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Electronic stylus force gauge question

I recently bought my first electronic stylus force gauge. It's a generic type made in China, but looks and feels a surprisingly decent quality. It was purchased from Mehran at SoraSound for those who happen to have it.

I noticed that when I try to measure the VTF, the gauge begins to display a minus reading of -0.01-03 g as I'm lowering the tonearm to place the stylus on the black dot. It then displays a steady reading once the stylus is placed on the dot, which appears to be accurate by comparing with the Shure gauge I used in the past.

I make sure that the platter is secured so I'm not quite sure why the gauge displays the minus reading before the stylus lands in the measuring spot.

Has anyone else experienced this with their electronic gauge? I realize the minus value is arguably negligible, and the issue might be of no practical significance, but I'm trying to get my Delos to track as close to 1.75 as possible so I wonder whether I need to adjust for the minus value. I'm also curious why this is happening.

actusreus
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,462 posts
 
Actus..how do you know that your Delos tracks best at 1,75, EVERY cartridge I've set up is a bit different than the next one off of the assembly line. Also, if your arm is a bit high or a bit low to absolutely horizontal (who can tell when that occurs), it will affect the cartridge. Those setup guides are just that....use them to take you to a good place, and then use your ears to bring your cartridge to a great place. As far as the Shure scales being a bit off...Some are made of aluminum and are non attractive to the magnet in the cartridge, and some are made with something that does attract the magnet (not a good idea). You can get better accuracy by putting the Shure scale at the beginning of the platter, so that the front "feet" are off the platter (but use the non attractive version of the scale.
sarcher30
596 posts
 
Actusreus, I'm using the Cartridge Man digital scale. It is expensive but very stable and accurate. I did not really want to pay that much for a good scale but got feed up with the Shure and the other cheap digital scale I had. Another good thing about the Cartridge Man scale is it has a rechargeable battery. You just plug it in overnight when its low on juice.
theo's avatar
theo
2,680 posts
 
It may just be the way that scale reflects the change of adding weight to the scale surface. I would say that as long as it provides an accurate reading once it locks onto a weight, go with it. By the way I have a Kleos and have it set to 1.75 and sounds great, I have tried 1.70 and 1.80 as indicated the extremes of the suggested range by Lyra and the 1.75 works fine. I agree with you that the suspension system employed by the Delos and Kleos make the VTF crucial to optimum performance. How ever some may dis-agree, you only yourself to please.
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,982 posts
 
You might try to unplug the table from AC power and unplug the tonearm cable, (and ground wire) from your preamp/phono stage. This will isolate the table.

Seems to me that you are getting some type of an electrical interference from either the tonearm wires or the coils in the cartridge. See if this solves your problem. Worth a try.
philb7777
401 posts
 
I've actually had this happen before with a digital scale - probably the same one you are talking about that has the same cosemetic design as several sold by Acoustech, Audio Additives and Pro-ject among others.

Believe it or not, the darn thing would not only register weight as the cart apporached the scale, but would fluctuate in its readings by 0.1-0.2 grams each time I weighed the cart without change of the VTF.

I changed the batteries in the scale and presto - everything was fixed. I think if the batteries in the scale are not fully charged, you can start to see funny things happen to this scale. Wish there was a better digital scale that didn't cost $200 or more.
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