I just bought a audio technica lp-60 as my first record player. Your videos have really been helping me understand turntables more, thank you and keep up the good videos
This video is the best, logical, and clearest one of watched! Great tips, and clear instruction. Furthermore, the views are not obstructed, and neatly presented.
Hi Jarrett! Just wanted to say a quick thanks for making these super clear setup videos! They were very helpful when setting up my own deck just last night :) Thanks again and keep up the good work!
The reason this is important is because a calibrated parallel alignment will get you perfect side to side symmetrical placement in the vinyl groove. So both stereo channels are equal. Also look up some anti-skate adjustments which also keep the stylus aligned in the groove.
Thank you. Very helpful. Didn't know I had to do that before playing records. I always thought those things come perfectly set up from the manufacturer.
Actually you should be looking at the cantilever and ensuring it is straight, not the cartridge body. Even high end cartridges will often have a cantilever which is not perfectly straight inside the cartridge body. This is even more common on used cartridges as often the cantilever will drift from one side to the other with use. If you don't do your alignment based on the cantilever then the stylus won't be straight in the record groove. Aligning based on the body makes this step much easier, but it simply isn't correct as it won't give you accurate results in many cases.
Oh man, I bought the album of your profile picture on vinyl and the sound quality was awful. I bet it was a really good album. But it's vinyl version was just really bad. I forgot their name, because I wanna check them out. Do you know the band's name? Thank you.
@@skillracoonful by making small adjustments to the cartridge body as shown in the video but you need to look much closer so the stylus (needle) itself is visibly straight and aligned with the protractor.
It depends. The cantilever of the nagaoka mp 110 is almost perfectly parallel to the sides and I can barely see the cantilever under it, so I'm just going to use the sides.
I ended up by aligning cartridge on AT turntable in 5 minutes, the secret is to keep cartridge square to headshell, so when outer point is aligned perfectly then the inner point is matching too, just cartridge needs to be square with the headshell! 😉
Thanks! Was messing around with my turntable, trying to figure out to take off the stylus cartridge. When trying to play a Vinyl Record it sounded HORRIBLE. Thanks for the video, great content!!
The VE protractor is ALMOST free. It will still cost you a piece of paper, the ink/toner and electricity to print it. But yes, printable alignment tool is better at less than 50cents, compared to $13. :) The one thing that you must remember with the printed one, it MUST be printed one to one. If there is any scaling, such as fit to page, turned on, it will not be accurate and you will not be able to align your cartridge correctly. I haven't used the VE one myself, but I have seen others that have a scale so you can measure it to make sure it is printed accurately.
This is the ONE step that has made me doubt if I should do this or not. Spending several hundred dollars on equipment AND the vinyls themselves could be a waste if I mess up with this. That'd be incredible upsetting... maybe I'll just stick to good 'ol cylinder records.
I was able to get mine pretty close, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to get it exactly on. I used the protractor my turntable came with, and I did get it pretty close, but it wasn’t bang on. One is slightly angled one way and the other is slightly angled the other way. I mean it’s pretty darn close, just not exactly like I was hoping for. I did try to play a song on It, and it sounded good and seemed to work well.
Just did this today and I think I'm gonna need to replace my stylus because of all the times I accidentally hit the mat. Good thing the stylus is only 25 bucks on ebay lol
Helpful and clear video. I have the same headshell but my cartridge is a 2M red. And it doesn't come out as much as the one in your video which makes it more difficult. Does it matter how much forward or backward you place it on the rails for quality or doesn't it matter as long as the alignment is fine?
Vinylengines is not available in France sadly.. I have the AT-LP120XUSB, and you can find the tractor specially design for theses turntables on their website. If others persons are in the same situation as me, i hope that this comment could had help you.
I'm having some pop/crackling sounds on the first track of most of the vinyls, they make make nervous cause I don't know if in short time that's something that's going to damage record or stylus. I've already calibrated everything (I'm still checking if it's the cartridge positioning). There's just one upgrade I don't have yet which is the heavy counterweight, and one checking which is with a bubble level. The records I play are new. One more thing, I bought an anti static brush from audio technica, did the same brushing technique I saw in many videos, and the static seems to be worse...
By the way Jarett, is there any chance you could make a video on how to calibrate an ortofon 2m cartridge like yours? I think it's a little bit more complicated to see than the cartridge that comes with the lp120...
If only it was that simple! You do NOT pivot/angle the cartridge. Those who designed the turntable are not idiots. You must move the cartridge front/back in the headshell until the cantilever is set correctly according to the protractor.
Yes, in this case cartridge is perfectly misaligned. It will skip, bounce and make some bad nicks into the record. Because the whole overhang is not correct if cartridge is not put at the best position. It affects the whole tonearm how it performs. Turntable tonearm works like old mechanical libra, the smallest miscorrections can make a lot damage.
Ah so that's how you do it? Thank you! And the way you explained it seems like it's easier than aligning the body! Maybe on the next Q&A, maybe someone can bring this up to Jarret so he can update the video? I mostly likely would if I can catch him in time! But thanks to work, I seem to miss on any Q&A video!!
Muy buen vídeo y buena información de la página donde uno puede descargar la imagen para alinear la aguja de la tornamesa. Felicidades y sigue con tus buenos videos.
Dude, thanks. I was playing my records on my Audio Technica Lp-120 like shit.Now i realigned the stylus and everything sounds way better. I'm thinking about removing the pre amp myself but dont know yet.
Hi Jarrett great videos super helpful. What are the chance of you doing this same video with your Ortofon 2M red cartridge? Also any tips or tricks when you switch over to the Ortofon Red would be awesome to learn about.
Ortofon 2m does not have straight sides on cartridge so cannot use method shown. I always set so cantilever is parallel to line on the protractor. Also this causes the cart to sit ever so slightly askew.
Long time fan. love the step by step. Looks like vinylengine has blocked users from Canada to register and download protractors. Can someone share the downloads with me? But I still need help trying to figure out which of the Protractors is right for my JVC QUARTZ LOCK with AT92 cartridge? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Oh my god... I’ve had the at lp120 for about a couple of months I bought a numarkcc1 stylus and I didn’t need to align it and I recently bought a rega stylus and I need to align it so I did what you said and, well I was able to align the first point but it never aligned with the second and I got so frustrated I messed up the needle and now I’m on my way to buy the ATN3600L at Best Buy I read it’s the exact same one as the rega so not only did I over pay but I also messed up the stylus :(:
I made this exact mistake as do many other beginners. I learned I had to master the alignment with cheaper models first before spending more cash. Congrats on moving beyond the first learning curve ;) I use a magnifying glass to assist me now when I do this or direct light from a lamp or smart phone so everything is clear.
I am kind of upset, I want new videos. So helpful, easy on the eyes lol. So soothing. He literally has saved me from throwing a setup out the window. I have purchased everything he recommends
Hello hello, the website Vinyl Engine does not accept new registrations anymore. Are there any other websites recommendations for cartridge Alignment Protractors pdf ?
Quick question: I got the Audio Technica LP-120 for Christmas and it came with the headshell and cartridge. Does it typically come with the cartridge pre-aligned? Because if not, oh crap.
When my turntable is turned off, the arm elevation lever (which is what I think is the "cueing device" you mentioned) won't lower the tonearm. The only way it lowers is if the turntable is on and the platter is spinning. I printed out a protractor and aligned my cartridge as well as I could by looking at the edges of the cartridge compared to the protractor scale, but the needle won't rest on the paper unless I force it to, or if the turntable is on. Any tips?
Hi Jarret, we cannot download Stevenson alignment protractor on Vinyl engine anymore, as new registration are closed, is there another free solution for it?
Hey! is there a possibility that the tightening of the screws also affect the alignment of the stylus? like making the needle not pointing straight down? i have done the alignment of my cartridge with the protractor already but im kinda skeptical because one of the screws is not as "into" the nut as the other if you know what i mean. Hopefully you or anyone in the comments can help me out with this cause i dont wanna hurt my records :)
So I printed the Stevenson off, but idk how to adjust it to be exactly 180 cm as it says on the paper. As I measured I have 168 cm, BUT it fits perfectly in the black circle. Should I adjust by that tool?
Actually, no. If that is off, then the null points will be off. Your printer printed it like this, because you either ticked "fit to page", which adjusts the page scaling to fit the paper size or you didn't set page scaling to 100%. Anyway, if AA' doesn't measure exactly 180mm then that protractor is off.
hey jarrett, I didn't get any inner record distortion before or after I aligned my cartridge. is that weird? I did have to move the cart back about 6mm. the music still sounds good so I guess I shouldn't complain lol.
2:10 this part makes me very uneasy. How accurate does the hole-poking need to be? I see in the video that the spindle is (in milimetric terms) far from centered. I want to print one of this and then have it masked for future use. Something else, what if my turntable does not have a queuing lever and the needle itself has no protection? This seems to be an extremely difficult task.
stephanie paque Kinda agree with you ... Sounds all so complicated 🤔 I ordered a AudioTechnica LP60x that will arrive tomorrow... Having slight anxiety after listening to these videos... Starting fresh after decades... I never knew any of this information back then !!!
A follow up from 3 weeks ago ... Actually barely any set up ... HOWEVER... I unknowingly pulled the stylus off trying to remove the protector... I couldn’t replace it to save myself !!! Finally went to RU-vid and watched a two minute video to replace the stylus... it still took a good 20 minutes to finesse it into a tiny groove ... Wow... Be careful anyone ...
stephanie paque Go for it !!! I got mine off Amazon for less than $100... I consider that small money to invest... also added a pair I’d Edifier speakers at less than a hundred also... The sound is very clean ... So I do recommend both components... No regrets !!! If you get them let me know ... Enjoy !!! 😎
I usually have my record store install the cartridge - Should I print out a protractor and try or am I better off having it installed ? (Kinda afraid to trust my inexperienced eyes to align it).
Does it not matter how forward or backward the cartridge is in the headshell? You mentioned you need to align the side lines, what about the frontlines, as in how far forward or backwards should the cartridge be? Thanks in advance :)
Sure it matters. If the overhang is off (i.e. the stylus is shifted forwards or backwards), the cartridge will not be able to line up on both null points. So you go back to the first null point, readjust and then check again on the second. Repeat until it alings perfectly on both null points.
Hi, very helpful video but what kind if paper i should use to print the protractor to get the correct size of it? Thankyou! I really enjoy all of your vids!
+Kevin May The protractor should already be the correct size, it has a ruler on it so you can check! I used some thicker resume paper so that it wouldn't bend as much! Good luck!
+Vinyl Eyezz thankyou for the response! Alright i will definitely try it! Btw do you still recommend me adjusting the cartridge that came with the ATLP120 itself? I just bough it and was wondering of they already adjust it for us?
+Vinyl Eyezz oh and one more thing, Jarrett sorry for so many questions. I found this Technics gauge tool www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00U1XK5Z6/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?qid=1452394689&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&keywords=Cartridge+alignment Can i use this instead of the protractor? Thankyou before! :)
Please don't forget to mention setup the right VTA angle, the correct azimuth angle and the correct anti-skate in context with the tracking force. It will be great in some other videos to mention those things.
Hey Jarrett. Thanks for all your vids, very helpful. Question: i'm thinking about getting the ortofon 2M red based on your recommendation. Question: Do you align that cartridge with the Stevenson protractor or the Baerwald protractor? I have the LP 120 audio Technica. I am getting conflicted stories about some people using the Baerwald versus the Stevenson for that turntable. Any input would be appreciated thanks.
I aligned mine with the Stevenson protractor. A lot of people agree that you should use the Stevenson protractor with "S Shaped" tonearms, which the LP120 has!
I recently got the LP-1240 on ebay for a good price over christmas as my second turntable ever bought thus i have familiarized myself with anti skate and tracking force since watching your videos, bringing me to the point of around 200 albums. I must admit that before i was using a technics sl-d20 p-mount style that required no alignment but am now playing with an ortofon 2m red tracked at 1.8g and the graphs to me are a little confusing i seem to get the same result with my screw placement. So if i set them off your final result would there be any spec difference that could encourage mistracking or safe to go by?
