Cheeky I know ....but thought I would try my own....

[bauzace50]

This is just to reflect Blue Angel's opinion, with my own opinion. Introducing another compliance into the sequence of materials might only produce additional problems.
This, of course, is only an opinion without actual experimentation. Echoing Blue Angel, also, the best would be just to try it.
I, however, have many other things to merely try something which strikes me as highly improbable. Good for you, if you discover the better five cent cigar...
In this particular case, I will be happy to let others experiment, and will happily jump on the bandwagon when proof is presented.

[argibbo]

Coo. liquorice alsort damping! Think we can do better than that!

Just as an experiment I tried removing my London Gold from the arm. So far so good. Can't get more isolated than that. Having returned to my seat still clutching the Decca I realised there was little or no chance of the stylus making contact with the groove.. The three wires dangling in the headshell only re-inforced the notion that something was not right. I re-balanced the arm and the wires no longer dangled. Now they scraped the surface of the vinyl. Still no sound from the speakers. Then I realised the Decca was not connected to the pre amp. Quick fix needed. Taking careful aim, I threw the cartridge straight at the arm. Oh, audio nirvana. For just a brief moment the three pins on the London must have contacted the wires in the arm in the correct sequence. Perfect sound. I quite distinctly heard the sound of a Decca London Gold hitting the wall behind the turntable. Not too bright, no mis-tracking, just pure clean sound. My aim must have been off though as the moment was gone as quick as it came. I sat there stunned. Then it dawned on me. Unfortunately the cartridge needs to be connected directly to the pre amp and mounted as rigidly as possible in the arm. That way vibrations in the groove are absorbed directly by the stylus/generator assembly and not wasted by moving the cartridge body relative to the arm. damn. Thought I had the answer. Recovered the Decca, re-mounted it in the arm and sat back to listen to the beguiling midrange and mistracking on signal peaks. Home again, back in the real world!

[argibbo]

"It's all in the mind"

This is so true. If you'd just spent £500 on an upgrade you'd be listening for £500's worth of difference as you sat back down in the sweet spot. You're bound to hear a difference. A subtle psychoacoustic change has taken place. Your wallet is £500 lighter .This hurts. Your brain is only trying to alleviate the pain. Your ears are straining to hear £500 quids worth of difference. The power of suggestion alone is enough to convince you that a beneficial change has taken place in your system. Never mind that you have to justify the expenditure to her indoors. If you've spent £500 and can't hear the difference she might just as well have had that new dishwasher/fridge/freezer/pool attendant. Better to play along and talk up the improvement your new sound absorbing doo dah has made rather than thinking a new kitchen thingy might shut her up long enough so you can enjoy your music in peace!

[bastlnut]

hallo all,

i just love it when someone attaches a gold value cartridge on a fake gold rest and says that it just is not worth its money. dacca's are nice, but so are other animals like SPU's and CLASS 'A' ELECTRONIC STUFF.
what is even worse is a gold quality vinyl system played on that ''great old receiver system i have from.....''
every system has its pro's and cons. what are you comparing it with? why are you comparing it with anything at all? what do you want to say about your thoughts or unshakeable opinion? do you hear what you want or is it ''great for what it cost me''. loving the quality of one manipulative presentation over another manipulative presentation is a ''matter of taste?''.

have you heard how an unbearable recording of ''something'' suddenly sounds presentable on a 'super system' that plays something more than ''the until now most absolute most incredible most realistc most transparent rendition that you have heard until now?''

believe it ir not, better quallity makes for better music. this is how i earn part of my living, setting up and correcting system set-ups so they sound like they should. this is thanks to internet and the closing of many hifi stores/dealers because of everyone TRYING TO GET THE BEST DEAL and having no idea of how to set up there system for themselves. THEY COME TO ME!!!

the decca cartridges bring music back out of the boring state it has found itself in. so do koetsu's and allaerts and tranfigurations and dynavectors and benz micros and....and.......

pick and choose. find your way out of mediocraty! fast, hurry up! NOW

regards,
bastlnut

[Kim_Bond]

I've tried the Isolator and found it very effective. When the mounting adhesive wore out, Mr Gregory kindly sent some more. It's a nice idea, and the same principle is commonly applied by the manufacturers of computer hard drives to ensure the reading heads track accurately and to isolate the whole assembly from bumps and thumps.

Correctly chosen, the damping material's compliance and damping factor will ensure that the cartridge and tonearm form a damped resonant system with a low resonant frequency. For all frequencies above 1.414 times the resonant frequency, the cartridge and the tonearm are effectively mechanically isolated from each other. Very little higher frequency vibration will be transmitted from the cartridge into the tonearm (and vice versa). The trick is to find the right damping material to ensure a low resonant frequency ..... E-A-R Specialty Composites is one such manufacturer, supplying the computer and aerospace industries.

Potentially, a good isolator also offers more accurate tracking in the groove when compared to direct connection to the tonearm, depending on the dynamic behaviour of the cartridge and tonearm combination. This is often very complex - an isolator can be a very effective way of circumventing the complexity and achieving good sound.

I have applied the same principle to isolate loudspeaker drivers from their enclosure, significantly reducing radiation from the baffle. A happy secondary effect was to greatly reduce some resonant modes of the driver, where the cabinet was acting as the second body of the resonant system.

I think the audio industry has a lot of catching up to do ....

[Alabama978]

I wonder if the effect is better or worse with different cartridges? Could it be that the subtle difference in the way manufacturers build a MC or MM cart i.e. damping sounds different from model to model or manufacturer?

[blisteringbarnacles]

I tried the isolator again recently. Seemed just to dull the sound although I did no a-b recordings to be fair.
also it's very easy to squidge out of whack.

[ripblade]

I spent the better part of a year trying to improve the sound of a Rega RB 250 tonearm. Heard so many good things about it, and it's cheap. After spending 200% more on upgrades than what I paid for the arm, I began to consider some of the more esoteric tweaks that have been used to tame the resonances in the wand: Slots, or holes? Wraps, bulkheads or foam?

Then I realised the Isolator was the answer I was looking for. The only easy way to tame an RB is to remove it from the acoustical equation.

So I bought a different arm..