noromance: Anyone use PTFE (plumber’s) tape? I use PTFE on the tonearm of my Technics SL1210 M5G. I consider it an ideal mod, at least for that application. Advantages are: - It’s very light, and doesn’t significantly affect the tonearm’s effective mass.
- It uses no adhesive, which makes it easy to install and remove with no residue.
- It’s crazy cheap. At about $1/roll, it costs about 17 cents of PTFE tape to wrap a 9" arm wand.
- The tape stretches subtly as you wrap it around the tonearm, and then shrinks back into shape, adding subtle pressure to the tonearm tube and thus damping it.
- It works really well on the Technics tonearm. I was hearing a bit of upper midrange glare in the tonal balance. To find the source of the resonance, I began flicking my fingernail against various metal components on the turntable. Flicking the tonearm produced a fairly sharp, high frequency "ping," I estimate at around 3Khz. I got a roll of PTFE tape left over from installing a shower head and wrapped it around the arm wand, with about an 1/8" overlap from wrap to wrap. I also wrapped the knurled collar that secures the headshell to the tonearm.
When I fired up the rig, the glare was gone, but there was no evidence of overdamping. The presentation had weight and body, the the treble also had air and the overall presentation improved in dynamics and inner detail. |
@celander : At the end what we want is to tigth ( tension hold to the arm pipe ). with enough force the arm pipe and if the foil/wrapp has damping characteristics the better but not essential for the job. I think that even at 30-35° it works. We need the damping all over the frequency range not only in one frequency range, we need at least at both frequency extremes as a fact the bass range is so importamnt about.
The Sumiko works because it puts enough force against the arm pipe " killing " vibrations/resonances where it makes its harm " work ".
@johnnyb53 , with this damping method you can't overdamp the tonearm because you are not altering the pivot bearing free movements but helping about.
R. |
The Sumiko Analog Survival Kit used a thin tape to be wound tightly
around an arm tube slightly overlapping the winds. It was not heavy. The Analog Survival Kit was the brainchild of Warren Ghel, currently employed at ARC. He developed this about the same time that SOTA came out with the Cosmos turntable, so about 28 years ago or so. I think he still has access to some of the materials. |
Cryoing the tonearm would certainly be a step in the right direction in terms of resonance control, stiffness and strength. As would ensuring that the tonearm wires are going in the right direction, obviously.
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Dear @celander : """
certainly be a step in the right direction in terms of resonance control, stiffness and strength. """
that'as the main concept of the wrapp subject. Took those inside listening cartridge frequency range out of the cartridge signal and that's why the 3M 434 could works with no problem at any temperature but you can go to use the wrapping with other kind of item. Some one mentioned teflon tape that seems to me a little " soft " for this job but you can try too.
R. |
