Stylus pressure gauges

With recommendations from both Albert and Mike, i'm sure that the Winds is the way to go. Having said that, i've used the "el cheapo" Shure many times and been satisfied that the results are reasonably close. I'm sure that one can get a more accurate gauge, which judging by what Albert and Mike say, the Winds is HIGHLY accurate with more repeatable results. My experience is that you will need to "fine tune" tracking weight as the cartridge ages / suspension changes. As such, one should not rely on what any gauge tells you but what your ears tell you.

With that in mind, Bear had contributed a post that was very interesting. His method of setting up the tracking weight on a cartridge took into account the amount of displacement that the cantilever was capable of. As such, he adjusted the cartridge so that the cantilever was "mid-point" in terms of suspension travel. This kind of makes sense to me but i've not tried fooling around with it. You might want to do a search for his original post and read up on what he had to say. Sean
>

Albert, i must be slipping up : )

Honestly though, i think that cartridge set-up is much like speaker placement. I guess the common factor here is that both devices are electro-mechanical transducers. I think that "tools" are necessary to get things partially dialed in on both installations, but there are some things that test equipment can't possibly measure in this respect. As such, getting them close with "installation aids" or "tools" and then fine tuning by ear are what seems to work best for these two types of devices. That is, in my experience : ) Sean
>