''Progressive All The Way''

Professional turntables have adjustable tone arms, which is the rounded metal tube that connects the
cartridge to the turntable itself. The industry standard Technics 1200 series tone arms are bent in kind of
an “S” shape, which forces the cartridge and ultimately the stylus to follow the curvature of a record. This
was engineered for minimum tracking errors (most tracking errors will occur in the beginning and at the
end of a record due to their extreme positions), the highest and most accurate fidelity, and reduced
record wear.Several turntables engineered specifically for scratching DJs are on the market. Stanton’s STR8-150
turntable (Figure 4.3) has a straight tone arm that’s more skip resistant than curved tone arms. Numark
sells a turntable (TT-X1) with a standard straight tone arm and an optional curved tone arm. The problem
with straight tone arms is record damage due to extreme tracking errors in the beginning and at the end
of a record. The straight tone never gets itself angled perfectly, and the tone arm forces the usually
spherical stylus to rub the inner and outer grooves with a weird angle. Since scratchers typically use
the center areas of the record, this usually isn’t an issue.
One of the most frequent questions I’ve ever received from DJs is “How do I adjust the 1200 tone arm so
it doesn’t skip as much?” The Technics tone arm can be adjusted in the following manner:
1. Install the cartridge and stylus you’ve decided to use.
2. Release the tone arm from its locking arm clamp. Push the cue lever down if it is in the
up position.
3. Adjust the horizontal balance. First, set the anti-skate dial to “0.” Then turn the balance
weight (the round part at the back of the tone arm) so that the arm floats horizontally
evenly above the record without falling forward or backward. It will simply float evenly
once you have it adjusted. Important: try not to let your stylus touch or bounce around
on your platter or you may ruin your fancy new stylus.
4. Once the tonearm is floating, turn the black dial on the back of the weight to the “0”
setting. You won’t want to turn the whole weight, just the black dial with the numbers on
it which will move independently from the whole weight.
5. Turn the whole weight (along with the dial) to adjust the stylus pressure to the cartridge
manufacturer’s recommended setting.
6. Adjust your “anti skate” dial to the same number as your stylus pressure. If your stylus
pressure is over 3 grams, just leave it on the max setting of “3.”
7. Place a record on your turntable, and with the power off, place the stylus somewhere in
the beginning of a record. Use a record you don’t care about, because it’s likely that
you’ll knock your needle across it while trying to make this adjustment! Adjust your tone
arm height by releasing the arm lock, and then rotating the hard-to-turn big black rubber
dial until the tone arm appears parallel to the record. Re-lock the arm lock.