There is a lot of information on the Internet about adjusting a vinyl turntable, but everything I’ve come across is overloaded with technical information and gives the impression that adjusting the tonearm of a turntable yourself is a little easier than starting up the Andron Collider. For this reason, some vinyl enthusiasts prefer not to touch their tonearms at all, convincing themselves that “these settings are not that important.”
At the same time, many use simple turntables, in which nothing can be adjusted except for the tracking force and anti-skating, and this gives rise to another common opinion: what is there to adjust, everything is simple. Such turntables — with a tonearm that is fixed in height and cannot be adjusted in azimuth — cannot be taken seriously. They are tuned with the manufacturer’s average tolerances, so they will all play more or less the same, and, to be honest, fine tuning will not greatly change the sound of these devices.
We will talk about above-average turntables, for which the correct adjustment of the cartridge and tonearm is extremely important! It includes at least five parameters, and a deviation of some of them by literally half a millimeter from the only correct value dramatically reduces the playback potential. Adjusting these parameters only seems complicated at first glance, and if you weed out the technical details, it is a pleasant and uncomplicated task, the reward for which will be a significantly better sound quality.
I offer you a step-by-step guide, stripped of all technical details and minutiae that are irrelevant to the result.
First of all, you need to make sure that the cartridge and tonearm are compatible in terms of compliance and effective mass. This is a separate issue that needs attention, because if the cartridge and tonearm are not compatible, no adjustment will help—you will not get good sound.
Preliminary setup
- Set the turntable parallel to the ground using a spirit level. More precisely, set it “perpendicular to the vector of Earth’s gravity,” but that’s too complicated, and we agreed that the article would be written in simple language. If the player is placed on a vibration isolator, first set up the isolator, and then the player separately on it.
- If the cartridge is being installed for the first time, secure it with screws on the shell without tightening the thread, and attach the wire terminals to the contacts using tweezers. Grasp the terminals, not the wires. After slightly inserting the terminal, push it in a little further, but without excessive force—1.5–2 mm is sufficient. Sometimes the terminals need to be expanded beforehand—a toothpick is useful for this.
The main photo shows a cartridge on a lightweight shell integrated with the tonearm. Most often, cartridges have to be installed on conventional shells, about 7 cm in size. In this case, you need to make sure that the tip of the needle is located 50 mm from the rubber ring of the cartridge shank. To do this, you can use a special template or make your own by drawing two lines at this distance on a piece of glass.
- Place any inexpensive record on the turntable and adjust the height of the tonearm by eye – the shell should be parallel to the surface of the record. We will perform a more accurate adjustment a little later using a deck of business cards. Sometimes changing the height of the tonearm by just ONE (!) card significantly affects the sound, adding or reducing high frequencies.
- Adjust the position of the cartridge relative to the tonearm using the zero points on the template. To do this, place the printed template on the record, placing its hole on the turntable spindle, and lower the cartridge needle onto the template, after setting the minimum weight on the tonearm. By loosening and tightening the mounting screws and carefully moving the cartridge on the shell to the right and left and back and forth, you need to ensure that the needle falls exactly on the two points indicated on the template, and at both points the side walls of the cartridge should be parallel to the vertical lines on the template, and the front wall should be parallel to the horizontal line. Once you have achieved the desired result, tighten the mounting screws firmly, but without overdoing it. Many shells have fixed mounting holes and do not allow the cartridge to be moved. Sometimes this is not necessary because the needle offset is such that the zero points show the ideal position of the cartridge relative to the parallel and perpendicular lines of the template. On some tonearms, such as SME, the cartridge is fixed in place, and the zero points are set by moving the tonearm axis relative to the slot in the plinth, which is made with a tolerance of 1.5 cm on each side. In any case, it is worth having a shell option with long slots that allow you to move the cartridge – who knows what the needle overhang will be for the cartridge you want to install. It is important that the cartridge, not the shell, is aligned perpendicular and parallel to the lines—sometimes this creates the illusion of a crooked head, which is actually aligned correctly.
- Set the needle azimuth. If there is no azimuth, you will have to use a mirror. Place the mirror on the record and lower the needle onto it. The needle and its reflection should form a perfectly straight line, which will indicate the exact position of the needle relative to the surface of the record—a strict perpendicular, 90 degrees. If the needle deviates from the perpendicular position, loosen the shell’s fixing screws and carefully turn it clockwise or counterclockwise on the tonearm axis to achieve a right angle.
- Set the correct tracking force – this is specified in the cartridge’s technical data sheet and varies for different models. If you do not have the technical data sheet, the recommended tracking force can easily be found on the internet – just enter the cartridge brand and the words “tracking force” or “tracking force.” For cartridges with high compliance, the tracking force is usually in the range of 1-1.3 grams. For low-compliance cartridges, the tracking force is 2-3 grams.
The tracking force is adjusted by moving the counterweight on the tonearm shaft. Some tonearms have two adjustment weights: the large counterweight is used to achieve absolute balance, while the small weight is used to adjust the tracking force. On single-arm tonearms, the position of the counterweight also adjusts the azimuth – the displacement of the eccentric weight along the axis tilts the tonearm tube in one direction or another, changing the angle of the needle.
After completing the first 6 steps of the instructions, you have finished the rough adjustment of the tonearm: the shell is parallel to the record, the needle descends exactly to the two control points on the template, the cartridge is parallel to the vertical lines on the template and perpendicular to the horizontal lines, the needle is strictly perpendicular to the mirror lying on the record, and the tracking force corresponds to the specified value. Set the average anti-skating value, and let’s move on to more fine-tuning.
I hope these instructions will help you get the best sound from your turntable. If you still find the sound of your system unsatisfactory and would like to improve it, order a personal consultation at hiendmusic.ru to take your setup 1-2 steps further.