Stylus pressure gauge question

[jonathanb]

I currently have two digital stylus pressure gauges: the cheap one that came with my VPI table that I find slightly suspect and one from Cartridge Man that I bought eighteen years ago and is thus suspect too. The Cartridge Man is accurate to only 1/50th of a gram while more modern ones are generally accurate to 1/500th of a gram. The battery in the Cartridge Man gauge is soldered in and hasn't properly help a charge for ages. I can spend about $80 plus shipping to have the gauge updated and re-calibrated or I can get a new, more accurate gauge for about the same cost as repairing the Cartridge Man gauge. What would you do?

[mep]

I currently have two digital stylus pressure gauges: the cheap one that came with my VPI table that I find slightly suspect and one from Cartridge Man that I bought eighteen years ago and is thus suspect too. The Cartridge Man is accurate to only 1/50th of a gram while more modern ones are generally accurate to 1/500th of a gram. The battery in the Cartridge Man gauge is soldered in and hasn't properly help a charge for ages. I can spend about $80 plus shipping to have the gauge updated and re-calibrated or I can get a new, more accurate gauge for about the same cost as repairing the Cartridge Man gauge.What would you do?

Didn't you just answer your own question? Unless you have an emotional attachment to your old gauge, your answer is very simple.

[jonathanb]

Didn't you just answer your own question? Unless you have an emotional attachment to your old gauge, your answer is very simple.

So the question becomes what stylus gauge to buy? Which one/s do you all use?

[jfrech]

Well, this is a good post. I have a Acoustic Sounds gauge and my dealer a clear audio gauge. The tear weights read the same. Then you drop the stylus and they read .2 oz' different. Go figure. I keep using my ears..but how could these differ so much? I think these are extremely susceptible to wear the stylus falls on the "measuring pad" for lack of a better word.

[jeffy]

I also had this same problem. I have the Clearaudio gauge and have been using this for years. I set up my new Miyahima Madake to 2.5 grams, but the sound was still thin. My friend came over with two of his gauges. One was a digital one that everyone sells under different names for less than 100.00 and the other one was a vintage Techniques SH-50P1. I kept them for one week. Every time I took a measurement the digital gauge, just like my Clearaudio gave me different readings. The Techniques was exactly the same every time. As it turns out my Clearaudio was off by .5 grams. So a setting of 2.5 grams was really 2.0 grams on the Techniques. After setting the correct reading to 2.5 now my cartridge was swinging with some warm mids and good bass. I then bought a used Techniques, off of ebay, for 175.00. This gauge can be calibrated. It's worth every penny as it too measures exactly the same weight as my friends. I would either look for one of these used or get the Winds guage if you can find one. Those go for 800.00 to 1,0000.00 used.

[JCOConnell]

I believe you can buy little weights to check the calibration of your scale off ebay

[jeffy]

I have a calibrated weight and that did not matter because each time I took a reading it changed. This did not happen with the techniques.

[JCOConnell]

If a scale cannot give consistant readings within its working range, its garbage. And probably has some kind of inner friction problem.

[jeffy]

JCOConnell, I agree with you those gauges are garbage.

[jonathanb]

Hmmm, even though the Cartridge Man gauge is stated to be 1/10th as accurate as the newer digital gauges, it is a strain gauge based device and was always accurate. For $80-90, I think I might as well have it refurbished/recalibrated as I know it will be accurate. I'll just have to settle for accurate 2.00 gram readings instead of inaccurate 2.000 gram readings.

But, assuming I didn't have the Cartridge Man gauge and wished to buy a sanely-priced stylus pressure gauge, what would you recommend?

[MylesBAstor]

I reviewed the Cartridge Man when it came out and it is very accurate and the readings are very reproducible. While it's nice having a gauge accurate to a few more decimal points, in the end it still comes down to your ears.

[Joe Pittman]

I use the Ortofon scale. It displays only to 1/10g but is consistently accurate when I check with my calibrated weight. The stylus landing is at the correct record surface height when you place it on the turntable platter (without record). I thought a display to 1/1000g was needed, but in actual practice, I don't really miss it. Display to 1/10g is good enough for me, because the scale only gets you in the neighborhood. Once you are in the zone, you need to fine-tune by ear! However, if those of you can consistently hear the difference between say 2.002g and 2.003g, my hat is off to you.

[A/V Solutions]

I like the Ortofon DS-3 which reads 1/100th....this model was from Ortofon Japan which I bought several years ago and not intended for the US market but recently Ortofon US has brought them in and I'm told this will be the version Ortofon US stocks. With all digital scales there sensitive in landing the stylus in the identical spot, I take a sharpie and mark a dot on the platform and land the stylus on the dot......I get close to identical readings.

[Joe Pittman]

OK. I need to get one of these!!

[JCOConnell]

those ortofons look nice. Is the metal non magnetic?

[A/V Solutions]

those ortofons look nice. Is the metal non magnetic?

Yes.....non-magnetic

[Beaur]

A reality check here. Any lab I have ever worked in, when you are weighing the small amounts we are talking about, it's done inside an enclosed environment. At these levels, stray air currents and other small events like your breath can change the readings. Using cheap scales and yes a $300 one is cheap we can't be worried about absolute numbers. Just make sure your scale is consistent over multiple readings over time.