Numark TTUSB tonearm adjustment Options

[rocket_pc]

I have first browsed the wiki for this, though only a few minutes. My question is about adjusting the tone arm on the Numark TTUSB. Can anybody tell me where there are instructions on adjusting the counterweight on the tone arm of the Numark TTUSB and adjusting the anti-skate mechanism?

I got the turntable yesterday. The instructions in the operator's manual is insufficient, with only a few sentences on the subject that seem very ambiguous to me.

The manual says,

...there should be a feeling of weight and resistance when the head shell is raised and lowered. Begin rotating the counterweight clockwise (away from the pivot point) until the weight and resistance feeling is gone. If done properly, the tone arm will pivot with very little resistance back and forth indicating that there is exactly 0 grams of stylus pressure. With the counterweight in its new position further away from tone arm pivot point, grasp the scale ring of the counter weight and rotate it until "0" is in the vertical position. Finally, rotate the counterweight (and scale ring) counter-clockwise (towards the pivot point) until the desired amount of weight is reached. If the scale rotates 360 degrees beyond the zero point, the new scale ring reading should be added to 3.5.

I don't understand these instructions at all. I remember seeing somewhere last month, when shopping for this, mention of some website or other with instructions on adjusting the tonearm and antiskate functions.

Thank you, in advance, for your attention on this subject.

Don

This post has been edited by greynol: Dec 11 2009, 22:04

Reason for edit: Please use the default font. Placed quote in the proper container.

[Knowzy]

Hi Albert,

Welcome to HA.

That is a lot to digest! And that's coming from someone who is pretty verbose himself!

Nonetheless, I read it all and it's pretty accurate and good advice. Stick around and you can learn some of the finer points of tonearms, pre-amps and equalization. I learn new things about vinyl here every time I show up.

I'm not going to address everything point-by-point but a couple jump out:

If a friend has a "miniamplifier" for earphones, you may try it how it sounds (just a silly idea, maybe, because I've never tried it).

This isn't going to work because the equalization will be horribly out of whack. Phono pre-amps raise the low frequencies and attune the highs along the RIAA equalization curve. Some people use a microphone pre-amp and correct the equalization in software (called a "flat transfer").

No matter how you go about it, equalization is required to avoid the ear-piercing highs cut into each and every vinyl record.

iii. Digitalization software. In your PC / MAC. I only know the Roxyo one issued for MAC, which is very good. There are a lot more solutions in the market. Just google.

FYI: You are among quite a few software developers who write programs that directly or indirectly help digitize vinyl, including Clive and Axon who contributed to this thread!

Take care,
Jeff