New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

Thanks Crem. Keep fighting the good fight. I'll be thinking about it as well. My guess is that there are too many conflicting theories to rely on any one for your direction so intuition and experimentation are likely to pay off better; and the proof is in the music, not in the tapping. Remember that evacuation of resonances can be more important than damping, at least in certain places. Determining which are which and how to best implement will be key. Removing the motor is big, and I still want to build a separate plinth for the arm as well. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice : I agree "the proof is in the music,not in tapping". Be assured I shall experiment as to which resonances need to be evacuated and those that can be damped, as well as, those better left alone.

The areas I intend to focus upon are: The manifold & supports,the addition of a micro thin perforated interface between the top bearing plate and the lead platter , a small micro-fine mesh screen insert that covers but not obstructs the offset air induction-hole built into the inside the bottom plate; the use of high temperature-solvent resistant thread dampener rather than super gluing some parts/screws , the isolation of motor resonances using soft gel compounds ; a removable insert that slides into the 7" tonearm that can be adjusted as to length & will not alter arm's mass while reducing resonance and lastly using metal tape to block potential RFI exposure where the RCA jacks had once exited out the Table.

When I determine if any of these ideas work I shall post the results. Any and all ideas appreciated.

Another tweak that Bob Dilger told me about way back when is to turn a piece of balsa wood so to fit snugly inside the air bearing tube to dampen resonances there. One could do the same for the arm tube itself. I never did either. Another is to put all connections, splitters, valves, plenums, filters, etc, upstream of the bulk of the air tubing so that air turbulence resonances are smoothed out by the time they reach the arm. The platter is not so sensitive to this. I'm sure we can do much better than the stock Hurst motor, not to mention adding electronics to minimize resonances.

Piedpiper : Thanks. In regards to the motor issue , I aquired a complete motor , base and wall-wart. I will replace the wall-wart with a much better power supply.The motor unit is to be pluged into a line-controller so speed issues will not be a problem.

I have stocked Lo & Hi Teck materals ; most are available at lo-cost. Work is to begin as soon a few buds assist to dismantel the Ari.

The center pin is to be examined for possible replacement. The origional pin was replaced years ago. It is my opinion the center pin is a weak link. I did attempt to have a ceramic-compound pin made but no one wanted to do the job . My tool&die maker friend has retired to somewhere in Germany (ceya). The balsa idea seens to be a good one. But, how do you open the arm tube with the plastic plug already cemented in ?

The plastic plug is not cemented in very well. When i was modifying my arm, i had to tap a new screw thread and found it came out during drilling. There were two plugs in mine. I have also considered replacing the armtube with a solid piece of graphite rod to avoid the resonance factor. Just have not gotten around to completing this yet.