I think you’re right, Martin. With the plates off again I can hear the noise begin when the “guts” of the tonearm assembly are fully under the platter. An inspection doesn’t show anything specific sticking up although I expect it to be the thickly shielded yellow cable. I’m not messing with those! As a test, I place 3 thin coins on the platter hub to shim it up and the noise disappeared. I also adjusted the springs again and the floating chassis feels better now with the platter bouncing back to centre suggesting it has fully cleared the bottom. I have leveled the platter with the surrounds too. For now, I’ll keep the coins in place.
I notice that the bearing on this 4000 is different from the manual. It’s a brass fixture so am not sure if the vertical height can be adjusted there.
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