Help... my turntable is alive!


I am hearing a heartbeat through my turntable between tracks, and also when the music is very quite in the song's track. This noise is at 33 BPM in sync to the turntable rotation. It's very quiet unless of course the volume is turned up, but can clearly be heard. I don't think its rumble as it has a distinct "heartbeat" sound.

My turntable is a Basis 2500 with a Graham 2.2 arm and a Goldring 1042 cartridge set at 1.70 grams tracking force. Any guesses here? Is the bearing on the turntable shot?

Thanks
koestner
Maybe there is something on or under your belt. Have you inspected the belt carefully for wear, flaws and debris?
Sounds like something could be mechanically "bottoming out" if it is periodic e.g cartridge rear end hitting a warp or negative VTA causing the thicker section of the tone arm to hit a warp(?)

It's a long shot but perhaps when the Graham counterweight is ultra close to the pivot could become momentarily grounded with an extreme warp? I'm not very familiar with the 2.2 so this could be a big misconception on my part.
Well, thank you all for those excellent thoughts.

1. I played a very flat thick 45 RPM record 12" and there was no "heartbeat" at all. Not faster, but rather gone.

2. I checked the belt and it looks fine.

I'm thinking it was a record warp. Since it does not happen on the very flat records, then the turntable bearing is probably OK.

The cartridge comes very, very close to the record when playing and a sharp warp could be the "bottoming out" heartbeat noise. Certainly I need to inspect this issue for more evidence.

I immediately feared the worst, and typed up my question in haste. Thanks again, and I will be doing a more scientific investigation in the next few days and post my results.

John


The cartridge comes very, very close to the record when playing and a sharp warp could be the "bottoming out" heartbeat noise. Certainly I need to inspect this issue for more evidence.
Looks like the suspension on your cartridge may have sagged over time, it shouldn't be that close to the record. You might want to check this out.