IMHO, the hum is a mechanical hum, and is the result of the motor vibrations being transferred through the plinth. If you take the motor out. You can turn it on and off all day with no hum whatsoever. This was verified by using the tape monitor and listening through a set of headphones and was the reason for going with the 300 RPM motor (less vibration). Keep in mind that Im still getting hum when listening through the phono-stage in my system.
Actually using the source monitor on the tape deck is great for this in that it allows you to amplify whatever is coming through the cartridge. There are things that are going on that are covered up by the music. By using the tape monitor with belt disconnected from the platter, and the arm down on the platter you can heard the noise (mechanical hum) from the motor when it's turned on and off quite clearly. Normally on this table, what happens is that when everything is connected the cartridge acts like a microphone and the mechanical hum is picked up along with the music from the LP. I may not be explaining this quite right, but I never had this problem with my LP12. There was never any hum at all on the tapes made on my Naks or Revox machines. All of the tapes made on those machines are dead quiet. Also, I have a Project table here and no hum. Also, there is a possibility that you guys may still have the hum, but are not noticing it because you arent recording. Still, I'm open. I think that in my case, we may have to go with an outboard motor configuration of some kind or change the table to an Aries which has an outboard motor assembly. But right now I'm not in the mood to be spending a lot of money on this.
Where I'm at now. I have the Classic 300 RPM motor with the new pulley with a set of Audioquest King Cobra cables and a Dyna 10X5. The hum is lower (tolerable) but still aggravating. I talked to Peter of Soundsmith about the shielding on his cartridges and he said that all of his cartridges are six sided shielded and were shielded in the same fashion. So the shielding is the same on a Zephyr as a Carmen. So I ordered a Carmen. I will contact my dealer later in the week to let him know how the 300 RPM motor is working out and to inform him that I still have my problem. Im not as frustrated as I was earlier because there are people who have real problems (food, clothing, shelter) and here I am blessed to be dealing with turntable hum. It got me back on track, Im just going to see this through. However, I dont feel that this is my problem if you get my drift.
Actually using the source monitor on the tape deck is great for this in that it allows you to amplify whatever is coming through the cartridge. There are things that are going on that are covered up by the music. By using the tape monitor with belt disconnected from the platter, and the arm down on the platter you can heard the noise (mechanical hum) from the motor when it's turned on and off quite clearly. Normally on this table, what happens is that when everything is connected the cartridge acts like a microphone and the mechanical hum is picked up along with the music from the LP. I may not be explaining this quite right, but I never had this problem with my LP12. There was never any hum at all on the tapes made on my Naks or Revox machines. All of the tapes made on those machines are dead quiet. Also, I have a Project table here and no hum. Also, there is a possibility that you guys may still have the hum, but are not noticing it because you arent recording. Still, I'm open. I think that in my case, we may have to go with an outboard motor configuration of some kind or change the table to an Aries which has an outboard motor assembly. But right now I'm not in the mood to be spending a lot of money on this.
Where I'm at now. I have the Classic 300 RPM motor with the new pulley with a set of Audioquest King Cobra cables and a Dyna 10X5. The hum is lower (tolerable) but still aggravating. I talked to Peter of Soundsmith about the shielding on his cartridges and he said that all of his cartridges are six sided shielded and were shielded in the same fashion. So the shielding is the same on a Zephyr as a Carmen. So I ordered a Carmen. I will contact my dealer later in the week to let him know how the 300 RPM motor is working out and to inform him that I still have my problem. Im not as frustrated as I was earlier because there are people who have real problems (food, clothing, shelter) and here I am blessed to be dealing with turntable hum. It got me back on track, Im just going to see this through. However, I dont feel that this is my problem if you get my drift.