Cartridge ISOLATION; What Say You?

If the arm tube is not damped you're going to have problems! But decoupling the cartridge from the arm will not be a solution in that it will be akin to placing a bandaid over a rash that won't go away.


The platter supports the LP; in theory at least there will be no slop in the platter bearing so the platter, if there is any vibration, will be vibrating in the same plane as the plinth. The arm must be also rigidly coupled to the plinth in the same manner as the platter. The plinth thus must be both rigid and dead. The arm will have no slop in its bearings and the arm tube is non-resonant.


If these parameters are met then the pickup will not transduce vibration in the platter as it will be vibrating in the same plane.


If the arm is decoupled from the plinth a coloration will be introduced. But if the plinth simply isn't up to the task in the first place, this may actually be perceived as a good thing.


My comments are based on the idea that the platter, plinth and arm are properly engineered. Introducing isolation at the base of the arm or the mounting of the cartridge is guaranteed to introduce a coloration. But if the equipment isn't engineered properly in the first place it might actually be perceived as an 'improvement', but what's really happening is a lucky compensation for an inadequacy has been found. It won't work the same on every machine, that's for sure!

I hve tried the Isolator on Hadcock, Mørch, Scheu and Dynavector arms using various Zyx MC cartridges. In each case it provided a more than subtle improvement.
Millercarbon is right to point out the deleterious vibration transmission from the cartridge body into the arm. Len Gregory would probably point out that the polymer used is too stiff to result in mushy tracking against Atmasphere’s point.

Convincing points Yea or Nay,

My arm/arm-board/plinth (70mm 7 layer JVC) are solid, thus I believe all groove/stylus vibration is going into the cartridge; Plinth factory leveling feet on 2" square isolation pads to lessen my springy wood floor vibrations as I walk away.

I've got a few sheets of 'gasket paper', you cut your own exhaust manifold or carburetor gaskets from it. I'll dig it out, think about it, perhaps try it on one of my 3 arms.

two layers of heavy duty duct tape?

I have a few Decca cartridges. Been using them since the 80s. When I upgraded two of them from the red bendy plastic fitting to the milled aluminum Decapod, I noticed a specific change to the presentation of music. The improved and more rigid mount tightened the music, if you will, lending more stability to the image, faster transients, reduced sibilance, slightly larger and blacker soundstage. While I prefer the accuracy, and would never go back, I will say that it did reduce the musicality of the device. Just a little but it did raise the question of why. Why did it sound more musical? Colorations from vibrations? Harmonics?

My take is simple.  The cartridge needs a solid sink to take excess vibrations that are generated in the cartridge while playing the record.

I tried a couple of isolation devices, and found they smeared the frequency balance and the soundstage, messed with the bass, and generally degraded the sound.