Four good articles on turntables and cartridges

Regarding turntable resonance, feedback, etc. From Yahoo Budget Audio Msg # 4561
Re: turntable/cart help
Ken Seger Apr 18, 2009
Here's a little, well allright BIG, rant on tonearm resonance that you might find
germane to your problem. In a nutshell, the best cartridge can perform horribly if
it is in an excellent tonearm that just so happens to be a bad combination of the
two. (if anybody read these posts of mine in 2007 on the other Yahoo group, just
ignore this)
Tonearm Resonance: A rant in two parts - Part the First
Tonearms are fun, but you can't talk about them without mentioning which cartridge
at the same time. Here is the reason. With rare exception, you can not state that
tonearm "X" has resonance "Y" that is meaningful to playing records. This is a non-
sequitur. A statement of tonearm resonance is only meaningful when you specify a
particular cartridge with the tonearm.
Think of the tonearm/cartridge combination as a spring system. You have two fixed
points, where the stylus touches the record and the tonearm pivot point. Now the
tonearm by itself DOES have a resonance IF you balance it without a cartridge so as
to hang in mid-air - the bearing friction = mechanical resistance, the total mass
and how it is distributed = mechanical inductance (resistance to movement) and
mechanical inductance (inertia). You can convert those measurements to their
electrical equivalents and you have a nice little RLC or "tank" circuit. However,
when you add a cartridge to the equation you change both the total mass and its
distribution. Then when you put the stylus onto the record, you add the spring
constant of the compliance in combination to the constant downward force of the
tracking "weight" which adds an additional amount of mechanical inductance and
mechanical capacitance. So you start with a simple circuit electrical analogue of
the tonearm floating in midair - one resistor, one capacitor, and one inductor for
a 3 element circuit. Add the cartridge and you add
another capacitor, and another inductor for a 5 element circuit. Then put the
stylus on the record and you add another BIG capacitor, and another inductor for a
7 element circuit. Now let us say you have multiple tonearm weights - after all a
small weight placed way back will give you the same tracking force as a bigger
weight place way forward on the spindle behind the pivot. Well, if you do that,
you've then changed both the amount of mass and the distribution of that new mass.
Therefore you've change the first
amount of mechanical capacitance and inductance. If you have a cartridge like the
famous ADC 25 that came with three different styli with different compliances,
that's three different spring constants.
Then since the angle of force (or more correctly vector of force) from the friction
of the stylus dragging on the record does NOT go through the tonearm pivot point of
a pivoted tonearm, that offset creates a clockwise torque which we have to counter
with an anti-skating counter force (magnetic, hanging weight, pivoted mass, or
variable spring - your choice) - bingo!, yet another spring constant for the
circuit.
I have intentionally ignored air friction in all of the above because it is so
small a factor, thankfully. I've also ignored dry versus wet playback since that
went out of style in the late 60's and was never popular in the US anyway.
Whew. I think that about covers it…..
Oops, not quite. Tonearm geometry. Whether the tonearm is straight with an angle to
hold the cartridge, or a beautiful swan's neck curve, is totally irrelevant (except
to mass distribution). You only have the following items critical to tracking skew,
distance from turntable spindle to tonearm pivot point, distance from tonearm pivot
point to stylus, and offset angle of cartridge body from line between stylus and
pivot point. With a tangential tonearms like the various Rabco arms or the B&O 4002
types, you don't have
these problems. With the tangential tonearms like the Marantz or Revox you don't
have the geometry problems either, but you do have a whole other raft of
complications, like friction. Let's not bother with the absurd Transcriptors
tangential tonearm/turntable system, what a horror. It deserved its very short
lifespan.
Part the Second
One other item, ahem - rather fundamental, about tonearm resonance, namely, SO
WHAT? What does tonearm resonance matter?
Two major items.
1. Tonearm resonance interacting with a warped record. A warp or bump on a record
is just a REALLY low frequency, and if that frequency happens to be the same or a
multiple of the tonearm resonance, it will cause the tonearm to resonate which can
lead to:
A. all sorts of sub-bass energy attempting to go through your system causing output
clipping, overdriving causing input clipping, or maybe even woofer bottoming.
B. Mistracking due to changing tracking force, causing either bad sound or leaving
the groove (skipping).
2. Tonearm resonance interacting with the turntable suspension system and/or floor
resonance. Same problems as above. Again, most likely mistracking, if not right out
skipping.
This is one of the reason that B&O turntables were so amazingly vibration
resistant. Since you could ONLY use a B&O cartridge in a B&O tonearm, they could
tune the tonearm resonance and the suspension system to frequencies that do not
interact. You could literally SLAM the dust cover down while playing with no ill
effects, other than the record owner's heart skipping a beat.
BIG NOTE: Vertical tonearm resonance can be a completely unrelated, different
frequency than lateral tonearm resonance. Ditto suspension system resonance. SO,
between tonearm AND suspension system resonance, you could be talking about at
least 4 different fundamental frequencies.
Three minor items.
3. Tonearm resonance interacting with turntable rumble. Depending on the frequency
and the turntable this could be very major. Shouldn't be enough for mistracking or
huge amounts of bass output, but certainly could muddy up the signal via a form of
I.M. distortion.
4. Tonearm resonance interacting with record rumble. Imperfections in the record
surface might be low frequency artifacts.
5. Tonearm resonance interacting with recording artifacts. In older
recordings typically microphone "popping". Can be large trucking driving by, foot
taping a microphone stand, air handling system starting up on a non-studio
recording, and myriad other sources. Glen Gould humming doesn't count, too high a
frequency.
Ken
Also back in the 1970's I helped run the Bang and Olufsen turntable clinics in
Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska and in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
To go along with my 2007 rant on tonearm resonance let me suggest the following.

1. First this article

http://www.audioholics.com/how-to-shop/turntable-buying-guideline
which references this

2. http://www.resfreq.com/resonancecalculator.html
which references this

3. The article by Poul Ladegaard from Bruel & Kjaer (B&K) has a typographical error
in it on page 3 under rumble. Where it says "switches to filter B... 30db" that
should be filter A. This article to me is like 'old home week'. The equipment shown
is the same B&K equipment that the B&O turntable clinics used which I participated
in when I worked for Audio Systems & Design in Lincoln and Omaha, NE and MPLS, MN.
To me that brings back great memories and fantastic learning experiences.

http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/spp6_pics/TT_Design/MechanicalResonances.pdf

Items to note in the article by Poul Ladegaard. Table 2 - how different tonearms
affect the amount of measured wow and flutter. If you don't understand the various
aspects of tonearm resonance, that sounds nonsensical. Page 10 is a wonderful
example of why the B&O turntables can play warped records. Page 12 second paragraph
last sentence - what I have been beating my chest and boring people to death about
for the last 40 years! Page 14 - or why B&O turntables make B&O cartridges sound so
much better than putting a B&O cartridge in some random tonearm. In summary, this
information should be enough, if understood, to scare off anybody thinking about
getting in to LPs instead of digital without putting out some serious money for a
good tonearm, or a tonearm that is matched to the cartridge.

4. I hope people note the following in the following article, "This simple
equation doesn't take into account all factors, including tonearm damping and,
internal cartridge damping, but it will give you general idea of compatibility.".
Also, "The only way to accurately measure system resonance is with a calibrated low
frequency test record and a chart recorder, or other sophisticated test equipment.
" which is a bit overblown in that IF you don't mind a bit of laborious pencil
pushing of converting voltage to db, a test record, a calibrated phono stage with
selectable sum and difference outputs, and an oscilloscope is all that is needed.
However, they did not mention that the distribution of the mass in the tonearm also
changes the resonant frequency. Thankfully they do mention, "The situation is
further complicated by the fact that we should calculate both vertical and
horizontal resonance points." Overall a good article.

https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/tonearm-cartridge-compatability/