Jelco 750D: dampin question

[ludovico]

Hi.

I am wondering if it is necessary to put oil in the reservoir cup?

I have mounted an Audio Technica AT7V cartride on it and as it is a low compliance cart, it sounds beautiful to my ears.

So will the damping improve the sound or not?

[JohnM]

If it sounds great then I'd caution you to leave it well alone.

I was extremely happy with the sound from my SA-750D and AT95HE cartridge, but just HAD to add the oil JUST for something to tweak. To my ears it put a blanket over the sound and made it less enjoyable, BUT in the context of my system (my Garrard 401 sounds a bit 'dark' so perhaps an undamped arm sounds better with it) of course.

From past experience, when I've been happy with the sound but have felt the need to 'improve' something I've nearly always ended up disappointed... If you KNOW it to sound great I'd leave it. If it sounds good, it IS good - it really is as simple as that. Enjoy the music instead ;)

Still, if you do decide to try the damping, it's pretty easy to get rid of the oil again with a cotton bud. Just don't fill it past the halfway mark...

- John

[DSJR]

If you have the arm "shimmying" on ripply warped records, then a little damping is a good idea; same if the cartridge compliance is a touch on the high side for the tonearm effective mass. If you have no problems, I'd be inclined not to damp, or use and set to absolute minimum.