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Sub Sonics and woofer pumping

I have a VPI prime on bear claws sitting on a maple base. Floor is concrete. I use a Nagaoka MP500 cart with going to an ARC PH3se phono pre, then to a Herron 1A preamp. Amp is an ARC Classic 60. Speakers are Thiel CS 2.4’s. 
I get pretty aggressive woofer pumping with vinyl. 
I’ve lubed my bearings on the table.

my alignment is spot on. 
Tracking force at the upper limits of cart. 
I’ve added the 2nd pivot point to the 3D arm. 
I’ve even switched out the counter wt to a much heavier unit and added a comparable head shell weight to change the total mass of arm. To no avail. 
None of these things have had any effect in reducing the pumping. 
I REALLY don’t want to use a rumble filter. 
I’m left with the conclusion that the cart may not be a match for the arm, even after adding all the extra mass. 

Any thoughts or solutions. 
last_lemming
Post removed 
slaw's avatar
slaw
22,042 posts
 
Curious as to why and when you changed to BearPaws and what difference you noticed?

Never said what TT support/rack you’re using,?

Just looked at your system page. Here’s my assessment:

I know we have to deal with our own environment but having a tt in the corner/behind a speaker is probably THE worst placement for a tt, especially on a high rack.

I have an inexpensive solution for you, get one more maple shelf just like you now have under your tt and place four appropriate load rated springs between the two maple shelves. If you have access to a drill press, recess the springs 1/8" into the upper & lower shelves. This step isn’t necessary but advised. Thank me later.

Look at my system page.
slaw's avatar
slaw
22,042 posts
 
Also, make sure your two VTA tower screws are tight.
last_lemming OP
639 posts
 
So I’m noticing that on the lead in grooves where there is no sound yet but the record is playing my woofer appears to “pump” exactly once on every revolution. Also the pumping is more pronounced at the beginning of the record vs the end. 
Could have to do with the edges of records being a bit more warped than closer to the hole, but that’s just a guess. 
Is this vertical movement of the arm to blame?  And if so what is the solution here?  I changed cart thinking it was related to compliance, but this cart pumps as much as the last cart, and the new Grado i. Using now is suggested by VPI. 

I could add some wt to the head shell. But when I did that Nagaoka it didn’t change anything.  But I still could try I suppose. 

I could try setting the TT on the ground but presents issues of its own. iC’s aren’t long enough. 
I can’t buy another cart, so that’s out. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Last_lemming, are you saying this occurs with more than one record??
the lead in grooves seem to be the noisiest park of the record. If this is just one record you have either a warp or a low frequency pulse at one point on the record. No big deal. If it is happening with every record you have a much more serious problem with the bearing or platter. The Cartridge is doing what it is supposed to do. If you are worried about the tonearms resonance frequency get a test record and check where it is. Very easy to do. 
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