Stylus force digital scales

Ortofon gauge looks nice but it's basically a standard digital scale with an alloy platform adapter/extension. You can buy a good digital scale that's (probably) more durable with better button layout and easily make your own platform adapter/extension for a third of the price.

It won't say "Ortofon" though. :-)

I'm using a DIY platform extension with a Dynavector 17D3, which also has a very short cantilever and the setup works great.

Regards,
Tom

PS: I'm not intending to "dis" the Ortofon gauge; I'm sure it works well for measuring VTF. But the original question was "Why cant I use one of these [inexpensive digital gauges] instead and save big bucks?" The answer: You can.

Johntracy and Dinster,

My apologies for not making a long post even longer to thorough explain how magnetic attraction:
1) may increase the downforce recorded by a scale, and;
2) will increae the compression of cantilever and suspension beyond the downforce applied by the tonearm.

Tom,

Thanks for adding the details... bingo.

BTW, my scale is also a My Weigh. Bought it 10+ years ago and it's as good as new... and just as accurate as Ebm's $300 Winds, lol.


P

Is there a sonic benefit for having better than 1/10th gram accuracy?

Onhwy61- It's not necessarily the accuracy, it's the precision. IOW, it matters not if the VTF that sounds best to you is, to make up an example, 2.12, 2.13, or 2.14. Or in fact any value between 2.1 and 2.2 gms. However, once you determine the optimal value, you would like to be able to get back to that # w regularity, if you need to, for any reason, dismount and then remount the same cart. If your scale can only display to 0.1 gms, you will not be able to get back to that "optimal" VTF other than by trial and error. OTOH, if your asking if differences of < 0.1 gms are audible, then I have to say it's up to you and the resolution of your entire system. I know Doug can hear those differences on his system, and I'm pretty sure I can, too. Not necessarily 0.01 gms, but 0.05 for example. YMMV.

I would advise against the Sure scale. I happened to have two identical Sure scales and they were very off against each other. Will never trust them again.

I currently use an APTP445 scale, which is digital and cheap (more or less $10 on ebay), but works well. It's too thick as it is so I made a step out of a credit card and a little bit of Blu-Tack to measure the VTF at the record level. I regularly re-check it with a 5-gram reference weight and it appears to show repeatable measurements. For those on a budget it's a good option.