Shure cartridge setup

Having done test like this, grooves damage will be reduced to minimum. Jack L. Nice to see a review like this one. Submitted by humphreyJ on May 5, - pm. I had one of these Submitted by tnargs on May 5, - pm. In the end I decided I needed to look at moving coils.

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My Humble Vintage System. My Home Setup. The System. Stereophile's Products of The Shure SFG-2 stylus pressure gauge is the most popular due to its low price and reasonable accuracy. The Shure gauge works essentially like a balance: the stylus is placed in a recessed groove at one end of the balance, and a sliding counterweight, towards the opposite end of the balance, is moved along a calibrated scale in an effort to counteract the weight of the cartridge.

When perfect balance is achieved, the weight of the stylus against the balance can be read directly from the calibrated scale. Although the results achieved with the Shure gauge are approximate at best results are dependent on the accuracy of the calibrated scale, as well as the user's ability to visually judge the degree of balance achieved , they are more than good enough in most cases.

Still, given the fact that tracking weight can vary by as much as a few tenths of a gram as a cartridge tracks record warps, the Shure gauge should prove sufficiently accurate for most installations. The Winds gauge is surely the simplest and most accurate gauge I've ever had the pleasure of using. It is completely electronic in nature and is, therefore, not prone to the errors inherent in balance-style devices such as the SFG Use of the gauge is trivial: the user must first zero its LCD display using the built-in calibration wheel.

The stylus is then lowered onto a circular sensor located on the top surface of the gauge. After a few seconds, during which time the LCD display gradually converges on a numeric value, the tracking weight can be read from the display. The only gripe I have with the Winds gauge is that I found it to produce wildly incorrect results, with no warning, if its 9 Volt battery is not fully charged.

Considering its price, the omission of a low battery indicator is inexcusable, especially in view of the consequences of setting a cartridge's tracking force terribly wrong that is, after all, why one would want to use a gauge like the Winds in the first place! This provides a good reference point from which to begin to increase the tracking weight towards the desired value.

At this point, the tracking weight of the cartridge is approximately 0 grams and can be set accurately using a gauge like one of those described above. Arm Height: Part One With the stylus pressure set to the high end of the manufacturer's specified range, it's a good time to adjust the height of the tonearm so that the arm tube is roughly parallel to the platter.

You'll fine tune the height of the arm later in the setup process, but getting it set parallel now will make later adjustments that much easier. Most arms allow for some form of height adjustment. Inexpensive arms, like the Audioquest PT series, typically provide a set screw which holds the arm pillar in place, which allows for a wide range of adjustment but makes it difficult to repeatedly find previous settings.

More expensive arms, like the Graham 2. The Rega RB is one of the few arms in its class that provides no height adjustment mechanism. However, small spacers can be placed under the arm to raise it to the desired height. Don't fuss too much over the height of the arm at this point. You'll have plenty of time to obsess over it with typical analog retentiveness later in the process.

Alignment Records are cut using a cutter head that is positioned at a tangent, or parallel, to the cut groove. With a pivoted tonearm, which forces the stylus to trace an arc across the record surface, only an approximation to the cutter head's tangential path is possible. The seminal work of Baerwald ca. These two points are commonly referred to as "null points" as a tracking error of zero is achieved when the stylus is tangent to the groove at these points.

A commercially available cartridge alignment gauge can be used to align the cartridge such that it satisfies the tangency requirements at the null points. Most modern cartridge alignment gauges, such as the popular D B Systems DBP, are designed to produce correct Baerwald two-point alignment, although there are some that are designed using a less common one-point method the alignment jig that is included with the VPI JMW tonearm, for example.

When aligning a cartridge for tangency using any alignment protractor, it is essential to remember that you are attempting to align the cantilever and, hence, the stylus , not the cartridge body.

There is no guarantee that the cantilever is perfectly aligned within the cartridge body, so simply aligning the cartridge body will not necessarily produce the desired result. Furthermore, many cartridge bodies have non-parallel sides, making tangential alignment of the cartridge body with the lines of tangency on the gauge virtually impossible.

Most alignment gauges are simply cardboard, plastic or, in some cases, glass templates onto which are printed or scribed the null point s and lines of tangency against which the cartridge should be aligned. The template is placed over the turntable's spindle made possible via a spindle-sized hole drilled in the template and placed against the platter.

The cartridge's position in the headshell is then manipulated until the stylus is parallel to the gauge's lines of tangency at the null point s.

This process is made somewhat easier by the use of a small, lighted magnifying glass which will allow you to better view the near-microscopic stylus and scrawny cantilever, both usually obscured by the shadow of the cartridge body.

This is, by far, the most frustrating and time-consuming part of the cartridge installation process. Making small adjustments to align the stylus with the null point s invariably alters its relationship to the lines of tangency - or vice versa. Keep the screws holding the cartridge to the headshell as tight as possible, but just loose enough to allow slight changes in cartridge position.

With any luck, the force of the screws against the headshell will hold the cartridge in position while you check your changes against the template if you're unlucky, the force of the tonearm wires against the back of the cartridge will negate all of your hard work up to that point! Only Left! Get it if you order in Price:. Support Customer Support. Contact Us Submit a ticket directly to Shure Customer Service staff, or reach out via phone or email.

Contact Us. Shure Tech Portal Complete product documentation, technical support materials, software and firmware, and other tools and resources for all Shure products, in one place. Wired Mics. Align the cartridge so that the tip of the stylus is flush with the front of the headshell weight. Align the cartridge to the rear of the headshell slots.

Anti Skate to zero Tone arm height set level Balance the tone arm, then add 3 grams Unorthodox DJ: Install the cartridge on the headshell with the headshell weight.

Align the cartridge so that the tip of the stylus is flush with the front of the headshell weight Anti Skate to zero Tone arm height set level or slightly down 4. Other tips Are the records warped? Are your slip mats slippery? Are the record holes "loose" on the spindle? The cartridge can be angled outward away from the spindle 23 degrees to increase skip resistance.

Attachment Link s.