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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
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.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
drubin
3,267 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.
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
There were some pretty cool pictures in that previous thread which showed how to make a fixture that would insure you would be weighing at the same height as a record surface. All you would need to do is tare to the weight of such a fixture. This fixture along with some of the scales mentioned here would be ideal and save alot compared to the cost of some guages.
clio09
3,346 posts
 
The Wally Scale is $150 and comes with the extra fixture to place the stylus on.
ctm_cra
86 posts
 
There appear to be more than one digital gauge in the $90-$100 range. Anyone have a comment on the one shown here:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?accstwek&1149492338

vs. this one:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1151348864
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