Anyhow, I've had a Pioneer PLA-35 tt for several years. Its operation was flawless for most of the time I've had it. Back in 2001, I put a Shure M97x with the brush on its original tone arm, and was quite pleased with it. Then, we moved out of that house and bought our own, which caused me to have to put the tt aside.

The problem is that the floors in my house seem very mobile. So, I can't play the tt without worrying about the tone arm getting bounced out of the groove. The maximum weight for that cart is 1.75, which worked well in the other house. But I've seen one of my cats run past our heavy entertainment center and there was just enough movement to have an effect. Our house is structurally sound, but it was built on piers and may have settled over the years since its construction in 1954.

Something I've recently noticed is that the tt is missing its anti-skate stuff. Looks like it's one of those that used a weight on the end of a string looped over a rod on the tone arm. Any idea of where I can get another one, or how to make one that would work well? I wonder if that might not make the bouncy floor problem worse.

Now, as far as the floor goes, short of getting under the house and jacking everything up at great expense, is there anything I can do to lessen the problem? I've sometimes thought that part of the problem could be a lack of dampening on the tt's springs, and that the platform is able to move from side to side in addition to up and down. I'm wondering if putting thin strips of foam between the platform and the case might help.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. It's been far too long since the last time I enjoyed my records.

Thank you,
-Bill