Whops, I misread your post Gurevise. 1. A Beginner's Guide to Cartridge Setup by Andrew Chasin 2. Turntable System Setup By Laura Dearborn 3. Understanding The Issues Behind Cartridge Alignment By Gary Markowitz Hope this helps |
Hi Gurevise, I also have the Scheu Premier (mkII) w/ 80mm platter and the Scheu Tacco tonearm. Being new to vinyl last year, I bought a a myriad of very useful setup tools starting with: 1. HiFi News Analogue Test LP($45), which sort of a standard for cartridge setup. The first thing you'll use is the protractor disc included with 3 different tonarm/cartridge alignment grids. The LP itself contains tracks for: - Channel identification - Phase check - Channel balance - Pink noise L/R - Anti-skate/bias setting - Tracking ability - Cartridge/arm lateral resonance - Cartridge azimuth - Residual system noise check - 20Hz to 20kHz frequency sweep Most everything you'll ever need. Just don't obsess about your cart tracking the final "torture tracks". Do a websearch for it's name and you'll find an abundance of online sources. 2. 1/100th gram digital scale sold her on Audiogon by a guy in the UK for ~$35-40. Once you get the arm/cart length and alignment roughly dialed in, you'll need to set the cartridge tracking down-force beore playing the above test tracks. All the factors of setup - VTA, Alignment, Azimuth, and anti-skate influence each other, but you will need a way to calibrate fine adjustments to stylus force first as it will make a big difference with most cartridges. Again, probably not the most accurate out there, but the price was right and it works well. Cartridge Man, the maker of the above legendary Test Record and Music Maker 3 cartridge, produces a higher-end scale, but that will set you back $300-400. I'm sure there are countless others between these two extremes. 3. KAB Speedstrobe($99) - If you records aren't spinning at the right speed, nothing else really matters. 99.99% accurate. Overpriced probably, but I was flush with cash and really fired up about this new hobby at the time. There are probably other lower-priced alternatives out there. Regardless, get some type of speed monitor. The Premier is super stable once the speed is set properly. Use this to set speed before trying any of the test tracks above. 4. Phono Cartrdige Alignment Tool by TurntableBasics.com($20). Probably not necessary with the HifFi news protractor already around, but the mirror in this sometimes helps a beginner check hard to see overhang and alignment. 5. Cardas Frequecy Sweep and Burn-In Record($25). This record has bonus tools for proper speaker positioning, system gegaussing, needle cleaning tracks, etc. Do you really need all this, probably not. The last two on this list can probably be omitted, but as I mentioned before, I was overly enthusiastic when I first got my table and went hog-wild. |
