Turntable tracking weight
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: Tech Talk
Forum Description: Discuss musical instruments, equipment, hi-fi, speakers, vinyl, gadgets,etc.
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40732
Printed Date: November 25 2024 at 10:56
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Topic: Turntable tracking weight
Posted By: Vompatti
Subject: Turntable tracking weight
Date Posted: August 09 2007 at 11:55
How precisely should the tracking weight be set? As I recall I followed
my turntable's instructions in setting it (it came with a fitted
cartridge) and so far I haven't had any problems. However, today I played a
record that seemed to be in great condition, but kept skipping at one
point. Is it safe to add the tracking weight until the skipping stops? I've heard that too light weight might be even worse than too heavy, but how do I know when it's set correctly? 
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Replies:
Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: August 09 2007 at 12:09
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My understanding is that each stylus has a specified weight.
To set it you should move the weight back until the arm is perfectly balanced, parallel to the deck. Set the weight read out to zero at this point, then turn the weight until it shows the recommended weight (mine is about 2.5 or 3 I think).
Remember also to set the tracking adjuster (an anti-skip device) to the same setting.
Putting too much weight on can damage the album, and too little weight can cause the stylus to skate across the record. That said, I used to have a pile of (old) pennies beside my turntable to stop the skips!
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Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: August 09 2007 at 12:36
| I set it again and ended up with the same setting I had before. It turned out I had the bias adjustment slider in the wrong position, though. I guess I'll just add a little weight to avoid skipping. |
Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: August 09 2007 at 13:32
What's the purpose of this "bias adjustment"? Is it the same thing as a tracking adjuster? When I set it to 2 (as it says in the manual) the needle slides a little to the right when I lower the tonearm, but if I set it 1 or 0, it doesn't. Also, there appears to be no skipping on a setting of 1 or 0. Why can't I just leave it to 0? I feel like a total n00b. 
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: August 09 2007 at 13:53
| I think the bias adjuster is to compensate for the arms natural tendency to draw towards the middle of the deck. It works as a sort of magnet pulling the arm outwards, thus keeping the stylus in the centre of the groove. The higher you set it, the greater the pull outwards. |
Posted By: Tetragon
Date Posted: August 09 2007 at 19:07
PM me with your cartridge & i'll give you the correct settings.Make shure your Cartridge geometry is corectly set in your headshell too & also make shure your vertical tracking angle is set the correct height.Theres more to setting up an arm than most think.
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Vompatti wrote:Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: August 10 2007 at 08:19
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To insure proper tracking force weight you should setup with a tracking force gauge. The industry standard device used is the "Shure SFG-2 Stylus Tracking Force Gauge".
http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SFG-2-Stylus-Tracking-Force/dp/B00006I5SD - http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SFG-2-Stylus-Tracking-Force/dp/B00006I5SD
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Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: August 10 2007 at 13:24
I've never even heard of those.  Thanks for the tip. |
Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: August 10 2007 at 13:44
That's a good solution - used it a lot when I still used my record player. And I just might start using it again soon... hope it works with euro cents  ------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected] |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: August 11 2007 at 16:10
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most manufacturers specify a tracking weight, but if you set it between 2.0 and 2.5 grammes you won't go far wrong. -------------  Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Posted By: Neil
Date Posted: August 15 2007 at 17:15
The tone arm does tend to head towards the middle of the disc when the disc is rotated. This is all to do with the geometry of the tone arm and its position relative to the rotating disc. As the stylus tracks the groove there is an inevitable drag which pulls at the tone arm and due to the geometry drags the arm towards the centre of the record. This is known as skating or inward bias and most anti skate devices (sometimes known as bias compensation) use a weight via a system of levers to apply an opposite pull that attempts to move the tone arm outwards. As you increase the weight on the stylus you increase the drag and therefore have to increase the bias weight to compensate for this. You do not of course get any inward bias if the tone arm tracks the record at exactly 90 degrees to the radius and moves linearly along that radius; hence the large amount of work put into developing linear tracking turntables. ------------- When people get lost in thought it's often because it's unfamiliar territory. |
Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: August 16 2007 at 04:05
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Cheers H. I had a linear tracking deck once. Remember they even made portable ones which could play upright! Mine was a conventional flat deck, but it developed a habit of suddenly dragging the stylus straight across the record. A colleague had a similar problem with his. Another good idea which was fatally flawed.
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Posted By: T.Rox
Date Posted: August 25 2007 at 02:22
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I just bought a very simple, solid as a rock, brand spanking new Rega P1 turntable last week ... no auto cut at the end of play ... no switch to change speeds (gotta remove the platter and change the belt position) ... adjustment of the tone arm weight is "screw it all the way on as the tone arm is perfectly balanced with the standard cartridge and elliptical stylus" ... and my LP's have never sounded better on my 20+ year old amp and speakers! ------------- "Without prog, life would be a mistake." ...with apologies to Friedrich Nietzsche |