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Help... my turntable is alive!

I am hearing a heartbeat through my turntable between tracks, and also when the music is very quite in the song's track. This noise is at 33 BPM in sync to the turntable rotation. It's very quiet unless of course the volume is turned up, but can clearly be heard. I don't think its rumble as it has a distinct "heartbeat" sound.

My turntable is a Basis 2500 with a Graham 2.2 arm and a Goldring 1042 cartridge set at 1.70 grams tracking force. Any guesses here? Is the bearing on the turntable shot?

Thanks
koestner
cleeds
2,065 posts
 
moonglum
... if one considers that the pivot is the primary means of adjusting VTA and that the movement is constrained to the vertical axis, if one assumes that "horizontal"/"neutral" VTA is effectively "zero" on that axis then ...
But that's mistaken. VTA is the angle between the cantilever (measured from the cantilever's pivot to the stylus contact area) and the record surface. The ideal VTA in any given setup is a function of the cartridge's design and the cutting head that was used in making the LP. It's actually a critical setup parameter. So to describe it as "zero" under some circumstances simply isn't correct. I can see how the misunderstanding occurs, but that doesn't make it correct.
moonglum
605 posts
 
Dear Cleeds,
I think you are are confusing angular quantification of VTA with *someone's* attempt to indicate the direction of a VTA adjuster on a tone arm. This "positive" or "negative" attitude does not attempt to account for angular displacement just the general attitude of the tone arm post-adjustment.

If you can offer a better "convention" that describes it by all means do so and we'll use that instead. ;)
We await your deliberations with interest.

Bill



cleeds
2,065 posts
 
moonglum
... I think you are are confusing angular quantification of VTA with *someone's* attempt to indicate the direction of a VTA adjuster ...
 Sorry, but I'm not confused at all. There's a singular accepted definition for VTA, and a "negative VTA" simply isn't physically possible. 
moonglum
605 posts
 

Dear Cleeds,
Since you haven't offered an alternative convention but merely stand by your original position there's little more to be said. I'll keep using that convention because it does describe the tonearm's attitude with respect to a neutral reference point. ;^)

Bill

folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,149 posts
 
@moonglum the alternative convention that I always use is simply "tail up" to indicate the cartridge sloping down towards the front, and "tail down" to indicate the reverse. No chance of confusion with this one.
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