Benz help

Eyeballing parallel is difficult even for the keenest observer.

Here is an easy method to ensure you start there. You'll need 2 items.
1. A very small (1") bubble level. Home Depot or your local hardware store for about $1.
2. A useless record album. I find Madonna, Donnie Osmond, or Barry Manilow work very well.

Now, drill a very small hole anyplace in the first 1/3 of the record album. Actually it can be drilled anywhere on the record but I find it more convenient with the hole close to the front. The hole must be large enough for the stylus to fit in so when the tonearm is lowered, the weight is born by the cartridge's body.

After you've lowered the tonearm into the hole and the cartridge body is supporting VTF, gently place your bubble level on the headshell. Assuming the cartridge is perpendicular to the headshell, you have a fairly accurate starting point.

As a safeguard it's a good idea to disable the anti-skating mechanism so there is no later force in play.

Good luck.

Marty,
Donnie pi*sed me off when he left the family. I dumped him, The Archies, 1910 Fruitgum Company, and The Cowsills at the same time.

As I said my tip was only meant to be a starting point. The listener must find the optimal setting which undoubtedly varies with every tonearm/cartridge combination.

Now Donnie and Marie were cool. She was a little bit country, he was a little bit rock n' roll.

Very little.

Here's the way I measure horizontal... I take a lined index card (3X5) and fold it in half so that I can lay it on the turntable like a teepee with the lines going horizontal. The lines are parallel and I eyeball my resting tonearm on a record with the folded card right next to and on the other side of the arm - closer to the spindle than the arm. I get way down making sure my eye is on the same plane as the tonearm and view how the arm lines up with the lines on the card.