IDEAL TECHNICS SETUP?!!!

thedjnifty

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Jan 14, 2009
I know this is kind of in the wrong section so before anything I apologise to the mods ...

Basicly, I bought a 2nd hand pair of Technics 1210s in very good condition just last week, however, when playing records on them both, using ortofon concorde pro needles, the needles seems to sit very lightly on the record which causes the occasional jump and a lack of traction when cueing up

It also affects the sound quality significantly as the needles arent really sitting deep in the grooves of the vinyl to bring out a clean low end

I was just wondering if there is an "ideal setup" in terms of the amount of "anti skating", the degree of weight on the tone arm, and the height of the tone arm

On my previous set of 1210s the sound was what I expected from my set up, very very good! But my old 1210s were very old and copying the "set up" to the newer decks just doesn't work!

SO, how do you guys have your decks set up?! Somebody please help me get back the sound quality I deserve after paying all this money! Cheers
 
safe man :) i didnt make it personally just the dj tutor ellaskins
he has alot of good vids on tips like these

I tried the setup he suggested but it's still leaving me with a lack of traction on the vinyl

I'm guessing (taking into account what the video explained) that the higher you have the tone arm the more traction you'll recieve? (as the needle will rest on the vinyl at a slight angle?)

The only thing I'm guessing it could be at this point, as I've pretty much tried everything, is the tightness / looseness of the screws which hold the tone arm in place where it rotates horizontally and vertically

I remember having to adjust this when I first got my old pair of 1210s as the needle was jumping uncontrollably, I obviously managed to sort it out eventually so I guess I'm gonna have to do the same thing with my new decks

It's pretty frustrating though considering I've spent a lot of money on my set up and the sound quality is still coming through shit at the moment lol

Any more suggestions people please let me know!
 
if u still have the instructions wiith ur carts i'd follow them.

mine newest carts recomended something along the lines of....

make sure ur tone arm hight is correct and that it is level and not angling up or down.
balance ur tone arm by using the weight so it floats at the same height as ur platter then spin the counter weight number round to zero. ( carefull not to let the stylus tip smash into anything)

then set ur tracking force to whatever it says for ur carts, usually between 2-3 is the norm i believe.

then set ur anti skating to the same as ur tracking force.

its important to get all this right to minimise vinyl wear. i had an un-othodox set up (where the counter weight is on the wrong way) and lots of tracking force, but this chewed up some vinyl. such a bad look!

i cant see the u tube vid but thats prob similar to what ellaskins says..
failing that try cleaning all the conections on the cartridge. might be some gunk in there effecting it connectivity!
 
i had the same problem when i bought a 1210 second hand, no matter what i did, the needle wouldn't sit down, so i stuck a five pence on my cartridge and now the needle ain't going nowhere. i know you can't do that, but that was all i could do to get over the problem
 
i had the same problem when i bought a 1210 second hand, no matter what i did, the needle wouldn't sit down, so i stuck a five pence on my cartridge and now the needle ain't going nowhere. i know you can't do that, but that was all i could do to get over the problem

yeah i used to do that a few years ago when had some stanton 500's . worked a treat! dunno if its recomended but it never did mine any harm!
 
Right ...

All I've done is taken the weight off the tone arm and put it back on the wrong way round, and that appears to have completely sorted out the problem, there is plenty of traction yet the needle doesn't sit too heavily and the sound quality is now as it should be imo

Do you think, considering the above, that this is okay and isn't going to ruin my records?

To me it seems okay but this is the first time I've ever tried to correct the problem like this
 
Right ...

All I've done is taken the weight off the tone arm and put it back on the wrong way round, and that appears to have completely sorted out the problem, there is plenty of traction yet the needle doesn't sit too heavily and the sound quality is now as it should be imo

Do you think, considering the above, that this is okay and isn't going to ruin my records?

To me it seems okay but this is the first time I've ever tried to correct the problem like this

i think thats fine. i think some scratch dj's put there weights on backwards cos my mate scratches and i remember him saying something about that
 
doing it the unorthodox way is ment to add 2 gramms to the tracking force. i wouldn't put the weight all the way back. any un-necessary tracking force will damage ur vinyl and limit the life of ur stylus. i know a few peeps that prefer it set up like this but its mainly for scratching. personally id try to set up as stated in the manual for ur carts to avoid any dissapointment later on. i found this http://media.zzounds.com/media/dj-cartridges-014fd5320eb335f2bc9226ac035fcdba.pdf its not for the ortofon's but it might help ya!
 
ah found this also http://www.zzounds.com/item--ORTCCPROS

Tracking force range: 3.0-5.0 g (30-50 mN)

Tracking force, recommended: 4.0 g (40 mN)

Tracking angle: 20 degrees

Cheers for that mate

Fuck knows how your supposed to measure the tracking angle though lol

I'm stuck in two minds, I can either attempt to adjust the tightness of the screws holding the tone arm in place, which could take a while and potentially mess up everything, or, I can continue to leave the tone arm weight on the wrong way round

As someone said, this adds 2g of tracking force, which surely isn't that much?

I'm tempted to go with this option as I'm obviously very much lacking in traction force when the tone arm weight is on the right way round, so having it the wrong way round is really only compensating my set ups lack of tracking force in the normal situation

I just don't wanna ruin my vinyl lol
 
no, i dont know how u measure the tracking angle with concorde style carts coz they just screw into the tone arm. u cant add any headshell weights so i'd of thought it just needs more weight than normal carts. u should be fine as u are, as long as ur tone arm is not angling down too much and its not too heavy on the vinyl, make the weight as light as u can without loosing to much traction and sound quality. i wouldn't piss about with the tone arm screws. it may help somehow but having no experience with doing this, its not something id recomend u do!
 
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