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Tracking Force Gauges

I have only coarsely adjusted VTF on my cartridge using a Shure gauge and taking into account the ~ 0.3g overshoot some have reported.

I would like to embark on a careful study of the sensitivity of the sound attributes to small deviations within the recommended mfg's range. I'm curious to know what high VTF sounds like compared to low VTF and to find an optimum setting.

To do this I'm interested in your recommendations on digital VTF gauges with 0.01g accuracy.

I've heard about the MyWeigh scale and others. It seems like the my weigh scale is a traditional looking digital scale in that the measuring platform is very wide with the load cell likley centered beneath the platform. I'm not sure that one gets repeatable and accurate results if the cartridge were to be placed near the edge of the platform if the arm can't be moved in such a way.

Any thoughts on accurate VTF measurements?

Andrew
aoliviero
drubin
3,285 posts
 
Good question. They supply a 5g weight with the gauge, which will re-calibrate to that weight. But I have not verified the accuracy of that weight and it certainly is not of the quality of calibration weights made for the scientific community.

However, for what you say you want to do with it, Andrew, it doesn't matter all that much whether 2.0 grams is actually 1.983 or 2.037. In terms of finding the ideal VTF, you just want to know that it sounds better when the scale reads 2.150 than it does at 2.05. Right?
aoliviero OP
271 posts
 
Drubin,

That's correct. The gauge specifies an accuracy of +/- 0.002g. I would be happy with an order of magnitude worse. All else aside, I feel a lot more comfortable buying a gauge where measurments are perfromed in the middle of the range as opposed to at the bottom end. It also seems that it's easier to position the stylus tip on the center of the measuring platform.

I think I'll give it a try.
sirspeedy70680e509
1,064 posts
 
Andrew,yes with both the the supplied weight,and with my friend's 800 dollar Winds guage!It's very accurate,and worth the 95 bucks,easily.Believe me,I'm into accurate digital guages,but this new guage is very fine indeed!

Best!
hifiharv
351 posts
 
Remember that the most important thing about any guage is whether or not it measures the tracking weight at the same arm height as when the stylus is in the groove. The Shure doesn't, and some of the digital ones don't either. The importance of this varies depending on the arm design but it can be a huge difference. The Well Tempered arms, as an extreme example, get much lighter when raised even a tiny bit. You can't just put the guage on the platter, you must place it on something else that is the same height as the stylus in the groove. The fact that guage makers don't address this is inexcusible.
drubin
3,285 posts
 
How would they address it except by creating a gauge that allows you to position the reading platform outside of the platter and adjust its height to align with the top of the platter plus a little bit. The $95 gauge reads pretty low to the platter surface, but is still raised a bit.

But again, relative readings matter more than absolute ones for the purpose of finding what's best in your setup and being able to get back to that place should things change.
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