New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

Piedpiper : Initially , I filled the counterweight with mortight . Later, opting to remove the mortight repacking the tube with cotton pipe cleaners. The pipe cleaners allowed for damping the tube to suit my taste -- Four trimed , densely packed pipe cleaners appeared to be just right for me. Thanks to you and oilmanmojo for sharing a mother-lode of useful information.

Crem1,

you're nuts!

Of course, you knew that but...

Seriously though, what did you notice with your variable pipe cleaner damping?

Piedpiper : I found that filling the tube with mortight affected tonearm/cartridge compatibility.

To me the compliance factor changed perhaps because the total effective mass had been altered. For instance, Grados did an accelerated "Grado dance" and my Aq 7000fe sounded strident ,as did my dynavector and a slew of other pickups. By changing from mortight to compressed natural fibers ( in my opinion ) gave me more options -- damping varients which returned my TT to audio-heaven . Generally, most published material on the subject suggests tonearm/cartridge resonance issues revolve around the front of the tonearm. However, when you are dealing with with an "L'-ish" styled linear tracker supported by air bearings & effectly floating on air, weight/damping issues from either the front or back maybe a problem. I took note of the fact that it appears L.Walker maybe attempting to eliminate the above by his use of a air bearing tonearm design that is in open architecture , that can be viewed/copied from web pages on the internet for diyers. Good for LLoyd.

Am I crazy ? Yes sir I plead guilty as charged. But so is Pierre , LLoyd and lots of others. As you are a friend of Pierre do you reside nearby ? Should you know the name Ejazz than you know the audio-heads that make up the crowd. Some of those Kats don't think nothing of dropping 15 to 20K in a blink and trashing the rigg if they find a "better one" . Me I'm different . I try to squeese every ounce of sound out of what I own . To that purpose I reserve a few hours everyday to read Audio stuff and having done so for 28+ years. That doesn't make me smart just ahead of the curve.

Frankly, as far as I am concerned you can spend a Kilo bucks and not get one ounce more than a tricked out 'Noll. Crazy...Yep like a fox. Oh, if your really nuts try a Shun Mook record weight. Worth every $$$$. Cheers

I'm with ya, Crem. Very interesting observations re: the damping. I'll try it and see what I think. I have had some issues with stridency/tracking that I was trying to tackle, with some luck, by increasing damping. I have revisited that recently though after I had addressed some other issues that may have been more to the point.

I'm not in the neighborhood but used to be, so visits are semi regular. I know Bob, Lloyd and Pierre as a dealer and Pierre as a musician and fellow recordist. I primarily run with the musicians rather than the audiophiles when I'm back East. No high roller, I'm into efficiency, like you, minus a few years. I'm also an instrument maker so maybe I'll try my hand at a 'noll style clamp made of African Blackwood like the the Shun Mook. I much prefer the flattening of a clamp to that of a weight.

Piedpiper : Now your on to something . The added weight to the tube does nothing to eliminate your pick-up problems. Damping w/o weight affords potental options . I have given some thought to drilling three 3/4 to 1" holes in the plith putting brass hardware on top & bottom to act as "tuning pegs" via Michael Green. A little twist --who knows if I shall ever get that far. Post Note:

My cousins are musicans Tony & Michael Sciuto . Steve Dorf produced Tony's first Lp. Lots of bi-coastal travel to LA & Vegas . Kevin Brubaker & Paul Reed Smith know Michael very well. He has done design work with Kevin & Ibanz. Small world.