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RE: Most miss the point of suspended designs




I think that makes for some pretty compelling techno-babble.

But, the problem I have with that justification is that it makes some pretty big assumptions:

- The main assumption is that everyone is tuning their suspensions correctly, which can really only be done by adjusting the mass seen by each spring. In reality, everyone thinks this is done by adjusting the nuts on the suspension posts. All that really does is adjust the position of the suspension components in relation to each other and the suspended chassis. In order to accurately tune the springs the best way is to measure the compressed height and uncompressed height to calculate the compression ratio. This will give you the resonant frequency. Then if you get that exactly matched between springs then I will maybe buy that it's so critical to spend so much time obsessing over it. But wait, this will always change as the tonearm transits. And, unless the record is perfectly centered on the center of gravity, every change in weight of the record will slightly redistribute the mass between springs.

I still say that as long as the suspension is correctly set up within established tolerances, trying to find the perfect bounce is pointless.

-2nd big assumption, the suspension will always be excited from the same direction. I guarantee if you nudge even the most perfectly setup Linny suspension from the side it will do more than bounce straight up and down. Every video or setup guide I've read through or watched has you try to locate the center of gravity and push directly down and observe the bounce. But, acoustic feedback comes from all directions (some stronger than others, but still from all directions).

I realize I'm a heretic and probably in the minority. But, I'm a darn good barnyard engineer and have a healthy grasp of physics.

I used to spend a lot of time obsessing over the bounce of my suspended decks. Then when I finally grasped the concept that until you adjust the mass/spring relationship, all you're really doing is adjusting the position of the spring. And, that the spring acting as a filter doesn't really care what direction the acoustical energy is coming from. It was then that my life with suspended decks became so much simpler. Now, when I am setting up either my SOTA or AR decks I simply measure the compressed height of the springs (or extended length of SOTA springs) and call it good. Now on the AR decks I will spin the springs to center arm-board in the top-plate and do a quick check of Yaw, Pitch, and Roll for egregious errors (usually none unless I got the measured spring compression wrong). Only then do I adjust the height of the springs on the studs. On the SOTA's it's a little trickier because of the 4-point suspension instead of 3-points, but I am already being long-winded. In fact, if you read the SOTA setup guide it doesn't mention anything about bounce, only about leveling the sub-chassis by adding mass under the arm-board to compensate for whatever tonearm/arm-board combo is installed.



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