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68.33.3.16
In Reply to: RE: The Beginner's Dilemma posted by ssjm1221 on September 21, 2014 at 07:22:44
Get your table adjusted properly and enjoy some tunes.
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
Follow Ups:
haha.. having the table setup properly WOULD be good.. I did order myself a stylus force gage.. that whole "float and adjust" method didn't seem very precise.. and I probably damaged my stylus in the process.. thanks again for the suggestions.. I'm looking at a pair of Audioengine A5+ to at least give myself some speakers above my generic surround sound system.. and I keep reading that I should take out or at least bypass the AT pre-amp
> I did order myself a stylus force gage.. that whole "float and adjust" method didn't seem very precise.
I always use a digital scale, but the "float and adjust" method is very accurate on my Technics SL-1200 Mk2. It always matches my digital scale to within a few hundredths of a gram. I think if you do it right, you should be okay.
It is very important to measure vertical tracking force at the same height as the vinyl record surface. To accomplish this, I made a weighing platform for my digital scale by cutting and bending an old credit card as shown below.
Good luck,
John Elison
That's cool.
Personally I use playing cards to get the scale to the correct height next to the platter.
it's about the music
The magnets in my moving coil cartridges cause my scale to give erroneous readings if I rest the stylus directly on the scale platform. Moreover, the side-platform method is much simpler than using playing cards and it is compatible with all turntables.
My scale is non ferrous so no magnet problems. The playing card method works fine with both my Lenco and VPI tables.
Cheers
E
it's about the music
My scale is non-ferrous in the sense there is no attraction to the scales metal platform, but the strong magnet in moving coil cartridges seems to affect the electronics in the scale or something. Such is life! ;-)
they key there would be "doing it right" haha. I've done it a few times.. while managing to only let the stylus touch the felt mat a few times.. but.. I don't feel confident that I'm getting it perfectly set..
I balance my tonearm so that the stylus floats just above the vinyl surface. Then set the gauge on the counterweight to zero without turning the counterweight. Make sure the tonearm is still balanced with the stylus no more than 1-mm above the vinyl surface. If everything looks good, place the tonearm in its rest and turn the counterweight until the gauge reads the desired tracking force and you should be good to go. It works for me every time on my SL-1200 Mk2.
Good luck,
John Elison
PS. Make sure you turn off antiskating for this exercise and then make sure you turn it back on after you've finished setting tracking force.
It took me twenty years to figure out how to setup a turntable properly. However, I still had fun all of that time ;-)
My point was that I think he can set tracking force accurately enough with the counterweight gauge. I can on my Technics SL-1200.
Best regards,
John Elison
the counterweights on my EPA 250 wands are ultra accurate, but those were flagship arms from technics. I never actually calibrated an AT table, maybe it is fine, maybe not. But how would you know it without owning something to calibrate it with? When i first got my WTT it had no scale so i bought a Sure SFG. It served me well for years, then i got one of them pocket scales you have, and never looked back :).But, just for kicks i calibrated the the technics arm and it is dead accurate. it has a numbered division at every 0.1g and a tick mark at every 0.025g and through the whole range it is dead on. At least according to my "Arm Load Meter Made in China" brand SFG i bought for a good price from a dealer friend who trades speakers i have :).
dee
;-D
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
quote by Kurt Vonnegut
Edits: 09/22/14 09/22/14
Of course, the only way to know for sure is to measure VTF with a scale. In that case, you should always measure VTF at the level of the vinyl record playing surface.
Best regards,
John Elison
Working from the A5+, you have a line-level pre-amp, amplifier AND loudspeaker all in one package which is a VERY good start. If you are at all inclined to continue accumulating some LPs, I would ditch the turntable, sell it on craigslist, for instance, and get a more accepted entry level table. Maybe, a Music Hall or Pro-ject, as some also come with cartridge AND pre-amp. I would not be inclined to go to USB, though, unless you wish to hang out at computer-audio sub-board, which is a whole 'nother game to play.I think the Bugle pre-amp is probably a very good investment, along with Cambridge Audio and several others at the $200 level. However, I think they are a waste without a good entry level table. The Rega P1 is also probably a good place to start as well to be merrily on your way and get a $40 phono stage for starters.
[Ignore my advice! It appears this table is the bargain of the new century in vinyl reproduction. Enjoy it. I go back to my first suggestion and try different cartridges and play around with alignment to get the best sound out of it. Phono stage DOES matter, but we're trying to keep this a bargain, I suspect.]
Edits: 09/22/14
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