So Weird- No Stylus Contact Woofer Pumping with Hana ML and Elac PPA-2

I wonder what would happen if you changed cartridges. Both the mat and the record elevate the rotating surface toward the suspended stylus. Every rotating surface has son "fan" effect and may air currents around the stylus and cantilever.

Put both the record and mat on the table. Using the lift what does stylus elevation do to the intensity of the pumping. With the stylus suspend over the spinning record carefully slide a piece of cardboard over the surface of the record holding on to it. What happens to the pumping. Air currents could be interacting with the unloaded resonance of the cantilever's suspension?             

@mijostyn take a look for yourself 

Right. Is there a gain difference between balanced and single ended? Run a meter across the cartridge right and left channel negative terminals. It should be open. 

You said it pumped with either the record alone and the mat alone as well as both. It only does this when wired for balanced operation which floats the ground.  I assume you will maintain single ended operation so further experimentation would require rewiring the connectors again which is a PITA. I will bring it up with a few friends and see if they have any ideas.

I run balanced all the way and can not replicate the problem. May be time to call the Ghostbusters.

Finally!! Someone who runs balanced!! Did you read this?

excerpt from the Elac PPA-2 Manual:

"Typically a balanced connection will be more immune to hum, so it would be the preferred connection. However, you must be careful that the shell of the XLR is not connected directly to the ground line within the XLR connector ( That sentence is a little confusing but I take it to mean that the shell of the XLR should not be connected to pin 1). They SHOULD be independent. The shell is the external shield of the cable and connector, and should be the CHASSIS connection. The ground wire within the XLR is twisted with the (+) and (-) balanced and should be the signal or tonearm ground. This can all be confirmed with an Ohm meter. "

I did not connect the tone arm ground to pin1. The tone arm to preamp cables are shielded star quad, so there isn’t an available wire from the arm to run the tone arm gnd. That's running externally, like a regular turntable cable. The shield ground is connected to the shell at the preamp end and floats at the other end.

That’s my deviation from the manual and although I doubt that is the issue, my doubts generally have no effect on the real world.

What do you think?

Has anyone here read the OP’s previous thread?

What is your point here @deKay?

It is almost surely a magnetic field.
I would do the test with the mat alone, and the record alone, but cannot fathom a mat being magnetic, however the fridge magnets are plasticy.

One could put a mark on platter and mat, and then try the mat at a few phase angles.
Or get a new mat, or degauss the current mat, or put a blocking capacitor somewhere.
A new mat is what I would suggest