Mobile Fidelity StudioDeck Setup Issue

Too low? It's too high!

I have a Studiodeck and just looked at mine.  Unless the whole tone arm assembly isn’t fully seated down in the plinth, you may need to raise the pivot of the tone arm to get it above the cue lever.  It’s kind of hard without pictures, though.

I think you can just lower the cue lever. Looks like there is a hex nut there.

What is the angle of the arm tube to the platter? When lowered all the way onto a record it should be just about dead parallel with the record. Looking at your table manual there are two things that could be wrong. To know which one remember the arm tube parallel to the platter.

VTA is adjusted by loosening the locking hex bolt at the base of the arm. The arm lifter is adjusted with a hex bolt on the side of the lifter.

If the lifter is too high loosen and lower it. That will drop the arm down onto the platter. Then adjust VTA until the arm tube is parallel. Finally, adjust the lifter to cue the arm up as high as you want.

This is only a crude VTA adjustment. Once you listen a lot and the cartridge settles in you will be able to fine tune. But this will at least get you going. 

sryeager

"I have a Studiodeck and just looked at mine.  Unless the whole tone arm assembly isn’t fully seated down in the plinth, you may need to raise the pivot of the tone arm to get it above the cue lever.  It’s kind of hard without pictures, though"

I think you've hit on a possible answer. As I said in my post, I checked the VTA, including loosening the hex nut and seeing if I could lower the arm. That didn't work because: 1) The setting was at its lowest level, and 2) When you raise the arm, you raise the entire arm assembly, including the clue/lift and counterweight.They are all as one piece, or so it seemed.

However, if what you're recommending is to find a way to lower just the arm and nothing else, or lower the cue/lift shelf and nothing else then that might do the trick. I think the latter sounds like the most likely solution, but again, don't want to tamper too much and void the warranty. MoFi has yet to respond to my request for help. More about their customer service, or lack thereof, later.

millercarbon

"What is the angle of the arm tube to the platter? When lowered all the way onto a record it should be just about dead parallel with the record. Looking at your table manual there are two things that could be wrong. To know which one remember the arm tube parallel to the platter.

VTA is adjusted by loosening the locking hex bolt at the base of the arm. The arm lifter is adjusted with a hex bolt on the side of the lifter.

If the lifter is too high loosen and lower it. That will drop the arm down onto the platter. Then adjust VTA until the arm tube is parallel. Finally, adjust the lifter to cue the arm up as high as you want.

This is only a crude VTA adjustment. Once you listen a lot and the cartridge settles in you will be able to fine tune. But this will at least get you going."

Thanks for the thorough instructions. I think you and Sryeager have provided the clues to a fix. If I can lower the shelf of the cue/lift then I should be able to drop the arm so it's parallel to the record. Currently, the tonearm angle is pointed upwards, like a plane about to leave the tarmac. Clearly, this isn't right. 

As I understand from you, once the cue/lift shelf is lowered--assuming it can go lower, I can can then adjust the tonearm to make it parallel AND sit precisely on the record surface. Correct? 

The VTA screw at the base i know about. The one by the cue/lift column, not so much, but I'll check it out. Is there another screw where I can adjust just the tonearm separately from the other parts of that assembly? I didn't see one.

I'm seeing a hex screw on the arm base directly above the cuing lever, that holds the cueing cylinder in place. Loosen it and lower the cue cylinder.

Doesn't change height of the cue lift, only the direction of the pivot.

Listen While You Work.

1. can you temporarily swing the lift shelf out of the way to manually play?
2. then set arm height so just down a speck while playing
3. the lift shelf MUST move independently as others have indicated.

You're brilliant! This is the fix! Moving the lift shelf out of the way first, then adjusting  the tonearm...of course! Even MoFi tech support didn't make this clear, but you did. 

Many thanks for helping cure this headache.

P.S. To give MoFi the benefit of the doubt, this issue may have occurred by UPS' rough handling. The table was delivered on its side, despite labels saying not to do that. Grr.