Question about needles

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otislbc

New DJ
Jul 20, 2011
2
0
47
Hi I'm new to DJing. I got a setup from craigslist for a good price. I have Stanton t.60 decks and I put technics M44-7 shure cartridge and needles. Anyway I watched something on youtube about balancing the tone arm and when I tried it....it seems that the needles are too heavy and I can't get the tone arm to "float". Anyway it plays fine but I am concerned that maybe I could be damaging my records. Any input?

Thanks.

I am new to the site my name is Otis.....
 
Put the needle on the record ... put the needle on the record.

(from Pump up the volume)

Welcome. The heavier arm will wear out the record quicker than a light arm would.
 
Welcome to the board.

I would not worry about wearing down the records. The idea is to keep the weight on the record to keep it from skipping when the bass notes hit. Trust me vinyl can take it. The idea is to listen and enjoy the music, not preserving the vinyl.
 
Cranking up the wayback machine....... If the tone arm has an indexed weight ring, adjust the weight until it's balanced, then zero the ring and turn it to the proper weight for the cartridge. If it's not indexed you should get a needle scale. From long lost brain cells home cartridges used to run something like 1.25 grams and you wanted more like 2 grams for the DJ setups. Definitely get the proper setting, it's make a big difference with the needle riding in the center of it's travel.
 
Those particular cartridges have a tracking weight of 1.5 to 3gms . To set the tone arm to a floating position you need to wind back the counterweight towards the end of the tonearm . Once you get the floating position this is the zero point so set the weight index to 0. Then wind the counterweight forwards to 3grams maximum. All done. If you set it more than 3grams you will wear out the vinyl quickly. I did this once a few years ago & set the tracking weight to something like twice its maximum allowable setting, the vinyl played well that one time but the following day , when i came to play it again the fidelity [audio quality] was noticeably poor. The vinyl was permanently damaged even when i played it on another system.
 
When following the instructions I cannot get the tonearm to float no matter how far back I put the weight. Any suggestions?
 
otislbc said:
When following the instructions I cannot get the tonearm to float no matter how far back I put the weight. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

You will have to secure extra weight to the counterbalance . Secure a heavy coin by taping it to the counterweight.
When you try & get the tone arm to float it must be with the arm lift in the down position or this will counteract what you are trying to acheive.

The anti skating adjustment is usually set around the same as the weight of the tonearm.
 
DJ JohnThe1 said:
Welcome to the board.

I would not worry about wearing down the records. The idea is to keep the weight on the record to keep it from skipping when the bass notes hit. Trust me vinyl can take it. The idea is to listen and enjoy the music, not preserving the vinyl.
Click to expand...
Not true John! Vinyl can be destroyed or degraded by too much weight from the stylus/tone arm, dirt in the grooves, worn out stylus etc.
 
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