Most Accurate Stylus Force Gauge?
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
Fixed it for you
I find it depends on the cartridge and how close the VTF and VTA are when I set HTA. I use a jig and not the actual cartilage in the arm when setting alignment.
I'm using a pocket-scale from German manufacturer Kern, capacity 60 g, readability 0.01 g, comes with 50 g brass calibration weight . For adjusting tracking force I remove the armrest, place the scale such that the top of the weight is at record level, lower the arm onto the weight, see pic. With 60 g weighing capacity I can use the scale for other tasks.
Klaus
Klaus
But please make the measurements with the tip of the needle, not with cartridge body or anything else, as you get other/false results.
Of course, but for the pic I didn't want to place the stylus tip itself. Btw, price for the scale is € 81 ex. VAT (85 USD).
Klaus
This was so inexpensive, I couldn’t resist buying one just for fun.
I unboxed it and checked it with my calibration weights this afternoon.
Here are some photos.
Calibration at 1 gram, 2 grams, and 3 grams were perfect.
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This is the exact scale I use. Cheap and accurate. I basically use it to confirm that the sliding scale on my SME tone arm is more or less accurate and nothing more. I adjust VTF by listening to slight changes. I don’t care what the exact number is. Accuracy is not important for my purposes. I just don’t want to do damage to the cartridge by being way off some number. The scale on the tone arm is perfectly fine and that’s what I record in my notebook. When I return to that cartridge at some later time, I adjust by listening again making tiny adjustments, but always starting in the right ballpark.
My Dynavox Model TW-4......looks like there´s a common source.....guess Aliexpress......
actually 12 USD.......
actually 12 USD.......
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above Riverstone........USD 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
guess Amazon gets it from Ali as well....nice markup to 33
guess Amazon gets it from Ali as well....nice markup to 33
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+1
I bought mine from Yodobashi camera in Tokyo last year. I bended the edge to make it level with record surface. I also used it to weigh records. IME it works fine for 200g.
Some cheap general purpose balances bought at eBay or AliExpress are made of ferrous materials, not aluminium. They can violently attract the cartridge when we lower it ... Check with a magnet before using them.
Or the ferrous plater of the original Thorens TD124. Even with the aluminium platter and mat it would affect the tracking force of some moving coils.
Not everyone can handle a td124...you have to do an apprenticeship
Surely - but fortunately the 124 II had a non ferrous platter. The TD124 was an excellent platform for experimenting and tuning, in stock form it had several problems.
BTW., the interference effect is strongly dependent on cartridge type.
That was the first modification to remove the quick start platter and replace it, but not because of the magnetic behavior but because of the sound. In France there is a company that demagnetizes the platter for information for others.
pom with the green cast platter sounds really good, today many manufacturers make a platter out of two different materials.second avantage is no magnetism influnence.
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