How To Set Up Your New or used Turntable for beginners. Also Record cleaning and Tracking. Please see my new Facebook page Larry's Vintage Audio & Vinyl for more informative videos I am also lfmudge on RU-vid.
Terrific video man, very informative and easy to understand. The best part was when you actually played the record, I expected some jazz or something contemporary..then you put it on and it was electronica. Awesome!
I've currently got a Technics Sl-6 I'm using. Not a bad turntable, but I'm upgrading to the LP-120 shortly. As a newb to traditional turntables, this video was invaluable in showing me the ropes. Thank you!
Great tutorial for anyone buying the AT USB turntable. I didn't have a clue what everything did and now I do. The balance and head replacement advice is very helpful. Thank you for creating this!
Oh my gosh, since you're last Channel was deleted by RU-vid, I've been trying to track you down again. Can't believe I finally found you! Love your videos so much, man. You are single handedly the reason I've been so heavily interested in vinyl for the last few years. So glad you're back!
I almost left without thumbing up the video and giving you a HUGE thank you! My mom got me this for Christmas as I had bought a couple vinyl sets(The Devil Wears Prada, Avenged Sevenfold, Tupac, and Evanescence Boxset). We didn't open it until last Friday. We couldn't get the anti skate to work and we thought it was broke, seeing as many forums were posting about it and saying they sent theirs back. Well, we sent ours back and got the same model with some added perks like the brush, oil, etc. It turned out we're doing the anti skate part wrong. Other videos were teaching us the wrong way! You helped us out a ton and saved my mom from going insane lol. We would like to thank you for the detailed video and for helping us get back to jamming out! ✌🏼Peace to you!
Essentially I've done this technique of cleaning and setup ever since 1987 with my Denon TT. The things to remember in so far as cleaning: 1.) Alcohol is safe for most electronic components and a vast majority of plastics, along with distilled water. A "LINT FREE" microfiber cloth for wiping your record should be fine so long as you do not use it for anything else and once the cloth has dried, store it in a in a clean food bag for storage afterwards. 2.) A microfiber cloth by itself has static properties that should help attract dust to some degree and can make a difference even when dampened with Larry's special cleaning fluid. 3.) Those damnable paper record sleeves are by far perhaps the worst kind of storage for you records! 4.) The proper leveling of your turntable along with all other set-up procedures are absolutely critical to your success in keeping your records in grade A condition and prevent accelerated premature wear on the stylus!!! I can remember just how costly it had become when i had to replace my Denon DL65 cartridge needle for the very first time! The list price was $165.00 and that is when I chose to step up my game in so far as setup and maintenance of my TT! That is only because the original need prematurely wore out with only about 50 hours use. Furthermore, I had since then tried out two other cartridges, namely the Audio-Technica AT105 and the Shure 44D, with a Phanstiel stylus as an overall cost reduction. Overall, the sound quality didn't suffer much and that made me quite happy. I still kept a hold of the original cartridge and needle to this very day and after 26 years of ownership, I was able to luckily find yet another Denon original DL65 cartridge and needle that was in great shape for only $35.00 on eBay.
Thanks for the tips Larry. I just picked up an Audio Technica LP120 and wanted to make sure I aligned my cartridge correctly. I was off a little and was able to fix, thanks again
Very useful refresher vid. Not wanting to spend an arm and a leg on a replacement turntable to play my 1960s throuigh today extant vinyl collection, I picked up a ubiquitious Sherwood PM9805 before Sherwood disappearsd as a brand from my region. It has has an almost identical external presentation to this AT PL120 sans the height adjustment & being belt drive rather than direct drive. If it ever dies, an AT120 of some flavour will most probably meet all my needs and be my next turntable. Mine came fitted with the silver unbranded AT headshell and ATN3600L cartridge OOTB. Outstanding turntable for the money when I bought it.
That was an excellent and informative explanation of mounting and adjusting a cart, along with setting the tonearm weight and anti-skate. Awesome video!!
A thousand thank you's!!! I couldn't understand why my vintage record player couldn't get the volume that it should have had. I'm not real sure on what that tracking speed thing does though. I got a PL 250 Pioneer, vintage 1979, turn table with a new shure stylis. This really helped, I know I'll have to tweak it some more but my volume is way up now. Kiss self on nose for me.
Thanks for this video. You have done a fine job explaining and it shows that you have proficiency. Everything you said and demonstrated helped tremendously.
Cool. I recommend NOT wet cleaning the way he did. I use a MoFi brush, real record cleaning solution (not homemade. I use l'art du son but it's expensive) & a diy wand attached to a mini shop vac. There's lots of videos & articles. Just research & experiment. I just don't recommend doing it like this guy did. Don't get the labels wet!!!
I knew what most of those things were for. I didn't realize that I had a tool to set the stylus alignment up. I have the tool, just never knew what it was for. Thank you for sharing.
Larry Thank you for the information. Really liked your Garrard 301,what a beautiful piece of Audio History that is. With the advent of the CD Player today's audiophile's can rarely set up a turntable.Very good of you to teach us how it is done. Peace My Friend!
I'm getting the black edition of the audio technica deck in a couple of weeks. I'm so glad I got a chance to watch a professional made video. Many many thanks for uploading this tutorial.
Suggestion: When trying to balance to tonearm at "0", take the anti-skating to "0" as well... otherwise it will move inward while you're trying to verify the parallelism to the turntable. This will make it a lot easier to verify the setting.
Awesome video, very informative, with one crucial mistake: Technics SL1210 / 1210 models: Tonearm Effective Length: 230 mm Overhang: 15 mm Audio Technica AT-LP120: Tonearm Effective Length: 230.5 mm Overhang: 16 mm Using the Technics overhang gauge on this turntable is a no-go. If you have downloaded the two point protractor from the Audio-Technica web site, and simultaneously used the Technics gauge, you never never never got it right. You got close, but still not quite there. It's small numbers, I know, but it's those that are of paramount importance in this hobby...
This was super helpful in getting a better sound but I was still having this terrible rattle. After understanding how it worked together I realized that my speakers right next to the turntable was causing vibration and disturbing the rattle...wow. Simple cool
I've been listening to vinyl for years, but this is a really nice guide. Google: Generic (universal) protractors to get free pdf files for setting up your cartridge (you have to register for some hifi forum, but whatever). Make sure that you check that it printed to scale, I had to uncheck "fit to page" for it to come out correctly. Now my record plays without the distortion I had before the proper setup! (clearly noticeable distortion not imagined hi-fi nerd distortion).
Very thorough and practical approach, thank you (six years !ater)! I've been watching videos for two weeks trying to figure out the proper way to adjust things. Most were pretty straightforward and simple but the anti skate is tricky as I've watched, heard, and read many thoughts about how this should be adjusted. I purchased a blank record in order to properly set the anti skate on my unit. The instructions say place the tonearm midway between the center of the record and the outter edge. Lower the stylus onto the record and adjust the anti skate dial until the tonearm stays right in the middle of the record. Did that with no problem but what about when I p!ace the tonearm at the beginning of the record? It wants to go to the center. Is this natural and what we want or am I missing what anti skate is all about? I understand that when playing a record, it is natural that the grooves pull the tonearm inward but I thought the point behind anti skate was to provide an ever so slight force against this inward pull. (This comment got longer than intended, sorry.)
I have the same turntable only in black. I have to say that this video is one of the most clearest and helpful videos I’ve watched. I found using a protractor to align the cartridge very frustrating, so I ended buying an overhang gauge, and it made things much easier, One thing I did notice, is the counterweight is not accurate on this table, or at least not on mine. I set it to 2grams for the stock AT95e cart, then tested with a digital scale and it was out by quite a bit, Just out of interest, where can I pick up a test record with the blank grooves? Again, thanks for this very plain instruction video 👍🏻
Definitely the best set-up video... way too much unnecessary talk on the other ones... very interesting these "overhang gauges".. I learned something new today.. Thanks..
ok - I have searched through most of the 277 comments and cannot for the life of me find the link to the white plastic piece! This is so much simpler if you'd be able to tag it in the description of the video or tagged the link in the comment section. Great video and appreciate all your suggestions! Cheers!
Hi very interesting. Got to change the cartridge on pioneer pl760. Given to me for free. No idea how to do it yet. Your videois really helpful. Thank you
from what i know, the stylus diamond or what ever it's called, is round that just pick up vibration in the grooves, so basically what ever position it may be it will pick up sound, one thing that you don't want the needle to be is when it's not vertically aligned or it's slight slant in the groove it will make your sound not balance more like left is louder than the right.
the anti-skating purpose is just counter if your table is slightly off balance from the left on your table, the tone arm may go most to the left and will make a skipping sound mostly if you're scratching, so to prevent that, you might want to set it till the tone arm wont go to the left direction, there's no need to set it if you put your table on a very flat balance surface, just leave it to zero.
I have to correct you. First you have to level the stylus tip with the couterweight in such a way that the tip is exactly at the level of the record ( not just floating around!) then set the weight on the cartridge which can/should be tested with a test record.
A couple of tips if your setup is for serious sound quality, wash the records under the kitchen sink faucet allowing the water pressure to get into the grooves, there can be dust specs half the width of a human hair deep into the top of the grooves that will sound like noise floor static and pops and dirty the stylus. You'll never get that with a soft cloth. If you feel bad about your city water being more harsh than distilled water, rinse them after in distilled water. But the mild water pressure is important to get right deep into the grooves. Also store the records in anti-static inner sleeves like the mofi ones. After washing the records the antistatic sleeves keep dust out and static which causes noise and attracts more dust. If the record is in good condition it will be pop and noise free for about 50 plays if stored that way. Use a dust cover on the record player, but if you must use the record brush use a carbon one and drag it to the center and let it touch the center motor pin. This grounds the static charge away from the records. Its all about keeping them clean and removing static. Doing this will keep your stylus very clean for longer also.
Maybe it could damage the label and maybe if you have crazy water pressure or hot water you can damage the record. Use mild water pressure as stated. I have not damaged any of mine yet. Look up on RU-vid cleaning records and you will see many that do it that way and you will see the method with the kitchen faucet in many videos. I always rinse with the distilled water to remove any hard water and calcium from the city treated tap water.
I agree with 95% of what you said I build a mini power washer with a clear tube I got at "Home depo" & a small nozzle I got at work. I found that water is bit to harsh but it works but kind of worked under hi pressure. I'ed like to try distilled water under hi pressure is my next thing I'm just trying to figure out how to do that..
Great video. May I ask you a question? When I play my records on the turntable I notice some noisily needle feedback to the active subwoofer. Do you know what this is and how I can solve it? Many thanks in advance.
Larry great video. Is the audio technica 60 any good on the Record player stylus or ok but not as good as you 120? Did the 120 come with a Nice Record player stylus?
Thanks for posting this information. I was wondering why you and a couple others that are knowledgeable about turntables are using this same fairly affordable model Audio Technica turntable? Are they recommended or in for repairs? Thanks for any input, freezer'
only thing i gotta ask is did you take your installed preamp out ? i have same lp120 your name is vintage vinyl so i need to know if yoi improved that less than good sounding turntable
Did not expect to hear a 2001 trance anthem at the end on a channel called Larry's Vintage Audio & Vinyl, had to check the sound wasn't coming from a video in another tab! When are you going to do a trance set for us then Mr Larry? :P
I'm a beginner to this but the counterweight on your turntable is probably the exact weight in needs to be for the cartridge/ needle it is holding to work correctly with no need for anti slate. If you look at Regas turntable more affordable line the Rega P1 that uses the same system as yours.
Record Players of yesteryears though very rare are possessed by many people and music lover's. pleasing to the eye.let's Hope that this is revived again.
That was interesting and very helpful, thank you. I was given a Linn Axis turntable with a Linn basik LVX arm a few months ago to use for my vinyl’s. I haven’t used them for many years. When I took the deck out of its original box and followed the instructions to put it together I thought it would be ok. I fitted a new belt tone on the safe side which I ordered from Amazon, unfortunately something isn’t right. I set the speed at 33 for the LP and lowered the stylus onto the record and it sounded as if it was twice as fast as it should be. Can you give me any help with this problem please? Thank you in advance. Lynn UK.
i just got my girlfriends fathers old turntable the records are so dirty and i have no idea what im doing. cant wait to figure it out though ad start getting my own records. hopefully soon i understand this guide a bit more
Iv been fucking kicking my self in the head from trying to set this shit up,TY we need OLDER HEADS TEACHING US WHATS UP.I APPRECIATE YOUR HELP THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!
The lever that lifts my armtube seems to be loose. It has to be lifted about an inch before I feel the weight of the arm. Is there a way of making it tighter? I am using SME Series III. Any suggestions please?
Is the turn table hookup straight to speakers or is it hook up thru amplifier/receiver than to speakers? Im new to this, i need some asst. I was given a kenwood 4100R
Question - when a record stops playing, is it normal for the needle and tone arm to go back across the record surface and rest? Or, do I have to sit and wait until a side finishes to lift the needle off the record? I own a audio Technica LP60 (automatic)
