Anyone notice different amounts of surface noise with different arms?

@richardbrand I think you need to know that I am all over digital reproduction. My phono stage runs directly into a Lynx Hilo, a studio ADC, switcher, USB DAC. RIAA correction is done by computer. I have been using a digital pre amp with room correction and subwoofer management since 1996. 

You are correct. The phonograph cartridge is a vibration measurement device and it does not care where the vibration comes from. However, other than the primary suspension resonance in the 8 to 12 Hz range, a well designed tonearm does not contribute much. Because the moving mass in a cartridge is so low it has trouble exciting any resonance in the much heavier arm. None of my cartridges display any audible needle talk. What I find rather funny is people have their turntables totally open and exposed to the sound their system is making. Ideally, you would have your turntable in another room. My turntable is floating inside a plinth with a heavy duty dust cover that is totally sealed when closed and attenuates sound by a measured 10 dB. In spite of extremely expensive cartridges of all types it still can not compete with a well mastered, high resolution digital file. I play records because I have always played records. Playing records is psychologically comforting because it has given me decades of pleasure. I still go to record stores just to flip through, it's my version of an amusement park. Shopping online can not compare. But, If I really want to blow someone away I'll pick a digital file every time. Even Raul agrees!

Tonearms make a difference. Even different tonearm wands on the same air bearing sound different, with the same cartridge, set up over days. Since my tonearm has repeatable measurements (error bars 20 seconds of arc, 50 microns linear) and settings, it is easy to make exact comparisons with painstaking setup.

My experience says that tonearm wands make a difference.

@mijostyn Seems as if we are furious agreement on most things!  My stereo was stolen just after CDs came out, and just before I did a round-world trip.  I called unannounced on Quad in Huntington, UK and met Peter Walker.  I asked him what he thought of these new-fangled CDs and he said they were fantastic.  So I bought a pair of Quad electrostatic speakers, pre-amp and amp in the UK and a CD player in Singapore.  On that trip, my dad gave me his Garrard 301 turntable with SME 3009 arm and Shure V15 cartridge, but I have not bought a record (except test disks) since.

I am in this mainly for the music, which in my case is predominantly large-scale orchestral. My curiosity in vinyl was piqued by the high prices the Garrard can command, so I thought I'd spend a bit of time and money to give it a good shot at impressing me.  Like you, I am astonished at the plinths available which do not include covers.  My Garrard is in a 1970s hollow plinth from SME, with a suspended mounting board.  I am building an internal plinth to basically fill up the hollows.  By raising or lowering the internal plinth, I expect to be able to switch between a fully solid plinth and a suspended design.

Results so far are promising, in the sense that I sometimes think to myself "If I heard this playing at a hi-fi show I would be impressed".

@richardbrand IMHO, you should dress it up and sell it then get a better amp or digital processor. The only reason to have a turntable is if you have a lot of records. If you do not, I always suggest you spend the money on digital music. Those of us that are older and have a ton of records have a psychiatric illness, megavinylosis. It is a lifelong illness responsible for the consolidation of trillions of tons of petroleum, rice paper and cardboard, enough energy to light up NYC for a decade. On the bright side it also sequestered tons of CO2. That's great marketing slogan, Save the Environment, Buy Records.  

@mijostyn   Not half as good as, "Digitally perfect sound." Guess that's why all CD players sound alike.