The Essential Analog Toolkit
To really do the job properly, you’ll need all of the following. Good-quality allen keys and screwdrivers – Your turntable and especially the tonearm and cartridge are precision measuring tools in their own right and should be treated as such. A set of good-quality ball drivers (Bondhus make excellent examples) is indispensable, especially when it comes to accessing small grub screws in out-of-the-way places. Your toolkit should really have sets of both metric and imperial sizes, starting from the smallest available. Likewise, good-quality examples of smaller-sized flathead and pozi-drive screwdrivers are a must. Choose ones with long shafts and well-shaped, larger-diameter handles. Your record player will thank you for it -- and so will your ears. Needle-nose pliers – One of the truly essential items, indispensable for attaching cartridge tags and handling small parts. Get the smallest ones you can, with long, narrow pincers. Small rubber wedge – Used for immobilizing platters when setting up cartridges. If you can’t find one smaller than a standard doorstop, try photographic shops; many pro photographers use them to stabilize objects in the studio. Spirit level – Home Depot has a whole range of basic levels, and you should make sure that you have one of their three- or four-foot-long ones for general leveling of racks, etc. However, when it comes to leveling a turntable, what you need is a machinist’s level. These precision devices are used for setting up machine tools and are available from specialist suppliers. They can cost several hundred bucks -- although there’s a busy trade in secondhand examples, so you can often pick them up cheaper than that. Google the term and you’ll find plenty of options. The real deal should specify its accuracy -- look for 0.0005” -- and common names are Starret and Grizzly, the latter’s Model H2682 being a good buy, with a span of 8” and a price of around $70. Don’t forget to measure the level of the platter -- not the plinth! Does this level of accuracy really make a difference? Just think about the bearing and the platter spinning on its shaft. If that shaft isn’t vertical, you introduce a sideways movement from the platter and that will dramatically increase friction and thus noise -- noise that will be read as signal by the stylus. So yes, it really does make a difference. (Absolute level makes a difference to CD players too, so don’t neglect those either.)
There are a lot of affordable electronic gauges on the market these days, but our favorite is the Clearaudio. Not only does it have a massive weighing platform and easily-read display, it runs on AAA batteries! Believe us, that’s the clincher. Picture the scene: it’s late at night, your new cartridge is almost set up as you champ at the bit for those first sweet notes, only to discover that not only are the batteries in the stylus balance flat, but it uses some bizarre watch-type cells that you need to order off the Internet! AAA's? You don’t even need to step outside the front door -- just raid the nearest remote control for a double whammy: not only will your stylus balance be up and running, but disabling that pesky remote will improve the sound of your CD player too. Alignment protractor – Most record players are supplied with a simple single-point alignment protractor, and it is possible to achieve good results with it -- as long as you take exceptional care. In the context of a budget 'table and cartridge, it is certainly the most cost-effective option. However, beware printed-card types or protractors with over-large spindle holes. The slop in the mounting will invalidate the results irrespective of how much care you take. In this case, a basic aftermarket protractor is what you need, such as the popular Mobile Fidelity GeoDisc. Just make sure that the one you opt for is compatible with your tonearm’s length, as some are dedicated to 9” 'arms only and 'arms can be anywhere between 9” and 12” in effective length. That dimension is nominal, with the precise measurement (critical to achieving correct geometry) normally given in millimeters and running anywhere from 218 to 315mm.
But an even better alternative exists. Dr Feickert offers a free iPhone/iPad App that uses the internal microphone to assess turntable speed -- just search the App Store for PlatterSpeed. You’ll need a test record with the standard 3150Hz wow/flutter test tone on it (it's included on the Analog Productions test disc, or you can buy it pressed on a 7” disc from Feickert themselves). Simply play the disc and position your handheld device in a steady position in front of the speakers; the display will show you the actual frequency being produced as well as the platter speed in RPM and a visual readout of speed stability. Obviously, one needs a turntable with a pitch control or an electronic speed controller, but getting the speed absolutely spot on is the next most important facet of turntable setup, after achieving really accurate cartridge alignment.
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it comes to setting up turntables, precision is everything. There’s accurate and then
there’s really accurate. You can use any old spirit level and the supplied
tonearm jig, but these are areas where it is generally easy to make substantial
improvements that you’ll readily hear in the end result.
Stylus
balance – The tonearm with really accurate downforce graduation is still to
be built. Many 'arms have no downforce graduation at all, while the popular Rega-based
designs lack all but rudimentary solutions. The most commonly available gauges are the
venerable (and notoriously inaccurate) Shure model and the tiny Ortofon seesaw design,
both of which are barely acceptable for setting an initial value. There are those who will
argue that one of these is all you need, as tracking force should be set by ear, and
we’d agree -- up to a point. Final adjustment should be by ear, but generally those
will be tiny, tiny steps away from a given starting point -- and knowing precisely what
that starting point is matters, especially given the cost of current top-flight pickups.
We don’t know about you, but we want to be certain we're getting the best out of our
cartridge -- and not risking accelerated stylus or record wear.
Strobe
– Setting speed accurately isn’t a matter of guesswork. In fact, having your
‘table running at the right speed is just as important as having it running at a
constant speed. There are a number of good strobes on the market, the best being the ones
available from Clearaudio and KAB. Both come with the battery-powered, handheld strobe
light that’s essential to achieving accuracy, but my favorite is the KAB for the wide
range of discrete speeds it incorporates into its clever design. Especially if you listen
to anything outside of 33 or 45rpm discs, it really is indispensable. If current LPs are
your thing, then the Clearaudio is excellent.