Invictus005: I've tried your suggestion now, holding the plinth, but it makes no difference. This is a very heavy player (83 lbs). I used the runout on the Hifi News test record. And noticed, once more, that the woofer pumping is much reduced, compared to some days ago. In fact, it now looks/feels more like normal vibrations. And this is with the volume very loud (95+ db when playing music). So, where did the pumping go? I have a prolapsis so testing takes a bit of time. I wish I could tell you more exact what has caused the reduction of the problem. Besides reducing the effective mass, I did take off the platter, checked the spindle and moved the steel ball a little.
I also discovered that, indeed, "silent" record grooves are not the same. I have a UK original of Pink Floyd: Meddle, that plays amazing, especially side B (Echoes), with "HTM" in the deadwax, which means Harry T Moss "cutter extraordinaire at EMI UK" from what I read. In the silent-to-quiet opening of Echoes, the woofers pump a lot (on high volume). Is it a problem? Rather, I get the impression, this was intended by Mr Moss, to get the absolute best from the recording. As the music gets louder, I don't see the pumping (since the musical energy now grabs the woofers), although it may be there, in the background. This is what I suspect, and the reason I wanted to improve the situation in the first place. I think that this relates to a more "tense" or "disturbed" sound, and also, to a bit of break-up of the woofers at high volume (in sum - creating more listening fatigue). Btw the woofers are Acoustic Elegance TD10X (four of them in my system).
Testing again, with the HiFi News record side B band 6: Unmodulated groove (check residual system noise). Not much pumping even at unrealistic high volume. Even this track is not fully silent (what record is?) and the cone movement is in line with what I hear, indicating - I think - that indeed, the cartridge/arm combo has become less over-eager down at 5-6 Hz. I tested the runout on some other high quality records also - MFSL, ECM - same result.