Yesterday evening I used my simple plastic Goldring scale device to measure the tracking force on my AT-OC9ML/II cartridge. I set the scales at 1.5g as per Audio Technica recommended figure.
The dial on the arm had to be turned up to 1.6g (from 1.5) to make the scales balance. (The bias was left unchanged at 1.5)
I then checked the arm was still parallel with the playing surface.
This 0.1g change has made a big difference to the sound of records, which now have more heft and drive. It might help you if you have an LVII too.
The dial on my Ekos SE is .2 grams off, which makes it effectively useless. For the last few years Iāve been using one of those ultra-cheap OEM gauges, and have gotten good results. They can be a bit flaky, possibly because theyāre sensitive to room temperature. I find it works better if you turn it on, put it on the platter, and leave it for a few minutes to settle. Even then, I need to take several measurements, just to be sure. Itās also essential that you use a calibration weight every time you use it, and adjust the reading accordingly.
A while back I got fed up with this flakiness, and searched around for something better than the el cheapo gauge that didnāt cost hundreds of dollars. I eventually bought a Riverstone model from the river (about $30), and itās well worth the modest extra cost.
One other thing Iāve tried which seems to bring a small improvement on spring-loaded arms such as the Ekos. Instead of starting off with the dial at zero and positioning the counterweight to get the arm dead level, I just set the dial at the desired tracking force (1.75 grams for the Kandid), and use the counterweight to set the actual tracking force.
Conventional wisdom is that you should fine tune tracking force by ear, but it seems to one of those things Iām not very sensitive to. There have been times in the past where Iāve gone months with the tracking force one or two tenths of a gram off, and I never noticed anything amiss.
I have never relied on the armās gaugeā¦I balance the arm, set VTF by the armās gauge and then correct using a cheapo but consistent digital guage. Seems to work for me.
Sorry, I wasnāt clear. I did the measuring with the bias at zero. Then I reset the bias at an unchanged figure of 1.5. Only the tracking force was changed. From 1.5 to 1.6g.
The tracking force that results from the dial setting always depends on the arm balance that was initially set with the dial at 0. Even if the arm seems āin balanceā initially and even if the dial worked perfectly accurately, it is easy to be slightly higher or lower.
If in doubt, use a scale
Start from the recommended VTF by whatever scale is most repeatable then adjust it by ear to what you consider optimum, record the setting. Chances are the next cartridge wonāt sound its best at exactly the same VTF anyway.
In the light of comments Iāve looked again carefully at the balance of my arm when tracking force is set at 0g.
Having got the arm parallel with the recordās surface, I then set 1.5g for tracking force on the armās dial. The Goldring scales now balance at 1.5. Finally I set the bias at 1.5.
The arm looks right, tracking force dial reads right, and the music sounds great. Thank you all.
