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Because the compliance of the motor does not protect the pivot location of the cantilever (THE most important location in a turntable) from bouncing about in response to mechanical impulses. When that location is allowed to be modulated by ANYTHING other than the mean of the groove position is - by definition - distortion.

Steve McCormack is a friend of mine. He would not be offended by me saying those spikes - or ANY rigid "footer" - do NOT decouple at all. They only change the mechanical impedance between payload and support surface. This *can* improve the sound because it changes the spectra of the energy transfer, but it does not diminish energy transfer. There is too much else to unpack in your comment for me right now because an introduction of such a device at such a critical location also introduces SO MANY other new variables to the stage - each deserving a comment but I cannot do that here. Sorry! Stay tuned to Sound Bite series and I will cover some of things directly related to your point. Thanks for the comment!

I actually debated whether to use the word "decouple" as I read elsewhere it wasn't a good word to use in that context. Maybe bad choice of words (out of convenience) and simplicity regarding my time, but I think people know what I mean. Like using the term electron flow, when flow is a word (out of similar convenience), moreso than a perfectly apt description of how electrons actually move After over 30 years of, who knows how many hundreds of experiments with audio, I have come up with enough dozens of creative tweaks and mods, (ones that always work in my experience) that I can triple sound quality. Although it's hard to put an exact figure on it; I'm sure my estimate is very close or maybe even an "underestimate". Imaging is the most amazing improvement of all perhaps, with singers voices always sounding like they are coming from the ceiling (with great focus), and middle instruments too. With side chanel instruments, except for lower note ones, sounding like they are coming from the ceiling also (4 feet above the top of the speakers). No matter what speakers I use. Out of this world great signal integrity, makes the sound go "UP" as in upward,;directionally, (and backward too) as in unbelievably incredible depth. A good part of my improving sound quality success has to do with decreasing resonances and vibration; even though I don't fully understand why certain things work as well as they do. I just have the "ears" to hear that they do work and make an inprovement. And if you have enough improvement discoveries; they are cumulative and REALLY add up. The really cool thing about decreasing extraneous vibrations and resonances is that they always seem to be "across the board" improvements; meaning improving everything. Tripling sound quality is as much of an improvement (or more) as an old all in one Fisher compact with turntable on top of the shared chassis with the receiver and tape deck below, VERSUS a system put together with components & speakers in the middle of Stereophile's Class B ranking, of their Recommended Equipment.

One last note. I looked up the definition of "decouple" and my using that word was not wrong at all. You were! It certainly DOES seperate and disengage one thing from another to a degree; in this case speakers from whatever they would otherwise be sitting on. And if you claim that spikes don't decrease energy transmission from one thing to another; I would find it absurd & near impossible that the vibration of the speaker cabinet would be able to transmit AS MUCH evergy via the extremely small sharp point of a cone to the surface below, as if instead of a pinpoint, the surface was a thousand times or so bigger, like the flat part of the cone. That's one of the main ideas of using a CONE instead of something BLOCK shaped. And secondarily, vibration going through any material would make it lose much of its strength. If you had a stack of 50 empty tin cans stacked atop a slightly rattly box fan, I'm sure the 50th can on top would not have as strong a vibration going through it, as the bottom can directly touching the fan. Even without the enormously decreased surface area of a cones pinpoint surface area helping it

@@sidesup8286 Not going to argue this here. Stack of tin cans are not at all analogous to a rigid bodies of varied shapes with respect to the study of energy transfer.

It doesn't have to be tin cans in particular, and my goal is not to argue either. It can be an infinite number of materials.Vibration, just like sound, (in fact sound IS vibration), decreases with distance and loses some strength whatever extra it has to make it's way through. You can figuratively "tire out" unwanted vibrations to an extent by giving it dis-simialar material to go thru and a rougher route. Putting virtually any material having any shape, especially a calculated shape, between the bottom of a vibrating speaker cabinet and it's underlying surface will decrease the vibration somewhat. Instead of my analogy of 50 tin cans, I could have used an analogy of 6 tin cans, or 5 butter dishes, or 7 cookies etc. Anything extra that vibration has to go through lessens it, if it's a material that is harder for vibration to pass through it lessens it even more. Other materials lessen the vibration less. But any different material that I know of (will lessen the vibration to at least some degree), sinply because it is something EXTRA for the vibration to make it's way through. If I ever get deeply back into vinyl, I might consider the substantial investment in the Wally Tools. I'm sure the right geometry matters... Is it true that in the making records process, the cutter head is slightly angled, instead of cutting straight up and down, so the displaced material being gouged out and displaced, goes off to the side, and is vacuumed up, instead of getting in the way and the path of the cutter head, as it would if it cut straight up and down?, If so, I would think that the cartridge when playing back lps, should be similarly slightly slanted as to more perfectly fit into tbe record groove. I had a turntable with an adjustment on each side to raise or lower the platter. Using a bubble level, getting the platter perfectly level, never sounded as sweet, as adjusting it so the platter was ever so slightly slanted. Perhaps to be in line with how the cutter heads cut, that were slightly slanted? And lp grooves that were likewise. That would make sense. But the intricacies of the lo making pricess is not my specialty. Could be wrong on that one. I'm more of a cd and reel tape guy.

Thank you, Rick!

Alexey is one solid guy who makes a great product! Dissimilar materials create opportunity for constrained layer damping. This is a benefit of adding multiple different (but rigid) materials in intimate contact with each other. However, the devil is in the details. Any time you introduce a boundary you create an opportunity for the energy that doesn't get damped out to reflect back towards its source. In this case, that source is VERY sensitive - the pivot location of the cantilever. When this happens, you generate a new signal that becomes part of your noise floor.

You are welcome! More to come...

Sorry, perhaps I don't understand your question but the only reason I can think of that could prevent setting up SRA and VTA optimally is if the body of the cartridge does not allow sufficient adjustment to SRA/VTA without touching the record. However, this situation usually does not prevent us from IMPROVING the alignment somewhat - it might only prevent us from hitting our optimal target.

You can clean the top of the cantilever with the Groovewasher brush but you should not do this with the short-haired stiff bristled brush. You could also get a paint brush with longer, softer bristles do the cantilever cleaning as well. Be sure NOT to push any detritus into the front yoke hole/gap. I hope that helps.

Great! Thanks J.R.

@@ginovairo6487 I don’t have enough information on those to have a substantive view. I have had good experience with one model that did a good job of removing some very difficult to remove detritus from the stylist.

@ are you able to say what model it was?

Flux HiFi

Take the gel pad to a mirror. Wipe it against the mirror. What do you see? Whatever you see, will end up in your grooves.

You are very welcome!

You’re welcome!

Ortofon specifically prohibits wet cleaning with solvents. In other words, don’t use alcohol-based wet cleaning. Likely, this has to do with the glue type they use. “The use of solvents on the stylus and cantilever may damage stylus cement; interior parts of the cartridge can be affected seriously by the intrusion of solvents. The Ortofon Aftersales will not be valid in cases where such treatment has caused malfunction.”

They aren't the only ones to say so but I respectfully disagree. I believe such instructions are overly cautious, having had bad experience with too many customers using solvents to clean their stylus - not a good idea, but not a reason to keep people from learning to avoid such cleaners and perform (what I see under the microscope) as necessary occasional wet cleaning.

Thanks for the comment and I can appreciate your desire to know which of the "Band-Aids" works best. However, we won't do subjective evaluation of engineering errors such as the one highlighted in this video. As mentioned in the video, I am not saying that a compliant material cannot improve the sound in some situations, but in doing so it is not at all treating the main problem that allows said compliant material to improve the sound in the first place. In our research, we are constantly aiming at optimal performance and - since there is SO MUCH to study in this arena - it doesn't leave us time to focus on the best sounding solution (which compliant material between the headshell and cartridge) to a problem one is unwilling to fix (the mechanical noise getting to the cartridge). With that said, I can tell you what I have heard when the cartridge is allowed to "float" about is loss of everything: transient impact, clarity, separation of instruments, soundstage size, intelligibility, bass solidity and extension, etc. Keep in mind that our STARTING point of this evaluation (the "before") was excellent. We use a variety of isolation tools such as Minus K, Seismion and AV Room Service EVP pads, so the compliant material didn't have any work to do besides allow the cartridge body to get muscled around by the groove content, which is EXACTLY how mechanical distortion can be defined. Your description of "airier" is a hint that the cantilever pivot point is allowed to be modulated by the groove content. This is a common subjective descriptor used for the characteristics offered by tonearms with sloppy bearings. In this case, the effect is the same, the groove content is modulating the position of the cantilever pivot point. Far from ideal. It is REALLY hard to evaluate such things as these because analog playback is a HIGHLY multivariate environment and almost no one at all controls for the variables before coming to a conclusion about the effect one change offers. In part, that is often because that one change actually affects MANY things at once - so what are you really hearing the effect of?

Ha! That's my Fisher Price arm.

@@WAM-Engineering you messing with me!!!! I used to have one of them still got it I think and the records

As long as your tonearm is a very rigid design and the turntable as well is isolated mechanically, it’s not a problem at all to add another 7 g. The high mass of your cartridge is one of the main reasons it sounds so good.

Increasing effective mass is definitely a good thing as long as certain conditions are met. I will have videos about this in the future. The whole assumption of 8Hz lower limit system resonance needs to be retired for those of us who are reaching for the performance limits of vinyl playback.

Hello.I always try to coordinate the reference values of the cartridge/tonearm close to 9.5 gz and the exact adjustment of all parameters of the tonearm and cartridge.The result is always excellent.But when a client confronts a fact and wants to put his own head, without selection, then the result is not always airy.)The happiest moment is when, after tuning in, you listen and get a true, perfect analog sound.I'm really looking forward to new videos.!thank you very much!!

Quite the opposite, actually. You’ll be seeing more from me on this

@@WAM-Engineering so why are manufacturers using carbon fiber arm tubes and the head shells? I'll wait for part two😃

@jedi-micbecause they are designing based upon a faulty assumption in their design requirements. More later.

@jedi-mic In any system you want the moving parts to be as light as possible and the stationery parts to be as massive as possible. A simple and cheap upgrade you can do is get a local headstone-making company to make you a cube of granite the size of the top of your speakers and just put it on top [assunig your speakers / stands can take it] - just adding 30kg of mass makes a huge difference. In both cases you want the stylus tip / speaker cone to move RELATIVE to the enclosure

Hi Tom!

You would know, Erick! You’ve had both. Glad you are happy with it.

It was not that arm but the Viv Labs has another advantage that the reviewed arm does not: “isolation” of the arm in an oil bath. This mitigates one big issue (external vibrational energy) but, of course, creates another problem: lack of rigidity in six degrees of freedom. Doing tonearm comparative testing is FAR more difficult than is recognized due to the large number of variables that are virtually never held constant by the evaluator between listening sessions. It takes me many hours to setup a variable controlled tonearm test and is not easy or fun to do. I know of no reviewer that is as careful to evaluate ONLY the tonearm under evaluation, much less a hobbyist. I must repeat: just because a tonearm (or cartridge, for that matter) violates optimal design characteristics required for mechanical transcription does NOT mean it will sound bad nor does it mean that it will sound less than wonderful. It just means that it is impossible for that product to deliver OPTIMAL performance.

@@WAM-Engineering Thank you, JR.

J.R. was referencing my review of the Yukisiemitsu Audio AP-01....an integrated arm/turntable. I had previously reviewed the Viv Labs arm...

As long as overhang hasn't been upset by too much (>0.5mm) then it is not worth correcting. Do the math for yourself on the induced error for cantilever alignment given a 0.5mm overhang error and you'll see that is it is less than our ability to align the cantilever ideally. I have undergone torturous static and dynamic repeatability tests and my ability to align the cantilever is limited to +/- 0.5 degrees. I can make angular changes smaller than that, but I can't SEE them reliably at time of cantilever alignment.

Hi Charles. I'm going to have to disagree with the minimization of this concern. I suppose it is a matter of agreeing on what I meant by "little rotational force". I've seen several hundred cartridges in the lab by now and I've seen this situation many times. Usually caused by stylus being dragged violently across the record surface due to an unfortunate meeting with one's hand. Of course, the system is designed to maintain the position of the coil bobbin, but that system can fail after some brute force is applied.

Thank you! Let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to discuss in future videos.

Yes!

Hi!Thank you so much for the life hack!There are nuances to any business.

The first two times you use the WallySkater are to measure the horizontal torque force of your arm with NO anti skate applied and to measure the arm’s static friction. These two tests must be done before aligning the cantilever. I discuss this in the WallySkater instructional videos. You do NOT apply anti-skate at all until the cartridge has been aligned in the headshell on the horizontal plane. See the video in the setup overview process for all of the major setup steps. Go to the website’s video page to see them in order. I hope that helps.

Ha! I know - it's atrocious. I am going to be re-filming the entire instructional series in the next few weeks so we can lay this video to rest.

@@WAM-Engineering Not atrocious! Truly lovely music and great flick! But definitely looking forward to your new instructional series. Going to be pulling the trigger on the WallyReference very soon. Already have the WallyTractor. Invaluable tools.

@@mikep8683 I recommend getting the WallySkater before the WallyReference. The WallySkater is the most important tool for setup (after a good VTF scale). Watch my videos on horizontal torque force to understand why this is so. Thanks for writing!

I can’t disagree with that!

The Basis Vector arm is also a better solution than the VPI.

Heck Yeah!!!

@@D0MM2 ROLL TIDE

THIS VIDEO IS SO HELPFUL THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are absolutely correct. Thank you!

Hi Richard! Yes, I was a bit careless with my description of the situation. While the coefficient of friction between 33rpm and 45rpm does not change given identical groove modulation (i.e., 33rpm cut and playback vs 45rpm cut and playback), the COF does change a bit for rotational speed where the groove content is held constant. HOWEVER, our measurements have shown that the degree to which the cantilever angle is affected by change in rotational speed somewhere above zero (full 33rpm vs 1rpm or whatever) for this step. Therefore, one need not worry about the difference for this application. Thank you for keeping me on my feet!