Anyone notice different amounts of surface noise with different arms?

@rauliruegas Wow are you nitpicking Raul. Give a guy a break. Just imagine if you could align two identical cartridges in two different arms of exactly the same effective mass and bearing quality. Between you and me most people can't hear the difference between different cartridges in different arms. 

My system have distortion? Not on your life Raul. My system is perfect.....just like yours. 

Do you mean “the same cartridge in different tonearms”? Such differences are not subtle even assuming the unlikely case of perfect alignment. This experience causes me to believe there is no such thing as a tonearm that adds nothing to the sound.

@mijostyn You seem to rely a lot on imagination and thought experiments, but are reluctant to believe in the resonance properties of structures like tonearms.  Don't forget that at one end of the tonearm is a highly sensitive transducer that picks up vibrations including resonances from the tonearm and cartridge body!

In my opinion, if you want to minimise distortion you are far better off with well-recorded CDs or better still SACDs.  Before you claim digital distortion, remember that virtually all records made in the last few decades have been made using digital intermediaries.

The qualification "well-recorded" is deliberate, because it seems to be very easy to produce a poor-quality CD.  It is hard to mix digitally without significant rounding errors.  SACD is a good indication that the performing artists and sound engineers have really tried!

My personal exploration back into vinyl is inspired by the high prices offered for old Garrard 301 transcription turntables and the astonishing rebound of record sales.

@lewm 

+1

Dear @mijostyn  : Agree about my system with you.

Now, there are other individual and critical factors that goes totaly against your " inert " tonearm you posted.

Between those factors it's not only a different geometry design but different tonearm kind of mearing and the material used in that bearing, obviously the whole blend of materials used in each tonearm that are different with other tonearms designs.

Resonances/feedback, noise, distortions  and the like are generated for eacg individual factors in the tonearm designs and no one can't ( till today ) avoid all those.

I know for sure that you totally agree and your posted " aberration " was only that maybe to start this discussion and it's ok.

@richardbrand  : "  and the astonishing rebound of record sales. "  well that's only anectdotic and almost all know that. What is not anectdotic is that many/several analog lovers/LPs ( I love analog but first than all I love MUSIC. ) do not understand that from a few years now the digital alternative outferformed the analog alternative but to each his own

R.