New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

Electrically amplified phonographs or radio/phonographs and related components (approx. 1928-1990).



Topic author
deash
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Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:00 am

New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by deash » Wed May 02, 2012 4:31 am

I'm going to try not to write a novel....I bought this Truetone console at a auction without a stylus I ordered one eBay when it came I installed it to the what I believe to be the original cartridge and the cartridge was bad one working channel you could tap the tonearm and get the other channel working for a short time
While both channels were working it sounded great and I was really happy I bought this stereo for the price of BK value meal....anyways ordered a new cartridge
that came with a new needle installed the new cartridge and it was a good fit in the headshell but not tight like the old one that had to be gently pried out well anyways I played a few albums and it sounded fantastic could'nt have been happier, but i was concerned that the cart. might need a little adhesive to keep it
resident in the headshell I had read elsewhere about using 2 sided tape but that seemed to me like it would change the height and maybe mess things up...well anyways I put a little glue...not crazy on top of the cart and attached it to the headshell, as I had the tonearm lifted up I noticed the screw that adjusted the tonearm mass was popped out of the all the way out of the tonearm the record changer is a Admiral (ensign) EN-607-1 well anways I left that alone and returned
the tonearm to it's perch and attemped to play another album this time the stylus just skated across the album, what the .... attemped to adjust the tonearm with the screw and made no progress, kept skating this adustment is a plastic worm gear/screw that goes into a spring and pulls the spring and changes the weight of the tonearm anyways while messing with the adjustment the brass retaining clip pop's off the the cart. so I ordered a new NOS cart.&stylus and that will be here soon and ordered a digital gram gauge to set the tonearm mass. What other adjustment can and should be made when I get the new cart&stylus
It sounded sooo Good untill things went to Hell. How do you set up tangent alignment on this record changer?? and is there any thing else that should be checked?? When I removed the back panel from the console I found 2 small paper packets of what looked like small nails without heads, both packets had what
looked like about 50 nails in it. I figured out that the previous owner bought those thinking they would fit some where up in the tonearm,they were needles for Gramophones....Oh crap I wrote a novel ....any help would be GREATLY appreciated...I'm trying to learn all I can about these great old Console Hi-Fi's.
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Rob-NYC
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Location: Manhattan, NYC USA

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by Rob-NYC » Thu May 03, 2012 2:56 pm

You aren't going to have must ability to align the tracking angle on that sort of machine. Fortunately the conical stylus on those pickups makes that relatively unimportant.

If you want a free stylus protractor to possibly see how close you can get it to correct:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/freestuff.htm

There are various schools of thought about proper stylus alignment, but in this sort of phono tracking weight is more important.

Depending on what cart you get, the optimum tracking force will probably be in the 3-4 gram range. Those old V-M changers are fairly gentle on their trip-off force so that range should be adequate.

Rob/NYC
"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities" -- Voltaire


Topic author
deash
Regular Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:00 am

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by deash » Fri May 04, 2012 1:52 am

Just printed the protractor and I'm going to see what I can do with it also recieved the digital scale I bought on eBay and set the STF to 3.5 grams.
Thanks Ron for your help and advice....the record changer is actually a Admiral (ensign) EN607-1 it just looks like Voice of Music.


Topic author
deash
Regular Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:00 am

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by deash » Sat May 05, 2012 2:21 am

I got on eBay and ordered another cartridge(these have a new stylus attached) to replace the one that had a broken brass stylus retaining clip, this was ordered
from NEEDLEDADDY1 anyways I let him know that I was ordering a new cartridge to replace the one just bought from him it was a NOS Electro-Voice 5254D to replace the original Tetrad S-43 78-6 told him the brass clip broke off the EV cart and was buying a Astatic 1151D this cart was $7.00 more than the EV so
long story short He e-mailed me back to say He was sending the Astatic free of charge....Good Guy check Him out on eBay.


Topic author
deash
Regular Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:00 am

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by deash » Sun May 06, 2012 4:39 am

I recieved the Astatic Cartridge today and installed it set the stylus force at 4 grams and played with the stylus protractor and leveled the changer base up and I think it sounds great for what it is a Solid State Amp, Admiral Record Changer and 2 way speakers that came from a Auto parts store. Wanna hear it? follow the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xo9-TXTzJQ Thanks again Rob-NYC and sorry about calling you Ron.


Rob-NYC
Senior Member
Posts: 1844
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2011 3:05 am
Location: Manhattan, NYC USA

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by Rob-NYC » Mon May 07, 2012 4:38 pm

No problem, being called "Ron" isn't the worst I've been called,,,Just the safest for the caller :-)

I viewed your vid and it looks like you've done a good job. the sound appears strong, clean and speed even. How's the radio reception? these sets usually have inadequate antennas built-in and benefit from an external wire or 'rabbit ears'.

Regards,
Rob
"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities" -- Voltaire


Raven65
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Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2010 5:04 am
Location: Fresno ca usa

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by Raven65 » Mon May 07, 2012 8:18 pm

Hi Deash,

By the way, your work on that console
Is beautiful, just outstanding!

George


Topic author
deash
Regular Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:00 am

Re: New Cartridge Tonearm set up?

by deash » Tue May 08, 2012 12:52 am

Rob,
The tuner is actually pretty good after I brought it home from the auction the first thing I did was check out the radio
and I was able to tune in everything my car radio will get and the FM Stereo light still worked so I was happy about that.
It just has the built in ribbon ant. and We live a 1/2 hour south of Nashville,TN. so there are plenty of stations to choose
from I don't listen to the Radio much at home, mostly lp's. Rob & George thank you for the compliment's,I try to do
my best with the Cabinets. The top had a bit of water rings and scratches and the veneer is thin so you can't go crazy
sanding, but I was able to sand out blem's and stain and urethane it with good results. I painted the bottom Black
because it had a whole lot of problems chunks of wood missing on the Cabinet corners,deep scratches ect. I also
really liked the retro fabric I purchased to re-cover the speaker front panels.

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