Scraping sound

Maxh,

The suspension is collapsing under load. That much is clear. The question remains, why?

There are two possibilities:

1. The tonearm may be applying excessive vertical tracking force (VTF). This could cause the collapsing you described. It could also damage the cartridge, so DON'T cue the cartridge down again before checking.

To be safe, rebalance the tonearm to zero downforce (arm floating horizontal, neither rising nor falling. Then adjust the counterweight(s) so that downforce is within the Zephyr's recommended limits.

Use at least two VTF scales, to confirm that your reading is accurate and you don't have a faulty scale.

Now cue the cartridge down onto a record. The cartridge should ride normally. Fine tune VTF by listening to confirm clean tracking and optimum sonics.

2. If the cartridge continues to ride low at a confirmed, correct VTF,then the suspension is worn out or broken. An inspection would be in order.

Will do.
Waiting for a new gauge.
Thanks

All the tone arms that I have had have a means for setting VTF. Eg, one turn of the counterweight screw equals one gram. So why couldn't you set the VTF that way and then use the scale for checking or fine tuning? I don't see the need for two scales really.

Tonywinsc,

That's not how the counterweight works on VPI arms. It's not threaded, you just slide it in or out. How much this effects VTF depends on the weight of the cartridge, and there are no marks to go by.

With regards to scales, what if his one and only scale is faulty? What if it's indicating 2g when in fact he has 3g, for example?

It's critical to identify the cause of the low-riding. I'm not saying he has to BUY two scales. He can borrow one. I think the OP owuld benefit from clearly knowing what's going on.

I don't know about the VPI arm, but mine needs a scale to set VTF. I have a weight so I can check the calibration.