Why are my woofers pumping?

Are you able to turn down the gain on the phonostage?

analogluvr"Are you able to turn down the gain on the phonostage?"

It has become increasingly obvious and apparent that the underlying responsible problem this particular user is experiencing is related to his turntable and possibly although not likely his cartridge/tonearm combination and there is no way that the gain of the phono stage could have any effect influence or ability to correct the problem which the user doesn't seem willing to take the steps necessary to resolve anyway. 

 Turning down the gain on the phonostage may alleviate the issue somewhat, it did for me previously. Agreed it is not solving the problem but it would be highlighting it less. 
 Alternatively it should be easy enough to get a rumble filter made with balanced connectors, you could contact the previously mentioned Dan Santoni for that. Shouldn't be that expensive depending on the level of parts you use. 

Dear friends

Atmasphere, VPI - if the pumping repeats once per revolution, how do you know it is the drive / turntable, and not the record itself?

As shown above - the evidence in my case points to the vinyl. E g the pumping varies from record to record. It would not have done so, if it was due to the turntable. And a number of turntable fixes have no effect. AND vinyl recordings made on my former HW-19 turntable seems to pump the same way! The main suspect is the cart-arm combo.

I hope to test this, with a different (lower compliance) cart, in some weeks time, and will report back.

Clearthink - I do want to resolve the problem! I agree with your line of thinking - I also thought it was a two-component problem (low resonance plus something - possibly a turntable issue) - but recent testing seems to show that this is wrong. It is basically a one component problem - the resonance. I’ve tried a lot of remedies, so far. The turntable is not the main suspect. Please folks, read up on the Hanss T30 players. Not where you would look for rumble (and I have tried).

Analogluvr - good idea. I can vary the phono stage volume (it has volume controls). Basically, up to a point, the more the Aesthetix phono stage takes care of the gain, the better the sound. The sound is fine with the Einstein preamp also, but still, it is a step down (the sound is more slim, solid state, compared to the fat, organic Aesthetix). The best fit, in my system, is ca two thirds Aesthetix, one third Einstein gain, before the signal is fed to the amps.

I tested a bit - Pink Floyd: Echoes, once more - changing relative gain levels. Result: much the same woofer behavior, regardless of the phono stage / preamp mix. Like you write, maybe turning down the Aesthetix "alleviates" the problem, but this is marginal. Basic conclusion, the amount of gain phono stage vs preamp is not a decisive factor.

Once more I note that the woofer pumping varies with the LP. Example: I put on my UK original of Colloseum: Those who are about to die, expecting pumping, but there is little, despite very energetic woofer movement within the music tracks. Is there, still, a part-subsonic rumble, due to the low resonance, disturbing the sound? I don’t know, but it is not very obvious. The bass on this LP seems limited (compared to Pink Floyd Meddle, made ten years after). The problems I hear with the sound seem to relate to the treble, not the bass.

My system has "distributed" bass reproduction. It is not a full Audiokinesis "Swarm" bass system, but goes part of the way, with four speakers reproducing the bass. These can be aligned in the analog domain by positioning and other measures. This sounds better than any form of digital equalization I have heard so far. I had a Velodyne DD-18, but sold it.