Tonearm microphonics

What you are listening is totally normal because that tonearm has mounted a very sensitive microphone in that Skala cartridge ( or any cartridge, it does not matters. ) that when we tap a tonearm we can have that kind of tiny " sound ". Nothing wrong with that.

This is so funny Raul keeps coming up with these funny theories that aren’t even remotely related to reality yet he portrays himself as an expert in Music Reproduction Systems and especially phono playback. A phono cartridge is not a microphone! A microphone converts sound to an electrical signal by employing the use of a diaphragm. A cartridge is actually a tiny electrical generator that uses a stylus/cantilever to create the signal using a magnet and coil and the stylus/cantilever is excited NOT by sound but by the motion of the stylus/cantilever in the record groove! These are two different things! You do not want your phono cartiridge to be "microphonic" because that signal can interact and distort the intended signal! That is why they call it "microphonic" because it is acting like a "microphone" which is not what you want the cartridge to do. A microphone is designed to reproduce sound and a quality phono cartridge is designed to NOT reproduce sound but only the signal that is in the groove which is not "sound" it is little wiggles in a groove. Raul your theories are amusing but they are almost always wrong wrong wrong.

I agree with clearthink on this. A phono cartridge is not a microphone and microphonic behavior in a turntable system is something you want to minimize. The best turntable/pickup arm/phono cartridge combinations can virtually eliminate microphonics and the distortion that results.

Dear @cleeds : I know is not a microphone and I know exactly how a cartridge works but in that behavior acts as it.

When we tap a tonearm/cartridge combination vibrations are developed and transmited to the cartridge that takes it as a " signal ".

Now, this has not to be controversial and please do it a favor:

take five different tonearm/combinations and ( in any audio system. ) tap/hit the tonearm and " listen ".
As I posted in different systems we need different volume levels on set up and way important is where we need to tap/hit the tonearm and the tap intensity levels. Do it as nearest you can to the headshell and then return here and share your first hand experiences about.

Of course that we can improve on it wrapping the tonearm arm wand or with what you want to do it but the issue is that that tap sound exist, is inherent down there. There is not perfect audio systems or tonearm/cartridge one combinations. Different kind of designs comes with different kind of trade-offs ! ! !

As I said, make the tests in your system and come back: easy, rigth? ! ! or do you already did it? yes?: ok: let us know exactly your proccess on those tests. Can be enligthed your experiences about.

Btw, any one can test it.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Raul says " that tonearm has mounted a very sensitive microphone in that Skala cartridge ( or any cartridge, it does not matters. ) that when we tap a tonearm we can have that kind of tiny " sound ". Nothing wrong with that" then he says "I know is not a microphone and I know exactly how a cartridge works" but he doesn't know "exactly how a cartridge works" at all in fact as cleeds pointed out " microphonic behavior in a turntable system is something you want to minimize" but Raul says " Nothing wrong with that" when you have microphonics which as has been noted can cause distortion. So once again Raul shows he does not understand even the most basic operation of a good Music Reproduction System and when confronted with actual facts instead of his self-created theories Raul doesn't know what to say he does not even know how to say "I was mistaken" which is what makes his proclamations so especially misleading it would not be so bad if Raul said, "My theory is" but what he says is "it's a fact" and in the case of Raul his theory and the facts are often occupying separate universes but when Raul starts to get out in to the real world he will probably figure out that many of his theories about all sorts of things are just that and don't line up with how things really are. Time to start growing up and living in the real world, Raul!

I submit that tapping tests are inconclusive or misleading. We know that cartridges (and tonearms) are designed to have resonant frequencies around 10-12 Hz. That’s so acoustic waves won’t excite their natural frequencies (since they the acoustic waves don’t go that low). So it’s the very low structureborne frequencies we should worry about, not acoustic waves or tapping. Isolation, not damping, is the answer. If you don’t like the way tapping sounds don’t tap it. Tapping is not necessarily an indication of anything since most likely nothing natural will have the same impact or amplitude.