Thanks for the responses. I do have a shure stylus force gauge that I use to set the actual tracking force. My actual tracking force is close to 2 grams (accounting for the brush on the V15), quite a bit higher than the 1 gram recommended by shure. I can back it off a bit, but at the recommended force it distorts at certain frequencies. I guess I'll leave it at 1.5-1/75 as long as that won't hurt my records.
Tracking Force - Where to set it?
So a few weeks back I posted regarding distortion I was getting out of my right channel (Rega p25 w/ shure v15 xyz). I got a lot of help, much appreciated. It turned out that my real problem was not with the cartridge or table, but that I had followed Shure's recommendation to set tracking at 1-1/2 grams! Turns out that the bottoming-out and distortion I was hearing was cured by turning the tracking force up to about 1.75 to 2-1/4 grams, depending on the record.
The question now is, (1) is there an optimal tracking force, and (2) will force as high as 2-2.5 grams damage the stylus or vinyl?
The question now is, (1) is there an optimal tracking force, and (2) will force as high as 2-2.5 grams damage the stylus or vinyl?