Help... my turntable is alive!

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.

moonglum

... something could be mechanically "bottoming out" if it is periodic e.g cartridge rear end hitting a warp or negative VTA ...

Certainly a pickup arm can be adjusted so that it and the VTA are too low, but there's no such thing as a "negative VTA." That's physically impossible.

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.

+1