[Wayner]

I have done alot of experiments trying to tame down tone arm resonance and The trick I did to my Technics SL-1200, I did to my VPI Hw-19jr. with AudioQuest PT-6 tone arm. I cut about 18" of good old regular plumbers Teflon Tape and spiral wrapped the tonarm up to the tone arm latch. Teflon tape is a wonderful material as it has almost no weight, it sticks to itself and it dulls out arm resonance. I have only listened to one LP so far, but I must comment that I find the sound very clear, and where did the bass come from? Maybe this album is sounding extra good today or the AVA T8 preamp is, but the tape, in my book is the extra little kick for better performance. You must have a roll of this stuff somewhere in the house or garage....go get some and wrap your tone arm with it. Of course you will have to re-calibrate your VTF, but I think you might be surprised at the clearer definition your favorite LPs have taken on.

Wayner  aa

[TheChairGuy]

Wayner - listen a while longer to it before pronouncing it beneficial....it overdamped three tonearms I've had it on.  All the liveliness was taken from the music...tho it was 'quieter' and bass was tauter from it.  It sure is cheap and fully easily removable to try, however.

Overdamping damps out resonances, but can indiscriminately damps out the music, too.

The price is great, but the effect (two S shaped Japanese arms, one internally oil damped, and the Thorens TD-316 arm were used) was not 

John

[Wayner]

The PT-6 is a medium mass tone arm that's more like an army howitzer. It already has a sleeve on it from the factory. I have found that it is the combination of cartridge and arm that benefits from this. I think the AT440MLa is a tad bright, it sure is fast, and this tames it down a hair while still keeping its speed. I feel it tracks better as bass improves and the soundstage has perhaps increased slightly. My rule is if sound stage and that nice natural reverb went to hell, the tweak was a bad tweak. Haven't heard this yet, but I thought some of the guys should try it just to see what they think.

Wayner

[TheChairGuy]

I have a PT-6, too...haven't tried the teflon wrap on that one, yet.  But, overall, judicious use of constrained layer damping has been leagues more helpful in taming resonances without overdamping the music.  Fluid damping fantastically helpful, too - with no downside that I can think to sonics.  It either helps or it doesn't do much at all...unlike wraps.

Michael Percy Audio has constrained layer damping foils for like $2.95 a tiny strip.  Or $9.95 for a 9 x 12" sheet and you can make 500 'magic' dots from it...enough for about 80-100 tonearms.  The improvement is often vast without the downsides of plast-i-clay dots, or teflon, electrical tape, sorbothane wraps (I've tried them all  )

Note that Audioquest's better PT-9 was silver/non-powder coat finish and had blown foam inner fill to tame tonearm body resonances further - a fantastic idea, I gather.  It's really a well engineered arm (either the PT-6 or 9) from OEM Jelco of Japan