Measure My Turntable Speed

I understand that the Digistrobo works well too.

Unless you have perfect pitch it's not really that important that your turntable spin at exactly 33 1/3 as long as it spins without deviating from its speed. I'd recommend getting close to 33 1/3, but don't get fanatical about it.

It all depends on money...What you have spent and what you intend to spend in the future. The KAB is one of the greatest inexpensive tweaks on the analog market. Anybody who is interested in analog can not be without a KAB. Analog is a comittment and part of that means you and what you will do to listen to the music, less pops and clicks and speed changes. All the best.

Whilst strobes of various kinds are good for measuring average speed, the advantage of the test tone approach is that it allows one to monitor speed stability over the shorter term. The simplest method is to set up a frequency counter with the shortest sample interval which gives acceptable precision.

A better method is to monitor the test tone waveform on a scope using a separate, stable wave as the timebase. The test tone will then walk back and forth across the screen at a rate which equals the frequency difference between the test tone and the stable wave. If the stable wave is indeed stable and the test tone was recorded at constant frequency then the variation is due to the speed of the table wandering.

I just used a strobe and a neon light to adjust the speed on my table, and I can play along with the record while playing my piano. It's good enough for me