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Hi all,
I think maybe it's time I put in some notes here. More so given that I had at least two different conversations with gentlemen who had a dealer do the set-up for them and ended up with totally incorrectly set Cartridges....
The Basics:
For a Cartridge to operate correctly, we require four of the most basic settings:
Overhang/Alignment
Vertical Tracking Force (VTF)
Antiskating/Bias (AS)
Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA)
A number of Tonearms also allow the Azimuth to be corrected. The following assumes a conventional pivoted Tonearm of the Type exemplified by Rega Arms. Unipivot Arms like the Graham also work based on this method but can be somewhat more fiddly.
The Set-up on linear-tracking Tonearms again is similar, but sufficiently different to suggest that you seek further assistance from someone who sets up Linear-tracking Arms every day (hence do not ask me).... :-)
To be successful in mounting, aligning and setting up your Cartridge you will need a few tools. I recommend the following:
Shure or Orthophon Tracking Force Gauge
http://www.hi-fi-accessories-club.mcmail.com/products/shure.htm
The Orthophon is as accurate as the Shure (actually more so) but only costs a quarter of the Price of the Shure. But I have no link to anyone on the web for this....
HiFi News Test-Record
http://www.hi-fi-accessories-club.mcmail.com/products/hifinewslp.htm
Steve "Dude" Rochlins free Cartridge Alignment Protractor
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/freestuff.htm
and please visit Steves Main-Page s well....
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/
A small pair of tweezers or a very small pair of needle-nose pliers
A pair of steady Hands
ARMED (ouch) with these, we can progress to unpack the Cartridge and verify that where send the Allen-Key, little wrench and the screws/nuts with the Cartridge (or not). If all tools and bits are complete, proceed. Otherwise obtain the correct Allen-key and wrench.
DO NOT IMPROVISE USING A PAIR OF PLIERS OR SUCH. Cartridges are easily ruined....
Before going any farther, just make sure that Turntable is ABSOLUTELY LEVEL! I hope you levelled the Table during setting it up, if not do so now.
Please now secure the Tonearm on its arm-rest, if this cannot be done reliably with a clip, use a piece of solid wire to hold it temporarily in one Place.
If the Cartridge to be mounted is a Moving Magnet unit with user-replaceable Stylus (Goldring/Reson, Shure, Sumiko and AudioTechnica for example), please remove the Stylus Assembly and put it aside.
To remove the Stylus Assembly remove the Stylus protector and then CAREFULLY pull the Stylus assembly out, following approximately the axis of the stylus. Refit the Stylus Protector and put the Stylus aside.
Modern Moving-Coil Units and for example the wooden Grado’s do not allow the stylus to be removed. In this case I suggest taping the stylus guard in place, so that it cannot easily fall off during mounting the cartridge.
The next step is to connect the Arm-Wires to the Cartridges Output pins.
Usually these are all colour-coded. If not, please consult the Manual for your Cartridge about the connections. Now you use the tweezers (or needle-nose pliers) to slide the tags onto the pins. Please be gentle here. If the tags absolutely refuse to slide over the pins because the pins are too large in diameter you can try to VERY CAREFULLY open up the tags slightly.
I recommend treating the Cartridge Pins with XLO's "The Perfect Connection" before the Cartridge Tags are slipped on. I am not so sure about other Contact Treatments, best to check if the Cartridge Manufacturer has any recommendations.
Now we have a Cartridge (body) dangling from the wires from the Arm. Somehow we have to attach the Cartridge to the Arm. For this we usually have screws supplied with the Cartridge. Having mounted a considerable number of Cartridges in my time; any Cartridge having threaded Inserts is GOD-SEND...
I seriously HATE to fiddle with these tiny Nuts (and it drives me such).... Anyway, there are usually two slots in the Headshell, destined to take the screw. Simply place the screw, hold it down with one finger and slide the Eye of the Cartridge over it, or place the treaded Insert such that the screw can grab the thread.
If your cartridge lacks the threaded inserts, try to place with the other hand the tiny nut in such a way that it contacts the screw. Use your third hand and the Allen-Key to rotate the screw until it grabs the thread.... What, you do not have a third hand? Try doing with two then.... ;-)
Anyway, after much frustration for those who have no threaded inserts on their Cartridge and a smooth and quick procedure for those who have, the Cartridge will be attached by one screw to the Headshell. Do not tighten this screw quite yet. First fit the second screw (always easier) and orient the Cartridge so that it is placed centrally to the Headshell and points approximately along the axis of the Headshell. Finger-tighten the screws and loosen the Arm from its rest.
Now it's time to set the tracking force approximately. If you can, try to fix the Platter in place so that it cannot rotate. How this is done best depends upon the turntable, but please make sure that you can reverse whatever you are doing. So do not pour superglue into the Bearing!!!!!
Many modern Tonearms feature a spring-based tracking weight adjustment contraptions. DO NOT USE THEM, but simply set them to the neutral position (normally the highest tracking weight). The Anti-skating Adjustment should be for the time being set to ZERO.
First leave the Arm-list up and try to zero the Weight for the Tonearm so that the Tonearm floats level. Now remove the Cartridges Stylus protector or refit the Stylus assembly and readjust the weight so that just a tiny bit of downforce is present. Now use the Stylus-force Gauge to set the tracking weight. There should be instructions with the Gauge.
Simply carefully lower the Arm so the Cartridges needle ends up on the stylus force gauge where it's supposed to be. See what the tracking-weight is. Depending upon the Arm, move the counterweight until the correct weight according to the Manufacturers recommendation is established. Moving the Weight forward (toward the Arm Pivot) increases the tracking force, moving it back reduces it....
Okay, now have the Cartridge mounted and the tracking force set approximately. Time to get our Protractor out. If you have bought the HiFi news Test-Record, you will have one, but I still recommend getting Steves free Protractor as I feel it's more intuitive to use....
Anyway, make sure that you can move the cartridge on the Headshell, but the screws should be tight enough that the cartridge will stay in the position it is adjusted to. Place the Protractor on your turntable with the hole on the protractor firmly into the spindle hole.
All protractors feature parallel lines to which you are supposed to superimpose your Cartridges Sides. I wish those having bought Cartridges with non-parallel sides good luck. You will need it. The best thing to do with such Cartridges is to use the Cantilever as guide, but quite frankly it a total pain in the neck (or lower) to do.
Verify your alignment with the second set of parallel lines. Move the Cartridge Forward or backwards but try to keep it pointing parallel to the main axis of the Headshell. Eventually you will have found a position for the Cartridge, where both sets of parallel lines are also parallel to your Cartridge sides or Cantilever. Now tighten the Bolts. Not to much though.
Now we set the initial VTA. As a rule, Armtube should be parallel to the records Surface when the Cartridge rests on the record. Adjust the Arm-height (see Arm-Manual) until you got it right. Before we start with the test-record, set the Anti-Skating to approximately the Value that the tracking force is set to. I have found the mechanical pointers to be widely inaccurate and the real setting requires a test-record.
Free up the previously fixed platter and put your test-record on the platter and turn the Table on. Play the first track to verify the workings of the lots and check that you get some sound. Most Test-Records feature some tracks to identify channels and phasing. Make sure all this is correct.
Then start with the Tracks intended to help setting Anti-skating/Bias. If you hear the sound in one channel distorted, change the Antiskating until there is no more mistracking (which is what causes the distorted/buzzing sound), then progress to the next track.
On the HiFi-News Test Record, every Cartridge should track all but the last track with perfection. If not, either the Cartridge is damaged or the Arm has a problem....
If you have got this far, simply put some of your favourite music on, open a Can/Bottle of your favourite beverage and sit back. Let the Cartridge play at least 20 - 50 hours before tweaking more. It should sound pretty darn good now anyway.
After having finally become a real VINYL-MAN (even if you are Girl - imagine - telling your Boyfriend that you mount and align your own Cartridge) by mounting and aligning your first Cartridge, a happy welcome to this Brotherhood and may the Tracking-Force be with you.
Now you can progress to some HARD-CORE Turntable tweaking. Here is some good reading (also in the FAQ):
http://www.vandenhul.com/artpap/turntabl.htm
Later Thorsten
In this section:
[ Simply carefully lower the Arm so the Cartridges needle ends up on the stylus force gauge where it's supposed to be. See what the tracking-weight is. Depending upon the Arm, move the counterweight until the correct weight according to the Manufacturers recommendation is established. Moving the Weight forward (toward the Arm Pivot) increases the tracking force, moving it back reduces it.... ]
you forget to mention two things:
One, DO NOT adjust the counterweight with the stylus on the gauge!!!!
Usually, the tonearm will have weight markings that will get you in the ballpark AFTER the weight has been zeroed. For those tonearms that use a weight setting spring, use the counter weight to zero, and per the owners manual instructions for the arm, use the spring to set the weight. Again, there should be some weight markings somewhere. Often with counterweight set arms, there is a dial (slip ring around the back or front edge of the counter weight that is marked in grams) that can be zeroed once the arm is zeroed, and once the slip ring is zeroed, you then turn the counter weight in toward the pivot by the amount of grams of desired tracking weight. Set to the nominal amount recommended using this dial, then check with the force gauge, and remove the stylus from the gauge, tweak the tracking weight and re-measure with the gauge until satisfied. Be very aware that each time you place the cartridge on the gauge, you court disaster, so do not get too anal, within 0.1 grams is quite close enough.
Also be warned that there were an awful lot of STEEL based SHure cartridge gauges out there, and most MC carts will have a powerfull enough magnetic field to pull them selves down and snap the cantilever, or at least bury the suspension, which might damage it. Be sure to check BEFORE placing the cartridge on the gauge!
BTW, the heavier range of the tracking weight will usually give the best results. For instance, on many MC carts, the tracking weight range can be around 1.5 to 2.3 grams. Try starting with 2.0 to 2.1 grams (or the high end of this example range), as this will help prevent mistracking, which will cause much more damage than the slight extra weight. NEVER use the recommended minimum, this is a bogus number only there for show, and not intended to actually be used at that tracking weight.
Regarding the protractor set-up:
[ All protractors feature parallel lines to which you are supposed to superimpose your Cartridges Sides. I wish those having bought Cartridges with non-parallel sides good luck. You will need it. The best thing to do
with such Cartridges is to use the Cantilever as guide, but quite frankly it a total pain in the neck (or lower) to do. ]
There is more to it than this. A proper set up includes mounting the cartridge with a certain amount of "stylus overhang", the amount that the cartrige stylus is hanging past the turntable spindle center (if it could pivot that far). This is usually set by measuring from the back end of the headshell up to the styulus tip, for a particular tonearm, and assumes that the arm was mounted properly on the turntable base in the first place.
Integrated TT/arm combos should be OK in terms of the proper tonearm location, and so should dealer installed arms, but it never hurts to check yourself, and make sure that the tonearm has been properly located on the base.
After the overhang has been properly set, THEN you align the cartridge to be parallel ONCE the stylus has been placed on the crosshairs of the protractor. What with the fact that the cartiridge could have slid forward or backward a little, it pays to double check ALL the alignments again, and re-check the tracking force after you are satisfied that the cartridge is indeed in the correct alignment once you have tightened the screws down. Remember that the angles that you can see and align to are much grosser than the microscopic world of the stylus and groove wall, so take as much care as you can to set-up the angles and overhang, etc. These are much more critical than the correct weight to better than a tenth of a gram!
Regarding "VTA" set up:
One should not be that concerned with attempting to set the proper VTA for a given cartridge and tonearm, and making the tonearm parallel to the records surface would not necessarily do that anyway. What IS important is setting the SRA, or stylus rake angle, of the cartridge. The SRA is the angle that the stylus contact line that makes contact with the record groove has, with respect to absolute vertical. An SRA of 0 degrees is a stylus that is straight up and down with respect to the records surface. For all stylii except the old Shibata, and a few very rare and exotic modern stylii, the angle of the diamond chip in the cantilever is also the angle of the contact line.
You may ask, why should the SRA take precedance over the VTA? Because perfectly replicating the angle of the cutter heads cutting stylus ARM angle (that is, the swing arc of the cutter head stylus and the arm the cutting stylus is swinging on) is usualy not possible, and minor deviations will not cause that much distortion, while making the contact line of the stylus match the actual angle of the groove walls is not only possible, but much more desirable, as when this relationship is off, significant amounts of HF distortion and hash are generated.
How would I know all this? Well, it could have something to do with the basic research I did on the subject, and the papers I wrote on SRA vs. VTA. See:
November 1980 Popular Electronics article titled: "Phonograph
Playback: It's better than you think." by myself and Dr. Maier, p. 48.
AND
High Fidelity in the March, 1981 issue on page 31.
AND
Audio magazine, March 1981, page 21, "More Than One VTA",
again by Dr. Maier and myself.
See this article at Dejanews for some more details:
http://x7.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=371045671&CONTEXT=924315767.662372378&hitnum=0
Long story short: you need a SRA of 1 degree forward, or away from the tonearm base. A bright light backlighting the stylus will reveal the tilt of the diamond chip. It helps to draw a diagram with a set of crosshairs and a line drawn at 1 degree from vertical so tha tyou can better eyeball the SRA of the stylus. Once again, DO NOT adjust the tonearm height to get the desired SRA without re-engaging the stylus gaurd, and or the tonearm lift lever. ALWAYS BE VERY SAFE AND CAREFUL AROUND YOUR STYLUS, AND YOU WILL NEVER LOSE A CANTILEVER DURING SET-UP!
Also remember that almost all of these set up adjustments are interactive, if you change the tracking weight, you change the SRA a little, and also the stylus overhang a tad. It is somewhat of an iterative process, and I find myself, as experienced with turntable set-up as I am, needing to go back through the whole alignment process at least twice to fine tweak the adjustments to come out as most nearly correct after all the other adjustments have been done.
The end result is a much cleaner sound from your turntable and cartridge, and an increased freedom from excess ticks and pops, and the lowest average distortion across the record that can be achieved by a fixed pivot tonearm.
Jon Risch
Hi Jon,
First thanX for the Input.
Secondly....
> > > > you forget to mention two things:
One, DO NOT adjust the counterweight with the stylus on the gauge!!!! < < < <
Ahhhm. Yes. Sorry, every-day blindness. I thought that that was OBVIOUS....
> > > > Usually, the tonearm will have weight markings that will get you in the ballpark AFTER the weight has been zeroed. < < < <
Actaully, many of todays favourite arm's DO NOT have these markings. Specially a few of the Rega's, Linn's and so on. All these feature spring adjusted tracking force (which BTW is a pretty bad Idea).
> > > > Regarding the protractor set-up: < < < <
Again, thanX for the Input. Most people however will not have the tools to set overhang by geometric methodes, never mind the information required. So using a Protractor for both the Overhang and the alignment in Axis is workable and will be the only methode possible for many people.....
As for SRA vs. VTA, as they are directly related and because there is no geometric methode that is correct for all LP's, the only really sucessfull methode is to set this by ear. Worse, it varies widely with record companies and production times....
ThanX again for your comments
Later Thorsten
Of course, each record (label) will have slightly different VTA and SRA, but the vast majority of record cutting units had very similar SRA, as that had to be set to allow a smooth cutting action. The 1 degree forward tilt is an average value, one that will provide less problems for those who set and forget. Not many wish to fiddle with the SRA for every reocrd, and not all arms allow this anyway. For those that need a starting point, or those that will set it and leave it, the 1 degree is the deal.
Jon Risch
I remembered your article in Audio, as it had a graph of distortion vs. angle which showed the different effects of VTA settings (less sensitive) vs. SRA settings (deeper distortion null at correct setting). I must not have the eyesight you've got, 'cause I can't see the line of contact on the stylus with my old eyes. I used to do X-ray crystallography research and I was used to aligning crystallographic axes with the beam using a goniometer head (this had vernier scales allowing changes in angles of 5 minutes of a degree of less). Wish we had these on tonearms! I want to know how stylus manufacturers cut and align the diamonds to mount into the cantilevers. If they used laser diffraction, the differences would be much more visible in "reciprocal space". If this works, audiophiles should also be able to use laser diffraction and correct azimuth, offset angle, and SRA using the much larger reciprocal space pattern. I once aligned an JMAS MIT-1 cartridge using a microscope to view the stylus/cantilever actually playing the groove at one of the two null radii. What was scary was that before alignment, I could see the diamond shaving off vinyl like orange peel with every rotation. I became a fan of LAST record preservative at that point, as it reduced the shaving problem significantly.
To the best of my knowledge, unless you were to coat the entire stylus with a paint or dye (or majic marker), and then play it to rub some off, you would not be able to actually see the contact patch at all with the naked eye, and perhaps even then it would require magnification. I typically used a 3-30X power stereo microscope to look at stylii when I worked on Denon catridge QC and repair checks, and even then the contact patch was not obvious unless there was enough wear to make the stylus require replacement.
Regarding the alignment of the stylus, the entire diamond chip, typically a square shanked piece of diamond placed through a square hole in the cantilever (usually laser cut hole) is indicative of the alignment of the contact patch, with a few exceptions. If you can backlight the cartridge, and look at the gross angle of the entire stylus shank, then you can see the SRA, as the contact patch is almost always aligned with the shank.
As for a stylus shaving off vinyl, this will usually only happen under worn or faulty conditions. If the diamond is chipped, which can happen of the stylus encounters a piece of silica grit or some other hard piece of "dust" in the groove as it is playing, then the edge of the stylus can become chipped or damaged and become an instrument of album destruction. The other way is when the stylus becomes so worn that a flat is visible on the stylus edge, and the alignment of the cartridge is changed, even a little, then the edge of the flat is now at a different angle than it was, and could start digging in and shaving or scrapping away vinyl.
YOU MUST EXAMINE A STYLUS UNDER A MICROSCOPE FOR WEAR, and if you can see a flat spot, the stylus needs replacing. A stylus near the end of its safe usefull life will have a rounded flat spot, and should also be considered for relacement (think of how valubale your vinyl is now that it is essentially irreplacable!).
Finally, Last as well as Sound Guard, were found to be problematic in most cases. If you applied enough to actually reduce friction and wear, then you have applied enough to actually reduce HF content and transient information. Tests conducted at the Discwasher research labs (conducted by yours truly) show that the harmonic structure of a square wave would change upon application of Last or Sound Guard, and that the harmonic structure would continue to change until after a dozen plays or so, after which the higher harmonics had been reduced in amplitude, and the very highest (lowest level) would dissappear entirely. Tests on other signals showed that signal levels of -60 to -70 ( I was able to routinely recover signals and groove information down to -70 dB and even a little below, on a good record with an exactingly set-up MC cartridge, with a consistent noise floor of around -75 to -80 dB on virgin Denon pressings and on audiophile albums) would be covered over by the application of these treatments. Sound Guard did seem to be worse than Last, but they both did it.
Jon Risch
Jon, thanks for responding. Did you consider publishing the research on LAST and Sound Guard? I think it would have had an interesting impact on the market. Also, how did various record cleaning formulations fare in the square wave test (I've got my suspicions on Photoflo). I also wonder how LAST's current formulation would perform (I have not seen it gunk up the stylus like the old stuff). The vinyl "shaver" I was aligning was newly retipped with the Van Den Hul stylus. These days, I stick with ellipticals.
Discwasher hosted a public exposition that showcased the findings, it was called CAS '80, and all the hi-fi magazine heavies were invited, Julian Hirsch, Len Feldman, Peter Moncrieff, etc. This was held in Kansas City MO, in the summer of 1980. There the finding regarding the effects of SoundGuard and Last were presented, along with various information on vinyl playback, and the ills of various things that were sometimes done with records.
For instance, wet play of a record actually damages the vinyl groove surface, as the heat and pressure cause a chemical reaction with the steam (formerly water) and the vinyl. The result is a groove surface that looked like a dried up mud puddle, all cracked and distorted. The only way to get some semblance of normal playback was to continue to play the record wet every time thereafter, and even then, it was never as clean and distortion free as when not played wet.
SEM (scanning electron microphotographs of the SoundGuard and the Last balled up in the groove corners, and other interesting items were also presented.
Two stories from the presentation:
There was a mockup of a giant stylus (to scale), and a giant section of a groove wall (the sides of the groove stood about 6 feet tall), that was also done to scale, showing the indentation of the stylus in the groove, it was mainly for dramatic impact, Well, the industrial artist that worked on the fiberglass model was down to the wire on the completion, and in order to finish the mockup in time for the presentation, it had to be painted the day of the affair. So if you happened to be driving down I-70 that day, you would have seen a giant Ryder truck with the rear door open, trailing a cloud of spray paint as it drove down the highway!
The second is priceless:
After a long series of presentations, there was a break scheduled for everyone to take care of business. Many headed for the restrooms, and while I was taking a nature break myself, I overheard Julian Hirsch tell Len Feldman, "I never measured the effects of the coatings after several plays, I just did it right after the application!" All this while they stood at a row of urinals!
Funny though, of all the data that was presented at the affair, only bits and smatterings made their way into the popular press magazines, neither Stereo Review or High Fidelity ever published any articles concerning the effects of the record coatings. So much for journalistic integrity!
Jon Risch
I guess I'll just stick to cleaning LPs with my VPI-17F. It is interesting that when a lot of powerful people stick their neck out for a new product, no one wants to lose face when the product is proven to be fundamentally defective. This even happens in peer-reviewed scientific publications; so politics and personalities often overwhelm the data.
Thorsten,
Thanks - this is a great tutorial. I am having a problem with my new Rega Planar 3 and Exact cartridge that this may help to solve. After setting up the cartridge pretty much per your procedure, I could not get the cartridge to track but the first, easiest track on the HFNRR test record. All other tracks resulted in a loud buzzing on both channels regardless of bias adjustment on the RB300. Increasing the tracking force to over 2.5 grams seemed to help, but this seemed a bit much. The cartridge did not sound that bad on most records, however.
Inspecting the cartridge with a microscope revealed a slight, maybe 10 degree horizontal rotation of the cantaliever and stylus (along the long tonearm axix) with respect to the headshell.
I installed an old Stanton 681EEE cartridge in the arm and it seemed to track the bias tracks well - all but the last one. Of course, VTA was way off for this case.
Steve Lauerman at Rega has been very accomodating so far - he is sending me a new cartridge to compare with my old one. I didn't try zeroing the stylus force spring and using the counterweight only like you suggested - this may help. I'll keep you posted on the results with the new cartridge.
WOW...thorsten you rule!!!! This is as good as the tube bible on the tube list!!!!
this gives me the confience to get the moded 250 arm and reca cartridge and give it a go!!!! yippie kai yeh : )
BigJIm
Hopefully everything will arrive tomorrow and I'll be using these instructions this weekend. May I assume that the stylus is removable on a Reson Reca cartridge?
I got my Shure Tracking Force gauge and HiFi News Test Record from Music Direct in Illinois.
Regards,
-ken
Hi there,
Yup, the Stylus on the Reca is removable and hence also user-replacable....
Later Thorsten
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