So Weird- No Stylus Contact Woofer Pumping with Hana ML and Elac PPA-2


I observed the weirdest thing I have ever seen in audio. With the cartridge positioned above the record, tone arm locked up and platter spinning, the woofers were pumping on my system. I googled every permutation of query I could think of but came back with no hits. That’s when I decided to video the problem- link below:

Mystery Woofer Pumping

I could type out all the details but the video pretty much covers everything. I thought ya’ll might be interested in this.

 

mitchellcp

BTW, I’m running balanced from cartridge to speakers (and have been for 17 years). Soundsmith Aida -> OL Enterprise -> AudioQuest Leopard (balanced) -> Ayre P-5xe (balanced) -> AudioQuest Colorado (XLR) -> Ayre AX-5/20 (balanced).

 

And I can tell a difference if my table bearing is properly grounded or not, particularly on dry days. 

You have a relative humidity of 25%?!?!

Way too dry.

40% to 50% should be a your target. 

your statement:

Wiring for the tonearm to the preamp was as follows:

  • Pin 1- no connection
  • Pin 2- + positive
  • Pin 3- - negative
  • Shell ground- cable shield

is very very confusing.

This tonearm is for custom mono cartridge? For stereo cartridges, 4 color coded pins (same four pins from arm) are:

positive 1

negative 1

positive 2

negative 2

There is no ground pin for cartridge.

 

 

My experience is that ground loop hum/electro-magnetic noise has nothing to do with RCA or XLR plugs if ground wire was connected properly.

 

remember, Tesla proved a long long time ago that electro-magnetic energy could be transform from source (turn table/cartridge) to receiver (phono stage inputs) if no ground shelling to short the energy.

Actually, this phenomenon states a fundamental fact:  electro-magnetic energy broadcasting as waves/Strings not as particles. So the great Einstein could be wrong right here. 

@byang12 The pin 1 ground to tonearm is the only missing piece of the puzzle, however since the tonearm is already grounded to the phono preamp via the external ground wire, I felt that sending the tonearm ground down the left cable, the right cable and the external wire was not a great idea. My assumption at the time was that the tonearm ground lug was most likely connected at the same circuit point as the two pin 1 connections. 

We'll find out latter this week. 

Just to clarify one point, the TT is grounded to the preamp. The question being is it the correct point?