Cardas Upgrade - Arm Balancing Problem

Well, you got me: I'm not an owner and evidently no expert about the Rega arm design (sounds like the same could be said for the set-up guy!). I guess from your description that you'll have to calibrate the VTF using an external guage. It's curious to me, given Rega's reputation for being zealous about rigidity, that their design can supposedly be improved upon (according to some) by eliminating a source of resonance.

I'm here, but I have to confess I didn't know the answer to your problem. When things are modified, I have no way of knowing what was done, or how it was done, so I could really be of no help. This is why I didn't respond to the thread.

It sounds like you've got it fixed now, so I am glad about that. I know it's a pain when the rig is not working.t

I know what happened now guys. Ispoke to a few people, and what I found out is:

The guy who did the wire upgrade most likely did not set the tracking force to 3 before disassembling the arm. Therefore, the spring came out of position and was now not optimal. I brought it back to the same guy who did the upgrade in the first place and he removed the spring and set the weight using the counterweight, which is what he suggested to me in the first place.

Zaikesman, the spring in the arm will always add a little upforce, if you remove the spring the arm will not float regardless where the counterweight is or how light the cartridge is. I too did not know this. Origin live suggests setting the tracking force to 3 (which will act like there is no spring at all) and adjust the tracking force using just the counter weight. Somepeople say go one better and remove the spring completely as it adds resonance.

If anybody has any suggestions as to the accuracy of what I have wrote above, I would greatly appreciate it. TWL comes to mind, where are you.

BLR

I agree with Zaiksman,a small bit of blue tak or equivalent will help but now you may need to focus on how well this combo can trace grooves.

I don't know how your second-post proposal would work if you can't even get the arm/cart to balance out with the counterweight at its lightest setting. The tracking force adjuster adds downforce to the business end; removing the spring isn't going to help you get the cart back down from up in the air. Sounds like you might need to add a headshell weight, but why not first check the specs on your new and old cart's to see what the weight difference might be? If you don't spot a culprit there, maybe email Cardas to ask about any potential difference in wire weight with their product. Or it could be both factors combined. Regardless, adding some mass to the headshell is the usual method to solve this problem.

How about if I were to remove the spring from the tracking adjuster and adjust the tracking force using a gauge and the counter-weight?

Sounds like the cartridge is too light for the arm / counterweight combo. Either that or the wire itself is binding up somehow and trying to push the arm up. Could be a combo of the two things too. Sean
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