Cartridge Help!

Ok today I got an Ortofon Cart and stylus from Inbound. I was sure I set it up all good. I used a protractor thing to line it up what I think may be correctly, although I have no idea if I have done the counterweight and anti-skating right? I'm currently getting a fair bit of high and low level distortion. Some help here would be great, even being pointed in the right direction to a decent website or something. Cheers.

1. make sure everything is plugged in tight

2. turn anti skate to zero

3. float the tone arm using the counterbalance (make it so it isnt falling or rising)

4. turn the number dial to zero, then turn the weight dial til it reaches the number grams recommended weight

5. turn anti skate to 1

6. put a record on the platter and the tone arm on the record. move the big black dial that the tone arm extends from, up or down to make the tone arm run horizontally in regards to the platter. there is a little lock for the up/down movement of this mechanism.

7. rinse.

Cheers. I'll give that a go tomorrow. I tried to float it before but I was too lazy to get it precise enough. The tone arm/counterbalance on my 2 dollar record player aren't top of the range. There is always the possibility this shit sound is coming from the amp as well. I might try it on my dads 2000 dollar amp first.  Maybe not.

the anti skate value should equal the counter weight value, not 1

orly?

my m447s are weighted at 3g and my anti skate is at 1, both me and mates give em hell, even on the jugglin tip, and they hold up sweet as. always just set it to a little bit, cos i didn't think it was that important.

on that note actually, i know some stanton carts are set to 3.5, but skate only goes to 3....

Yup in that case leave it at 3... Do you know what anti skate does?  Fairly sure it helps balance the inward forces of the needle, or is it a dampening thing?  Either way i leave it to the manufacturer settings, i like my vinyl to stay playing in stereo.


edit: slightly reworded coz im not really 100% sure!

ahaaa that makes perfect sense! i never realised that you were 'balancing' the needle across two dimensions, i only ever thought of it as one.

When you say float the tone arm I assume you mean float it at about the level a record would be at? Or just up in space. I'll give this another go now, but when I move anti-skate from zero to something else the tone arm skews all over the place. I have a distince feeling that it may just be my amp or insides of the very old turntable that is fucked. I never actually bothered to listen to it on good headphones like I am now, so it has probably always been fucked.

hey natho i can show u in the shop today if u wanna pop in.  or give me a buzzon 8232 8696 from midday today

the anti skating is actually counter acting the force put on by the stylus when it moves towards the centre of a record via the grooves.

so a correctly weighted stylus would have (as an example )  3 grams of stylus pressure plus inward movement via the rotation of the grooves

by setting the anti skate dial to 3 this counter acts the inward stylus pressure of 3 grams, thus having a stylus sitting in the grooves and not having any inward or outward force.

if u have the anti skating on 1, the inward force of the stylus would still be 2 grams, which may increase the chances of the needle skating to the centre of the record.

for the perfect sound the weight of the stylus should be equal to anti skating pressure. (3 and 3)

i have read also that turntablist like to run the anti skate at half of the correct pressure (ie 1.5) ..  i guess this would be due to lots of back cueing so the needle doesnt jump outwards off the record.   

the technics mk 5 1200 has anti skating dial that goes to 6 now days.

Cheers I might pop in. Feel like a drive anyway. Do you want me to bring the antique in? Probably a bit different/more shit than a technics...

yeah bring it in fo sure, that way we can sus it properly. im there from midday till 430

Cheers mate. Will leave in a bit. Probably be there in an hour or so, depending on the traffic.

Bigups mate. It's working sweet now. Still a bit of distortion but I reckon it's just my amp.

Also at me only just getting that joke about the slipmat.

Really should sell this record player. Probably an antique collectors item.

haha sell it, u paid 2 dollars for it

i just got my technics this afternoon and have spent the last 2 and a half hours setting up, bent my fingernail backwards trying to connect the stylus wires...  surely theres an easier way to do this?

also do i have to put on both weights on the cartridge?

It depends on how heavy your cart is I think. Put one on and get the tonearm to balance, and if you can't with one put both on. Then wind it up to the weight of your cart, say 4g.

Also, I'm pretty sure they above makes no sense.

okay i got everything set up.. i think...

i have placed both weights on the stylus, the one that came with my ortofon and the one that came with the technics.
by doing this i have needed to place the larger screw on. heres a pic i took so u know what i mean..
image not archived: P4150028.jpg
in the picture shows the silver weight above the black weight, which is just sitting above the cartridge.

if i have done this incorectly, this would mean the weight is wrong and that i have set the antiskate etc incorectly
image not archived: P4150015.jpg
this pic is what i have set my technics currently



and also... how can i stop myself from accidently dropping the needle on here?

im hell scared that im gonna break off the needle.

weird i have no weights on mine at all but fuck knows they work fine

as for not dropping the needle on the platters edge

goodluck i've done it many times in a straight frame of mind let alone smashed needles have held up though never broken 1

Well this is not an official way, but if you press down on the black thing and unscrew the screw at "a" (which is the adjustment for the lifter (b) you should be able to get it so it doesn't interfere with the tonearm when it's playing a record, yet when it drops off the record it won't hit the mirror balls. Worked on mine (make sure you test it with the thinnest record you have though).

image not archived: cartsmu8.jpg

hot tip restecp

strider u would be best to only use one weight.

just bring ur headshells into the shop ill sus em for ya

also use needle nose pliers to fit / remove wires

shes all set up properly now. Fuckin Rinsed it! 

stylus sometimes seems to skip when im trying to cue up. this normal?

what u can find with new stylus they sometimes tend to skip when cueing

when they are new they are not as flexible as say when there a month old. as they are still new they can skip when cueing up the tunes.  the needles need to flex and move up and down etc on the vinyl as it rotates thru the grooves.

so when u go to bed tonight, leave the stylus sitting on the vinyl as if u were playing the records, just dont have them moving. (so have them on stop)

having them sit on the vinyl over night will help them flex while ur sleeping

also make sure ur anti skating is set to 4, as ur pro s stylus weight should be at 4. 

cool cheers