Little pigeons can carry great messages.

In a study at Knecht Audio, we found that the phono cartridge experiences a significant vibration load (the reasons for this will be explained later in the Blog), which causes this broadband noise to be layered on top of the useful audio signal. The useful audio signal is blurred by the noise and the sound pattern is degraded.

This small device, the DampEcht TT, is the world’s first tonearm tube damper. The DampEcht TT is mounted on the tonearm tube in close proximity to the cartridge and fulfils several functions:
a. It absorbs tonearm tube vibrations over a wide frequency range, so that the phono cartridge body feels much less vibration and the useful sound signal produced by the cartridge coil and magnet is less distorted by added noise caused by cartridge body vibrations;
b. DampEcht TT dampens tonearm tube vibrations caused by eccentricity or record deformation. The DampEcht TT also smooths out resonant peaks in the cartridge-tonearm system, preventing the cartridge from leaving the track when playing low frequencies on a record.

The DampEcht TT does not bring a different character to the sound, it does not change the timbral balance, it does not emphasise accents. On the opposite, when using DampEcht TT, the sound is cleaned of unnecessary sonic noise that hides the useful audio signal behind it. The timbres and overtones of acoustic instruments come to life, the soundstage focuses in depth and width, and sound images become tangible. Quiet after-sounds continue to sound longer, there is a sense of volume increase (who listened to music in the underground knows that behind the rumble of the train you can’t hear the music and details disappear). Bass gets a special depth and intelligibility, instruments in the lower register are separated.

Try the DampEcht TT on your tonearm and it will be an unforgettable experience from a small device, regardless of the cost of your components.