New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

Olimanmojo: Thanks for any help you and the guru's can provide.

Stringeen : You are spot-on about mortite. It is for that reason and others I applied Roma professional modeling clay #2 that never drys out the way mortite does. I happen to have had two , 2 lb. bricks about 10-15 years old that were as "fresh" when opened as when I bought them. Thanks for your concern.

One nagging concern of mine as I hear of your progress is about all your attention to damping. I'm not here to tell you what's right. I don't think there is such a thing, but I would bear in mind that there seems to be an inverse relationship of damping of resonance to evacuation of same through rigid undamped coupling, two examples of this being Rega and Mapleshade. The profuse use of lead on the 'Noll reflects the choice of relatively rigid damping as opposed to sorbothane or even paint. I'm guessing that the application of clay will have effects that are perceived as positive, but possibly at the expense of clarity and dynamics. After you've gotten used to the sound of your "new" 'Noll, you may want to try removing the clay and see what you hear. In the mean time I wouldn't assume that more is better in every application. My intuitive sense is to prioritize evacuation first and then damping/isolation down stream such as in isolating the platform that the table sits on from the stand that it in turn sits on. It's a subtler example of focusing on rigidity within a table/arm and having the whole thing then suspended.

Pidepiper: Your view is well expressed. Thanks, I too have the those concerns and perhaps I have misused the term dampening. What I have been attempting is to eliminate "ringing" and hollowness that I have discovered in the turntable base. I also believe I am toneing down micro-air pulsations. Hopefully, the photo's will affirm that.

The Roma issue is well expressed. For the past several days I scraped the Roma on the topside in that portion of the "Q" (the "O") so that it only covers the lead by a "thumb nail" of thickness. Surprizingly, I found on the inside of the base the lead had puffed out and making no contact with the other base materals. The air space did not appear intentional, a manufacturing error or parts seperating over time. That has been corrected.

The tail of the "Q" had been of concern to Fred Kaplan. He made no mention of it in the review ,but privately, at the time of sale, he said it was a source of concern that he believed to have been corrected by un-capping & leaving the area exposed. As posted , that was where a circular hole was drilled thru the table to house the motor. That area has been filled , we will learn later if that's a good idea.

I have been examining a Raven attempting to draw out an idea or so. What I hope is news is that floating the top bearing plate over a quiet(er) bottom plate should improve the over-all sonics, only time will tell. Before the bottom plate sat squarely on top of that lead bubble and the edge clanged , not the sweet bell sound of the top plate. My review of the underside bushings causes me to feel these should be replaced by anyone owning a similar 'Noll. Of course, the proof is in the sonics and we are not close to that. Soundsmith returned my cart with a tad of correction ,no new stylas , that's reserved for the AQ 7000 later on.

This project is more involved than I presumed in the beginning. I think the knowledge aquired is worth the effort. Piedpiper, thanks for your views. Since this project is on-going its perfectly reasonable to assume modifications to the Roma.

What happen to the Back-Side (short version):

The flip-side of the 'noll table was stripped of the motor , electrical blocks & wires . Air connections were made as short as deemed reasonable, clamped & dampened. Adjustment valves removed. Guidance was derived from re-reads of reviews and interviews ;their essence emphasized controling mechanical/air pulsations inside the 'Nolls base.

The places filled with Roma were choosen by the use of a tuning fork & scope and just plain eyeballing. I choose to fill the spaces approx. 80-85% leaving either leaving smooth or convex clay bottoms , some with slight air spaces. Small divots and cut-outs were filled in the same manner. All were blue taped ; replacement bushings, heavy duty washers, new center pin were installed and a lite interface between the botton bearing plate and a gentle tightening.

The back was re-painted a hard shell gloss black , the white plastic side pannels lightly sanded to remove manufacturing imperfections where they frame the bottom-side of the turntable's base. Soon Robb will re-finish the top-side parts.

Odd 'an Ends: Spoke to Robb of "Fine Finishes". Robb's begun working on a time consuming project that's delaying the repaint of the TT parts for weeks. I've nixed the idea of painting the white, plastic base. I've concluded a paint/color tinted clear coat finish just can not stand up to the hands-on effort it takes to relocate this mug. I'm going to clean the white, plastic finish with wet finishing paper , cleaners & polishes then buff to a satin-shine.

The phono wiring is to be re-inspected and re-installed in the tonearm tube. The tonearm tube measures 6" with about another 1" for the head shell unit. The 7" tonearm tube and head shell may extend another 1/4" to 3/8" (or less) for phono cartridge adjustment. I think the effective mass is about 11.5 , maybe slightly less.

A couple stops @ Home Depot's resulted in sourcing short, red oak semi-finished plinths (approx.8'Lx3"Wx1"H) to construct the reverse "Z" for seating the TT motor. More on the way...