Finally! Someone actually showing us a way to get the VTA fairly close! Not like other “detailed” explanations on how to set up a cartridge and then twirl the height adjustment a little before they move on.
You are my source for technics 1200 info. Picked one up at a Pawn Shop for $20.00-"Twenty" and have been giving it a good cleaning and tuning. Your instructions are simple and effective. Thank you.
Absolute brilliant thank you ! I have adhd and I was engaged for the whole video - the use of drawings is a great visual : very clear explanations of everything. I'm off to adjust ! Many thanks
You just saved me a lot of money, I thought my tonearm was completely screwed and it turns out this was the problem, I had no idea height affects tracking so much. Thanks so much for doing these videos man.
Top man Very usefull. Just got serrato and saw that the signals were very different. Had my decks for 12 years and never bothered setting them up properly. Thanks to your video help they are set up perfectly.
James you are so informative. I can't thank you enough for all the information and knowledge you've given me about my turntable, stuff that I had no idea about, that I for years never checked while playing my records. With all the crappy and cheap CD's they've been making over the years, squandering such a technological advancement and letting it go to pot, there's now a wonderful re emergence of records. Records that I still have tons of . Thanx again.You are spot on - and I love your accent.
Appreciate the clear explanation, I currently own an Audio Technica AT-LP120 and noticed that even in the zero height position my tonearm was not level. Luckily I was able to fix the issue by putting the stock mat below the cork mat I use and it raised the height just enough to be level, or as close as possible. Tested a few records and noticed less sibilance and even some records had less surface noise.
wow im so glad i found these old vids. i took a brake from playing for a few yrs. got the bug again and just bought a pair of used m3ds. after watching your vids i am confident to work on them myself if needed. after adjusting height with concords i noticed at 0 one deck sits about 6 mm higher at needle from deck case compared to the other. so my next move will be to take apart and grease/re calibrate/repair like your other video. might just replace tone arms as well and upgrade rca with internal ground and be done with it in one swoop. floating test with anti skate test kicks both arms to clip at 3 but does not totally kick them to spindle at 0. none of it seems to effect playing with traktor in absolute mode but new parts are fairly cheap online. by the way i like your taste in early 2000 dnb. my favorite genre is techy dnb. big ups for your detail videos!
I own 2 1200's and it's great to know how to take care and make the most of them. Thanks so much. All your videos have been extremely helpful and absolutely informative.
Thanks for your videos. I bought a pair of second hand 1210s a few months ago and they were stinking. The last owner never looked after them. Thanks to your videos I've now serviced then and adjusted the height, weight and anti skate to the correct settings. Thanks
absolutely brilliant demonstration! I had just watched the other video on the antiskating setting and checked this one right after... You nailed it just like the other one! Thanks!!!
great vid! I have a tip for the different vinyl thickness problem. set it up with your slimmest vinyl why? because its better to have your tonearm too low than too high. if its too high the needle will totally hack away your precious vinyl. if you set it up with the slim vinyl, when you use a thicker one, it'll have the same effect as a lower tonerarm. which is your best bet.
Great guide, I think the tone arm height is is a good indicator but not the whole answer. I was eye-balling my LP120x putting more mats on and really checking the angle of the stylus and cantilever. It needed a bit higher up than I initially estimated purely going visually off the tone arm. You can see how the stylus behaves once everything drops.
Thanks mate this and your anti skate one are brilliant. You have a knack for explaining these concepts clearly.I've owned 1210s for twenty years now and finally understand anti skate properly.
Key is "height adjustable tone arm". A lot of turntables lower end or vintage don't have that. So you can change the platter mat or if your using a standard type 1/2" mount head shell you can shim between the top of the cartridge and and bottom inside of head shell.
Great video on stuck tone arm adjustment. I took apart the tone arm apart. And the ring of the tone arm height adjustment is still stuck. I can’t move it. Any ideas how to unstick it. Some sites say use a heat gun. But not sure about that. Please let me know any ideas
Thank you so much for your detailed video regarding VHA. I can't tell you how much you simplified the process of set-up. You rule and all the best to you and your vinyl acquisitions.
What setting the Stylus rake angle (SRA) the stylus should "rake": forward about 1 -2 degrees to match the average rake angle of the cutting sting stylus on the master . When people talk about the VTA,, there are actually referring to the SRA.
Hello, nice explanation, my question is if I have vinyls of 120g mixed with 180g in my collection, there must be some unlevel in the arm to adapt to all thickess of vinyls, because it can be perfect for 120g vinyls then not for 180g, right?. Thank you.
I have a Audio-Technica AT-PL120 which looks exactly like your Technics, just silver instead of black. They must be made by the same company. Very solid direct drive turntable for the past 5 years.
I've owned 5 1200s, 1999-present. I got my original set right from trial and error, but good grief, this video breaks it all down. It's amazing. Thank you so much @viperfrank
So helpful and easy to follow. I'd played about with this before but not really known what I was doing - also your anti-skating video was very useful as I'm about to come into an old 1200 which I'm sure will need a bit of reset. Plus; some of the decks I've played on in clubs have been all over the place and thanks to your video - I now have some idea of why. Cheers!
Agree, good video! So basically, as well as doing it by eye, as long as the ruler measurement is the same (back and front end), the tone arm height is set correctly?
Great video, very helpful. My question is can you adjust the pitch of the tonearm? What I mean is that when I bought my 1210 M5G's I noticed that one of the tonearms kind of was tilted inwards, like if a person was pigeon toed.
@viperfrank, cheers mate your vids r excellent. i have followed the tone arm and counterweight vids and still have really distorted sound.when i apply more pressure it sorts it. first i swapped the weight round, then moved it after seeing you say it was wrong. i put the tone arms at zero gravity, but then the weight only moves to 2 on dial. not enough tone arm space to move towards the needle end.. technics 1200. 1 ortofon & 1 technics head. ortofon more than technics but both still not perfect
Another neat move I've just read is to place the needle on the run-in of the stationary record and raise the height at the tonearm base until the bottom of the stylus housing is parallel with the record. Then do the measurements. This might be more protective of the stylus as you don't need to hold the tonearm level while adjusting with no chance of dropping or bumping.
Some excellent points. I honestly never gave it much thought of the thickness of the vinyl, sounds weird but I never have. Thanks again for the tips...
finally step up to face the two turntables in my room. it's been sitting there for half a year since I bought it. Really wanna pick up what I used to like. but which comes first? the tonearm adjustment or the cartridge adjustment(counterweight)? Sry I'm new to this.
i would try weight adjustment. then tone arm height and the check weight one more time. after that check the anti skate. most people set anti skate to 0 if they scratch and back cue aggressive. this gentleman has a video for all of it and explains very well.
Why would a needle slide outwards, i.e. off the vinyl? Adjusting the anti skating doesn't seem to do anything. Would this be a tweak with tone arm or a whole new tone arm? Only happens when lining up a track and it skips backwards off the whole vinyl?! Great video by the way.
Awesome videos james... thanks to you i managed to replace both my tonearms and now my 15year old 1200s sounds much much better and SHINY!!! :) but one problem... they still somewhat skip every now and den when i do simple scratching, i calibrated both the tonearms with new headshell+carts&stylus and also levelled it as in this video.... hope you could advice on some other problems that might be happening :) thanks again james!!! nice record collection btw :)
@mushroomleg yeah i can see your point it does seem a bit strange, but the reason is because all needles and cartages are different shapes and sizes, you could have an ortofon blue and set it level but if i than put a stanton 500 on there it will be a bit lower so ill have to re adjust it. hope this helped and thats for your comment. nice one!!!
Cheers for all you put up mate, much appreciated! Already replaced an rca cable from one of your videos and just sorted anti skating (on one only as one not doing it), tone arm height and cleaned contacts for needles etc. and seems a lot better sound wise :) Think my mixer and speakers need servicing but defo way better at the minute!
I had a similar problem and whilst this tutorial is good I think it may be slightly inaccurate, I found a very handy tutorial on the ortofon website. Cant post the link but if you google, "ortofon how to set up a turntable" you should find the tutorial easy enough. Hope this helps.
Your videos are excellent. Thank you. I have two 1210MK2 and I simply cannot get the tone-arm to become parallel in neither. The first one has the height adjustment jammed up so I'll have to check your other video on fixing this. The second one however has a different issue. I rotate the height adjustment as low as possible and I still have the tone-arm base too high! Am I doing something wrong here? Thanks!!
hi yeah mine was jammed too so my advice is be really careful when messing around with the tonearm cause I broke mine even though I thought I was doing everything like he said in the video...
Thanks for the vid. Very informative. I have one turntable but the height adjustment wont budge. I unlock it and try to adjust up or down but its stuck. Do I need to replace the whole tonearms or what would you recommend? Thanks.
James maybe this is earier to do. This comes from the Technics 1200/1210 manual. all you need to know is the height of the Cartridge either measure or in instructions for Cartridge. Table as below Cartridge height............ Now set scale reading ring at base of tone arm to:- 15mm 0 16mm 1 17mm 2 18mm 3 19mm 4 20mm 5 21mm 6 Hope this Helps
This video's great for people who are using that particular Ortofon cartridge... but not all cartridges are the same, and this method will not work for everyone. Also, some cartridges can sit in the head shell at an angle. So, the tonearm will not always be level. Best to just use a set of magnifying head glasses to see where the stylus is sitting in the groove.
hi there, no you should be fine to put WD40 on it as long as you don't use too much and wipe off and over spill. if you spray some into like a small pot like a yogurt pot or something like that, than get a small peace of tinfoil and bend it into a u-shape and use that to scoop some oil up and drip it into the hight adjustment ring. it will be less messy that way and you can get it more accurately. pope this helped and thanks for your comment. nice one!!!
@TheUzimis Thank you!!!, I never really taught of my self as much of a genius, but I'm glad you like the videos. I will try to get my stuff sorted and get some more videos up soon. Thanks again for your comment and kind words. nice one!!!
Good video but I can't figure out how to adjust my tone arm on my Onkyo 1116a turntable. Is it possible that it doesn't have any adjustment for leveling the tone arm? The manuals don't mention it, only talk about tracking force and antiskate.
hi there, nice vid my dial that adjust the height is super stiff and I can't move it. I've tried a bit of oil but it still won't move. what could you suggest? please help
Hi Viperfrank, hope you can help me. I have a BSR 35CS Mcdonald record changer, everything works great except when I want to turn it off, and slide the slider to Auto so that it should turn off, the tonearm goes to the resting place and right away goes back to play the record. It does not go down upon the resting stand so that it should turn off. It use to work great but may be I touched some setting, please let me know how to do this. Thanks in advance.
And then when you have it perfectly level (on a regular 120 gram vinyl record) THEN the fun part starts, now you have to fiddle down in the 1/50th of a mm. In order to find a VTA setting that sounds best across your different LP's of various thicknesses. If you're very persistent, you'll have everything sounding stellar. Word of advice, a neutral VTA doesn't sound very good. You'll have to reduce the height of the tone-arm base very slightly, so the tonearm is going up-hill towards the pickup. This is called a negative SRA, and my experience is that a very miniscule amount of negative SRA, sounds much fuller, deeper and less fatiquing.
Awesome video indeed. Very informative and helped greatly with understanding the significance of the Technics 1200's tonearm height adjustment & my vinyls.
Hi! Frank, I have a minor problem with my SL 1200 type II... for some reason the adjuster does not want to move while this TT is almost new so I'm afraid to force it and lose it instead. You were my favorite technician or what is the proper title for you. What can I do to break the mechanical lock that is giving me headache. Thank you much Frank please give me that advice and should I need to pay, don't hesitate to give me the bill. mike
YOO! My Brethren! Is you still out there!? Just getting hip to your HELPFUL videos! Uploaded 6 YEARS AGO?! Give me a shout out if your still on the Web!? ...Peace.
thanks for the post! *edit* just made adjustments. LOL...i was using butter rugs, and height was already at zero and the tonearm wasnt straight. switched regular slipmats re-caliberated everything
wow thats strange,hers a couple of things you can try. is the weight screwed on far enough , maybe something is abstracting the weight from screwing on far enough. what cartridge are you using, if is a headshell style cartridge if so it may need the little weighted mettle plate put on-it. move the tone arm around and see if it fells sticky or strange in any other way you could have a problem with the tone arm. try these if still no joy comment me and ill help find another solution. nice one!!!
hmm from what i think the needle is already leaning when it's not in the groove by default, and when you drop the needle it is basically go vertically in the groove so either you extend the height or not i think there's no difference and there's a different Vinyl anyway, thinner or thicker. That's why other turntable have a fix height
Hey James. Great Video. I have a pioneer pl-50l table. My tonearm is returning too quickly. Another words, on the last song of the album about half way thru, the table believes the album is done and lifts the tone arm off the album. I think I need to adjust the tonearm. Thoughts?
Does placing a 180g LP or heavier significantly alter the angle ? Because it's in effect thicker and thus raises the stylus contact angle ? Many say thicker records offer more bass, but it's likely because of the altered angle of the stylus ?
Great vid. I have the same deck and cartridge as you (only my cartridge is a yellow S) but I can't seem to get my tone arm adjusted to the recommend 3 grams. It just doesn't adjust that far. Any tips for that?
@FerreNL thank you, I'm glad you like the video, I always like to keep things relaxed when I do my videos, I like people to enjoy watching my videos not feel like they are on a forum and there are too many rules. thanks for your comment and your kind words. nice one!!!
On my Gemini XL-100 manual it's written: "Tone Arm bearings are factory set and sealed. Any attempt at adjustment will void the warranty." So now what about the tone-arm adjustment?
For anyone finding their tonearm base is still too high (even 'on 0' or even past '0' with the grey part of the base no higher than the black ring, in others words, the lowest you can get it)...notice that this guy is using a CORK mat on his turntable platter, possibly a 5mm one...which of course raises the record to meet the tonearm so the latter can be at a level angle. I say all this because I, like many owners of a Technics SL-1210, are having this issue. I ordered a cork mat last night then returnd here and spotted what appears to be the same thing. Mine is 3mm and hasn't arrived yet but I'm confident it'll be the answer having seen this intelligent chap use one as well. I may even put the Technics rubber mat on top of that, we'll see.
Hi mate, Should I adjust the height first and then adjust the weight on the back ? Would do the weight first and then adjust the height ? What's the proper procedure ? Cheers !✌👍
Hi there, Really useful video, well explained, everything's clear: you know how and why to do "this" or "that", and that's not the case of other guys I've seen in other videos: they should check yours ! I also give you 5 stars ! Cheers !
This is the clearest explanation of tonearm height I have ever seen. Thank you.
Technics should award this guy a medal.
Finally! Someone actually showing us a way to get the VTA fairly close! Not like other “detailed” explanations on how to set up a cartridge and then twirl the height adjustment a little before they move on.
You are my source for technics 1200 info. Picked one up at a Pawn Shop for $20.00-"Twenty" and have been giving it a good cleaning and tuning. Your instructions
are simple and effective. Thank you.
Absolute brilliant thank you ! I have adhd and I was engaged for the whole video - the use of drawings is a great visual : very clear explanations of everything. I'm off to adjust ! Many thanks
You just saved me a lot of money, I thought my tonearm was completely screwed and it turns out this was the problem, I had no idea height affects tracking so much. Thanks so much for doing these videos man.
Top man Very usefull. Just got serrato and saw that the signals were very different.
Had my decks for 12 years and never bothered setting them up properly.
Thanks to your video help they are set up perfectly.
James you are so informative. I can't thank you enough for all the information and knowledge you've given me about my turntable, stuff that I had no idea about, that I for years never checked while playing my records. With all the crappy and cheap CD's they've been making over the years, squandering such a technological advancement and letting it go to pot, there's now a wonderful re emergence of records. Records that I still have tons of . Thanx again.You are spot on - and I love your accent.
Appreciate the clear explanation, I currently own an Audio Technica AT-LP120 and noticed that even in the zero height position my tonearm was not level. Luckily I was able to fix the issue by putting the stock mat below the cork mat I use and it raised the height just enough to be level, or as close as possible. Tested a few records and noticed less sibilance and even some records had less surface noise.
wow im so glad i found these old vids. i took a brake from playing for a few yrs. got the bug again and just bought a pair of used m3ds. after watching your vids i am confident to work on them myself if needed. after adjusting height with concords i noticed at 0 one deck sits about 6 mm higher at needle from deck case compared to the other. so my next move will be to take apart and grease/re calibrate/repair like your other video. might just replace tone arms as well and upgrade rca with internal ground and be done with it in one swoop. floating test with anti skate test kicks both arms to clip at 3 but does not totally kick them to spindle at 0. none of it seems to effect playing with traktor in absolute mode but new parts are fairly cheap online. by the way i like your taste in early 2000 dnb. my favorite genre is techy dnb. big ups for your detail videos!
I own 2 1200's and it's great to know how to take care and make the most of them. Thanks so much. All your videos have been extremely helpful and absolutely informative.
Thanks for your videos. I bought a pair of second hand 1210s a few months ago and they were stinking. The last owner never looked after them. Thanks to your videos I've now serviced then and adjusted the height, weight and anti skate to the correct settings. Thanks
I do professional electronics repair, I just started fiddling w/these 1200's, this was most informative, thanx
I learned all these techniques from A-trak & Infamous back in the 90s but never knew the why behind it all. Thanks James!!
absolutely brilliant demonstration! I had just watched the other video on the antiskating setting and checked this one right after... You nailed it just like the other one! Thanks!!!
Best video I saw on the subject even better than turntable manufacturers. You gained a subscriber my friend.
great vid!
I have a tip for the different vinyl thickness problem. set it up with your slimmest vinyl why? because its better to have your tonearm too low than too high. if its too high the needle will totally hack away your precious vinyl.
if you set it up with the slim vinyl, when you use a thicker one, it'll have the same effect as a lower tonerarm. which is your best bet.
Great guide, I think the tone arm height is is a good indicator but not the whole answer. I was eye-balling my LP120x putting more mats on and really checking the angle of the stylus and cantilever. It needed a bit higher up than I initially estimated purely going visually off the tone arm. You can see how the stylus behaves once everything drops.
Thanks mate this and your anti skate one are brilliant. You have a knack for explaining these concepts clearly.I've owned 1210s for twenty years now and finally understand anti skate properly.
what you been doing for the past 20 years...
Same here.
Subbed.
Thanks so much! You're the only person on TH-cam that could explain this well. You've earned yourself a new sub!
+Bacon Grace thank you, i really appreciate the feed back. and thank you for your support.
Hi Bacon. See new post above to set up tone arm correctly
9yrs I owned some 1210's and never adjusted the arm height.. I know feel like a total plum! Great Vid and easy to understand!
Got a pair of 1200s recently and I' m doing this straight ahead, once I have them freshly serviced and I got my new Ortofon cartridges. Thx 🙏
fantastic! Just got my Stanton ST150's today. So glad I watched your video today too!
Thanks, you've got talent for teaching.
Key is "height adjustable tone arm".
A lot of turntables lower end or vintage don't have that.
So you can change the platter mat or if your using a standard type 1/2" mount head shell you can shim between the top of the cartridge and and bottom inside of head shell.
Thank-You. It's probably been 30 years since I used a turntable & I had forgotten about the "setup" after moving it. You saved me from a big Oopz!
no worries, I'm glad the video was useful.
thank you for your comment.
Great video on stuck tone arm adjustment. I took apart the tone arm apart. And the ring of the tone arm height adjustment is still stuck. I can’t move it. Any ideas how to unstick it. Some sites say use a heat gun. But not sure about that. Please let me know any ideas
Thank you so much for your detailed video regarding VHA. I can't tell you how much you simplified the process of set-up. You rule and all the best to you and your vinyl acquisitions.
What setting the Stylus rake angle (SRA) the stylus should "rake": forward about 1 -2 degrees to match the average rake angle of the cutting sting stylus on the master .
When people talk about the VTA,, there are actually referring to the SRA.
all your videos really helped out tons. especially the led replacement of the target light. your the man. again thanks
Best explanation i experienced so far. Thanks!
Thanks a lot ! Just what I was looking for.
Technics should sponsor you.
Cheers mate
Hello, nice explanation, my question is if I have vinyls of 120g mixed with 180g in my collection, there must be some unlevel in the arm to adapt to all thickess of vinyls, because it can be perfect for 120g vinyls then not for 180g, right?.
Thank you.
Frank you legend mate. Proper helped me out this did. Cheers.
I have a Audio-Technica AT-PL120 which looks exactly like your Technics, just silver instead of black. They must be made by the same company. Very solid direct drive turntable for the past 5 years.
I've owned 5 1200s, 1999-present. I got my original set right from trial and error, but good grief, this video breaks it all down. It's amazing. Thank you so much @viperfrank
Thank you. I love your videos. I have an SL-1500 and am going to get it into shape.
RobertJason11 That is an awesome Turntable!
So helpful and easy to follow. I'd played about with this before but not really known what I was doing - also your anti-skating video was very useful as I'm about to come into an old 1200 which I'm sure will need a bit of reset. Plus; some of the decks I've played on in clubs have been all over the place and thanks to your video - I now have some idea of why. Cheers!
Agree, good video! So basically, as well as doing it by eye, as long as the ruler measurement is the same (back and front end), the tone arm height is set correctly?
Great video, very helpful. My question is can you adjust the pitch of the tonearm? What I mean is that when I bought my 1210 M5G's I noticed that one of the tonearms kind of was tilted inwards, like if a person was pigeon toed.
@viperfrank, cheers mate your vids r excellent. i have followed the tone arm and counterweight vids and still have really distorted sound.when i apply more pressure it sorts it. first i swapped the weight round, then moved it after seeing you say it was wrong. i put the tone arms at zero gravity, but then the weight only moves to 2 on dial. not enough tone arm space to move towards the needle end.. technics 1200. 1 ortofon & 1 technics head. ortofon more than technics but both still not perfect
Another neat move I've just read is to place the needle on the run-in of the stationary record and raise the height at the tonearm base until the bottom of the stylus housing is parallel with the record. Then do the measurements. This might be more protective of the stylus as you don't need to hold the tonearm level while adjusting with no chance of dropping or bumping.
Some excellent points. I honestly never gave it much thought of the thickness of the vinyl, sounds weird but I never have. Thanks again for the tips...
i've never done this in over 20 years. definitley going to do it now
finally step up to face the two turntables in my room. it's been sitting there for half a year since I bought it. Really wanna pick up what I used to like. but which comes first? the tonearm adjustment or the cartridge adjustment(counterweight)? Sry I'm new to this.
i would try weight adjustment. then tone arm height and the check weight one more time. after that check the anti skate. most people set anti skate to 0 if they scratch and back cue aggressive. this gentleman has a video for all of it and explains very well.
Why would a needle slide outwards, i.e. off the vinyl? Adjusting the anti skating doesn't seem to do anything. Would this be a tweak with tone arm or a whole new tone arm? Only happens when lining up a track and it skips backwards off the whole vinyl?! Great video by the way.
Great tutorials,,, saved me the trouble of having to explain much of it to some of my mates. Cheers
Cheers mate, this had been confusing me. People said use a mirror but i wasn't sure what i was looking for
Awesome videos james... thanks to you i managed to replace both my tonearms and now my 15year old 1200s sounds much much better and SHINY!!! :) but one problem... they still somewhat skip every now and den when i do simple scratching, i calibrated both the tonearms with new headshell+carts&stylus and also levelled it as in this video.... hope you could advice on some other problems that might be happening :) thanks again james!!! nice record collection btw :)
@mushroomleg yeah i can see your point it does seem a bit strange, but the reason is because all needles and cartages are different shapes and sizes, you could have an ortofon blue and set it level but if i than put a stanton 500 on there it will be a bit lower so ill have to re adjust it.
hope this helped and thats for your comment.
nice one!!!
great video. 5 stars
waiting for weight tonearm adjustment video. thanks
Cheers for all you put up mate, much appreciated! Already replaced an rca cable from one of your videos and just sorted anti skating (on one only as one not doing it), tone arm height and cleaned contacts for needles etc. and seems a lot better sound wise :) Think my mixer and speakers need servicing but defo way better at the minute!
that's great, I always like hearing that my videos are helping people, glad to hear they are helping you.
thank you for your comment.
thx man, I have my 1200's for 7 years and really didn't had a clue!!
@TheReIntegration no problem, thank you for your feed back and your kind works.
I'm glad you like the video, thank you for your comment.
nice one!!!
I had a similar problem and whilst this tutorial is good I think it may be slightly inaccurate, I found a very handy tutorial on the ortofon website. Cant post the link but if you google, "ortofon how to set up a turntable" you should find the tutorial easy enough.
Hope this helps.
I second the cooment below this, another great vid man but my 1210s height adjustment doesn't seem to go anywhere near as low as yours, any ideas?
Your videos are excellent. Thank you.
I have two 1210MK2 and I simply cannot get the tone-arm to become parallel in neither. The first one has the height adjustment jammed up so I'll have to check your other video on fixing this. The second one however has a different issue. I rotate the height adjustment as low as possible and I still have the tone-arm base too high! Am I doing something wrong here? Thanks!!
The same question
hi yeah mine was jammed too so my advice is be really careful when messing around with the tonearm cause I broke mine even though I thought I was doing everything like he said in the video...
Thanks for the vid. Very informative. I have one turntable but the height adjustment wont budge. I unlock it and try to adjust up or down but its stuck. Do I need to replace the whole tonearms or what would you recommend? Thanks.
Very helpful, I have a Technics SL1500C with a Ortofon 2m red, and it will be replaced by a Ortofon 2m black very soon, thanks for the information.
Thanks for the video, the sound quality is way much more better! Anybody tried listening to the Lp without a Slipmat?
@plagueblack thank you, I'm glad you like the videos, I never thought I could be much of a teacher but I actually like it.
thanks again
nice one!!!
Thanks man!! But i can't do that with my Technics SL-1700... Can you help me to adjust the height and the antiskating??
Thanks your videos have really helped...I just wanted to ask if a small spirit level be useful with the arm height adjustment?
James maybe this is earier to do. This comes from the Technics 1200/1210 manual. all you need to know is the height of the Cartridge either measure or in instructions for Cartridge.
Table as below
Cartridge height............ Now set scale reading ring at base of tone arm to:-
15mm 0
16mm 1
17mm 2
18mm 3
19mm 4
20mm 5
21mm 6
Hope this Helps
This video's great for people who are using that particular Ortofon cartridge... but not all cartridges are the same, and this method will not work for everyone.
Also, some cartridges can sit in the head shell at an angle. So, the tonearm will not always be level. Best to just use a set of magnifying head glasses to see where the stylus is sitting in the groove.
Awesome video - well made tutorial. Now I have balanced my 1210s to perfection with fresh needles on them. Thanks Viper ;)
Soo how much heigt for the concorde on the Technics SL1200 ????????
thanks mate...i have learnt a great deal. i bought my turntables 6 months ago...and i didnt know these stuff, thanks alot
hi there, no you should be fine to put WD40 on it as long as you don't use too much and wipe off and over spill.
if you spray some into like a small pot like a yogurt pot or something like that, than get a small peace of tinfoil and bend it into a u-shape and use that to scoop some oil up and drip it into the hight adjustment ring. it will be less messy that way and you can get it more accurately.
pope this helped and thanks for your comment.
nice one!!!
Nice Job On The Video. Where Were You 20 years Ago I definitely Needed You Then.
@TheUzimis Thank you!!!, I never really taught of my self as much of a genius, but I'm glad you like the videos.
I will try to get my stuff sorted and get some more videos up soon.
Thanks again for your comment and kind words.
nice one!!!
Good video but I can't figure out how to adjust my tone arm on my Onkyo 1116a turntable. Is it possible that it doesn't have any adjustment for leveling the tone arm? The manuals don't mention it, only talk about tracking force and antiskate.
Can you offer any advice on my tone arm lift not picking up or going down? Thanks
Thanks - tuning for dummies. Needed that !!!
Hi.
I hope you are the miracle I need !
I have about CD 4 vynyl
Thanks for the informative video, I now know I was sold a 1200 with a bent tone arm, haha.
hi there, nice vid
my dial that adjust the height is super stiff and I can't move it. I've tried a bit of oil but it still won't move.
what could you suggest?
please help
Hi Viperfrank, hope you can help me. I have a BSR 35CS Mcdonald record changer, everything works great except when I want to turn it off, and slide the slider to Auto so that it should turn off, the tonearm goes to the resting place and right away goes back to play the record. It does not go down upon the resting stand so that it should turn off. It use to work great but may be I touched some setting, please let me know how to do this.
Thanks in advance.
And then when you have it perfectly level (on a regular 120 gram vinyl record)
THEN the fun part starts, now you have to fiddle down in the 1/50th of a mm.
In order to find a VTA setting that sounds best across your different LP's of various thicknesses.
If you're very persistent, you'll have everything sounding stellar.
Word of advice, a neutral VTA doesn't sound very good.
You'll have to reduce the height of the tone-arm base very slightly, so the tonearm is going up-hill towards the pickup.
This is called a negative SRA, and my experience is that a very miniscule amount of negative SRA, sounds much fuller, deeper and less fatiquing.
great video but is this information intended for dj decks only? i have a regular record player I cannot find height adjustments
Awesome video indeed. Very informative and helped greatly with understanding the significance of the Technics 1200's tonearm height adjustment & my vinyls.
Hi! Frank,
I have a minor problem with my SL 1200 type II... for some reason the adjuster
does not want to move while this TT is almost new so I'm afraid to force it and
lose it instead. You were my favorite technician or what is the proper title for you.
What can I do to break the mechanical lock that is giving me headache. Thank you
much Frank please give me that advice and should I need to pay, don't hesitate to
give me the bill.
mike
YOO! My Brethren! Is you still out there!? Just getting hip to your HELPFUL videos! Uploaded 6 YEARS AGO?! Give me a shout out if your still on the Web!? ...Peace.
thanks for the post!
*edit*
just made adjustments. LOL...i was using butter rugs, and height was already at zero and the tonearm wasnt straight. switched regular slipmats re-caliberated everything
wow thats strange,hers a couple of things you can try.
is the weight screwed on far enough , maybe something is abstracting the weight from screwing on far enough.
what cartridge are you using, if is a headshell style cartridge if so it may need the little weighted mettle plate put on-it.
move the tone arm around and see if it fells sticky or strange in any other way you could have a problem with the tone arm.
try these if still no joy comment me and ill help find another solution.
nice one!!!
hmm from what i think the needle is already leaning when it's not in the groove by default, and when you drop the needle it is basically go vertically in the groove so either you extend the height or not i think there's no difference and there's a different Vinyl anyway, thinner or thicker. That's why other turntable have a fix height
This man is a legend
You're a very good orator.
your vids are brilliant man!.thanks!
Nicely presented, very easy to follow. Cheers.
Hey James. Great Video. I have a pioneer pl-50l table. My tonearm is returning too quickly. Another words, on the last song of the album about half way thru, the table believes the album is done and lifts the tone arm off the album. I think I need to adjust the tonearm. Thoughts?
Great vid mate !!!
Cheers from Tasmania
Does placing a 180g LP or heavier significantly alter the angle ? Because it's in effect thicker and thus raises the stylus contact angle ? Many say thicker records offer more bass, but it's likely because of the altered angle of the stylus ?
Great vid. I have the same deck and cartridge as you (only my cartridge is a yellow S) but I can't seem to get my tone arm adjusted to the recommend 3 grams. It just doesn't adjust that far. Any tips for that?
hi there, what's the closest you can get it, is it within a gram or so?
@FerreNL thank you, I'm glad you like the video, I always like to keep things relaxed when I do my videos, I like people to enjoy watching my videos not feel like they are on a forum and there are too many rules.
thanks for your comment and your kind words.
nice one!!!
On my Gemini XL-100 manual it's written: "Tone Arm bearings are factory set and sealed. Any attempt at
adjustment will void the warranty."
So now what about the tone-arm adjustment?
Thank you just watched this and your anti skating video, I have now fixed the issue on one of my turntables :)👍
that nice to hear, I'm always happy when someone is able to fix an issue using my video.
thank you for your comment.
For anyone finding their tonearm base is still too high (even 'on 0' or even past '0' with the grey part of the base no higher than the black ring, in others words, the lowest you can get it)...notice that this guy is using a CORK mat on his turntable platter, possibly a 5mm one...which of course raises the record to meet the tonearm so the latter can be at a level angle. I say all this because I, like many owners of a Technics SL-1210, are having this issue. I ordered a cork mat last night then returnd here and spotted what appears to be the same thing. Mine is 3mm and hasn't arrived yet but I'm confident it'll be the answer having seen this intelligent chap use one as well. I may even put the Technics rubber mat on top of that, we'll see.
Hi mate,
Should I adjust the height first and then adjust the weight on the back ?
Would do the weight first and then adjust the height ?
What's the proper procedure ?
Cheers !✌👍
This is what I’ve been wondering! Did you find the order perhaps??
Hi there,
Really useful video, well explained, everything's clear: you know how and why to do "this" or "that", and that's not the case of other guys I've seen in other videos: they should check yours !
I also give you 5 stars !
Cheers !
Is the needle at 90 degrees to the cartridge (perpendicular) on most cartridges? thanks
hi James, how do I adjust the lowering speed of the tonearm? It drops down too fast and hard. It also pops up quite fast as I use the lever to do it.