Just got a new set of carts and stylus. Basically i am having a few problems

When 'zeroing' the tonearm, I do everything right i think, i adjust the counterweight untill the tonearm seems to just float above the pivot. However when doing this the arm does swing into the middle of the deck, to the spindle. Is this normal?

There is no way to get it level and not have it swinging to the centre of the deck. How can this be fixed.

Then when level (if swinging slightly) I set the wheel to zero, and then add on the correct tracking weight. Only each time, the needle just swings to the centre skimming the top of the record (doing neither of them any good).

The only way to get it to play is just to keep roatating the counterweight untill there is simply a great deal of weight, which doesnt seem at all right.


As always, any help greatly appreciated.

set your antisake to 0. that will stop the needle from going towards the center. Now that it's not floating towards the center get it to hover in position. Now set the weight guage to 0. Twist the weight forward until it reaches the desired setting for the needles you're using. Most needless will be between 2.5-4grams.

thing thing is the anti skate is on zero, and with it on zero the tonearm swings right out to the middle.

I can stop this, but only by setting the anti skate quite high. Well high(ish), because then when it gets too high the needle swings back the other way towards the pitch controll.

Is this normal? surley not.

just whack the weight up

i have never ever calibrated a weight or tonearm. ever.
Only the antiskate gets adjusted.

what do you have the antiskate set to freak?

I always have my antiskate set to max because I am using S shaped tonearms. I dont see how antiskate can be bad for your vinyls. Its most likely better to have higher antiskate enabled rather than more stylus pressure.

At home right now im using an old TT that does not have height adjustment and its made for use with that rubber gripmat and if i use a slipmat and the arm is tilting down a bit will that be bad for my records? should i stack two slipmatts on their or sumfin??

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quote:

Originally posted by failsafe what do you have the antiskate set to freak?

depends on the record
Some need a slight adjustment to stop them skipping (occasionally when scratching or when fast cueing) but generally i set it to 0 and work from there.
Ditto for warped records.

ps- i use ortofon concordes, nothing else- and they dont skip that often to be honest. they seem to work better the more weight you put on.

i just got a new pair of technics m5gs with shure whitelabels and was having a smiliar problem....

when i zero my tonearm, it would drift towards the record... i think that is fine? i havne't noticed any adverse effect from it being that way? my antiskate is set to 0, and the tonearm height is at 1 (out of 6). my whitelabels can be set from 1-3.5 i have them at 1 and they seem to work fine.

hope that helps?

-keith

Thanks for all the replies, most helpful.

I now howvever have an even more depressing problem. The tonearm is now perfectly set up (tested with a one sided record, and it strays only as far as half way into the record, and stays there, if i remember rightly thats correct).


However, the carts sound appauling! and i am not even exaggerating, it sounds like 'clipping', as in when you record things too loud. On all my records.

The bass is mental it just crackles and you can barley hear the track playing. I have tried swapping the headshell onto my other deck and the stylus (probably not unsuprisingly, but its not a tonearm problem) is equally as bad.


Any ideas, coz this is not going well at all. The sound quality is real messed up, its painful to listen its soo crackly!

Where could the problem lie? its a new cart and stylus, and the stylus doesnt appear to have been damaged in any shape or form.

i have s arms and shure whitelabels and i too had the swinging of the arm to the middle b.s. happen to me, im too messed up right now to remember exactly how i corrected it, but i did, and its been a pleasure mixing then on... sorry to have been of no help

wat type of carts u got?