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Once you have all that taken care of, you can move on to the important matter of balancing the

tone arm. This will help ensure that the cartridge tracks properly and that the stylus won’t wear

prematurely or damage your records. To get started set the anti-skate dial to 0.

Remove the protective cover from the stylus by sliding it straight forward off the front of the

cartridge. Take hold of the headshell and then release the tone arm’s locking clamp. The tone

arm will be unbalanced at this point, so take care not to damage the stylus by letting it come into

contact with the slip mat (or anything else). While continuing to gently hold the headshell, rotate

the counterweight until the tone arm is horizontally balanced – it should hover just above the

platter. Once this is done, lock the tone arm back in place on its rest.

Setting Up the AT-LP120-USB Turntable –

Part 2

01.15.2015Audio-Technica 37 Comments

In Part 1, we told you how to install the headshell and counterweight, and how to balance the

tone arm. Now it’s time to set the stylus tracking force. Setting the force properly will keep the

stylus from skipping out of the record groove at especially dynamic musical passages (too little

force) and prevent excessive wear to stylus and records (too much force).

The recommended force varies from cartridge to cartridge, so first you need to determine which

cartridge you’re dealing with. The AT-LP120-USB currently comes with an AT95E cartridge

(identifiable by its green stylus). Prior to September 2011, the turntable was equipped with the

now discontinued ATP-2XN (white stylus). If you are working with the AT95E, we recommend

setting the force to 2 grams; if you have the ATP-2XN, set the force to 3.5 grams. (If you ever

install an alternate cartridge, you’ll need to adjust the tracking force according to the

manufacturer’s recommended setting.)

As you’ll recall from the previous post, the stylus force gauge is located on the front of the

counterweight. Without adjusting the counterweight, rotate the force gauge so the number 0 lines

up with the centerline marked on the rear of the tone arm. Then set the tracking force by rotating