Surface noise

Not really a whooshing sound. I've also changed the phono section tubes around with no difference (Rogue Audio 66 Magnum pre-amp). Your comment about the bearing noise sounds interesting. The tonearm does seem to deliver a decent amount of noise through the system when I tap on it with my finger. I think that's why I've described it as kind of a hollow sound, but clearly the sound is of the needle running over the flat vinyl in between tracks when I have the volume up pretty high. I have not done any kind of lubrication, etc to the table. The last time it was gone through was by Soundsmith over 10 years ago. What should I try to lubricate and how?

Have you done anything to load the cartridge? Grados seem to like about 8000-12,000 ohms.

Loading the cartridge? Now you've lost me.

Problem solved !!!!! Thanks to everyone for the advice. All I did was bump the VTF to 2 grams from 1.5. No more "noise" in between tracks. Should I start to tweak it down a bit until I hear the noise again?
Brian

Grados don't seem to like excessive tracking forces. I would not go above 1.7 grams.

As per loading. There is a lot of discussion about loading MC cartridges (most of it bogus- loading MC cartridges is all about energy at RF frequencies rather than audio frequencies- there are other threads regarding this matter).

But MM cartridges should be loaded too. 'Loading' is the act of putting a load (usually a resistor) across the output of the cartridge (or input of the preamp). Because they are higher impedance than MC cartridges, the loading value is much higher as well. Like I mentioned before, Grados like something in the neighborhood of 8K-12K ohms. Your stock phono section will have something around 47K. This value will allow most MM cartridges to 'ring' (distort). By loading them, the ringing is reduced or eliminated and you will find the presentation much smoother, often more 3D, with less surface noise yet the same bandwidth (assuming that you got the loading value correct).

If the loading value is too low, the highs will suffer and you will loose output.