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Mounting
Mount the hi-fi cartridge in the headshell if this is not done already. This is best done with the hi-fi cartridge stylus guard
in place but it may be necessary to remove it during at least one phase of the installation. If you do, replace it as soon as
possible. Be especially careful when the stylus guard is off, as many MC cartridges have a strong magnetic field at the
base of the cantilever. If this attracts the tip of a steel-bladed screwdriver, it can destroy the stylus - there is no hope of
resisting it. The best precaution is to keep the screwdriver well away from the cantilever, use a nonferrous screwdriver, or
keep the stylus guard on when you're using the screwdriver near it. The other main hazard is children so don’t forget to
warn prying fingers.
The headshell screws should be finger-tightened just enough that the cartridge cannot fall off but still loose enough that
the cartridge is easily moved around. Work whenever possible with the stylus’s safety cap in place. Set tracking force at
nominal, then do the tangency alignment procedures, then the azimuth. Do not deviate from this sequence as each step
affects the subsequent one — change the order and the setup will be wrong.
Tracking Force
This adjustment is carried out on the counterbalance weight of the tonearm or spring dial if one is in place. At this point,
use your tracking force gauge and setting tracking force according to your cartridge instructions — final adjustment will
be done later by ear.
If you do not have a tracking force gauge, but the arm does have a calibrated counterweight, defeat the arm’s anti-skate
mechanism or set it to zero. Set the counterweight so the arm is level and balanced. Be very careful of the unprotected
stylus — you cannot do this with its safety cap in place. Once the arm is balanced, lock it in its cradle and, using the
calibrated counterweight, set the tracking force according to your cartridge’s recommended weight.
Tangency Alignment
(lateral tracking angle) - Follow the manufacturer's literature and the dictates of your alignment gauge — different gauges
use slightly different methods. As you square up the hi-fi cartridge body with the gauge’s markings, be sure that the
cartridge sides are square or your alignment will be wrong. When all adjustments are correct, carefully tighten down the
hi-fi cartridge mounting screws. Keeping a firm grip on hi-fi cartridge and headshell together so nothing shifts, delicately
tighten each screw down a turn or so, then repeat until tight. Tightening down one screw all the way before tightening
the others is almost certain to twist the cartridge out of alignment. However careful you’ve been, always check the
alignment again after tightening.
Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA)
Unless your tonearm has a special VTA adjuster, adjusting arm height is usually carried out with the use of spacing
washers (as with Rega arms). In arms with a pillar / collar type vta adjuster it helps to put pencil or pen marks on the
pillar to keep track of various heights. See your tonearm manual for its recommendations on adjusting arm pillar height.
The best approach is to tune-in VTA gradually by listening to music. You know the arm needs to be lowered at the arm
pillar when the overall sound is hard and bright, with thin bass or no deep bass, edgy highs, and harsh midrange (of
course, this could also be tracking force which is too light). Distortion obscures low level details between the musical;
notes so dynamic range is reduced. Transient attacks may be too sharp. Raise the arm when the sound is dull and
damped, the highs rolled off, the lows muddy and lacking definition, and transient attacks are dull. Mind you, this sounds
an awful lot like the effects of changes in tracking force (too light is edgy, too heavy is heavy and dull). They are different
sounding but hard to explain. Start with the arm a little low and very gradually raise it, first to where it is parallel to the
record, and then so the back of the cartridge is tilting up. Keep track of your settings so you can return to the one you
like best where everything snaps into focus. The range of adjustments can be quite broad, as much as 3/4" or even more
(at the arm pivot). Play with the full range so you know what it sounds like and don’t be diffident.
Antiskate Force (pivoting arms only)
This applies an opposing, balancing force to the natural inward drag of a pivoting arm while playing. Left uncontrolled,
the stylus would push up against the inner groove wall, causing distortion both from mistracking and a cantilever skewed
in relation to the cartridge generator. To set, lower the stylus down near the label of a record with a wide run-out to it.
Increase antiskate until the arm starts to slowly drift outward, away from the label. Again, this should be finalized by ear
as you listen to music. If image placement is a little off-center, or if things don’t seem to be locked in solidly, experiment
with antiskate. Also, watch the stylus when you set it into a groove. Does it move to the right or left relative to the
cartridge body? This indicates too much or too little antiskating.
Fine Tuning
You now have three adjustments approximated. Tracking force, VTA, and azimuth. It’s a matter of reiteration to
optimize the sound. The change in sound with each of these individual adjustments can be similar. It’s therefore
necessary, in optimizing all three, to experimentally move from one type of adjustments to the next, then to the next, in
order to balance the optimization for all three. It's helpfull to listen to female vocals as you proceed. Firstly try deviating
from the cartridge’s recommended tracking force by small increments - about 0.2 of a gram deviation above and below
the manufacturer’s basic recommendations. Don’t worry about record damage from heavy tracking as most record
