartridge. For the complete story, read the Dinsdale papers (see above post), written after the research conducted at the Cranfield Technical College in England was completed.

@rauliruegas---"Critical tonearm damping". Not the tonearm in isolation, but as part of the complete arm/cartridge/LP playback system. It's a complex relationship, which I am not going to attempt to distill into a short post.

The Townshend Rock turntable design didn't come out of thin air; it was developed out of the findings made at The Cransfield Institute Of Technology in England. Max Townshend took those findings and created a commercial product: The Rock Turntable.

For those wanting (and willing) to investigate those findings, they are available on the www. Sorry, I can't provide (a) link(s). Anyone with enough interest will be able to find the info.

In addition to it's silicon fluid-filled cup rear bearing, the Well Tempered had it's arm tube filled with sand.

By the way, the Townshend Rock table can be fitted with any 9"-10" pivoted arm. The table comes with the front-end damping trough "paddle" assembly that is secured to the headshell of the arm.

As far as I am aware, Max Townshend is the only turntable designer/manufacturer who has actually brought to market a product offering damping at the headshell end of the tonearm (via his patented silicon fluid-filled trough). If anyone knows of another, let us know!

Both @slaw and I love our Rocks---he his Mk.7, I my Mk.2 Elite. Max has been promising a new model (Mk.8?) ever since he discontinued the Mk.7 around five years ago.