How to Check the Alignment and Realign Your Cartridge - Turntable Alignment Tool Included

A misaligned turntable cartridge can cause all sorts of problems. From premature wear on your needle to a distorted sound. In this video, will show you how to check the alignment, and realign, your turntable's cartridge.

Your Fluance turntable's cartridge will arrive aligned. You will need to realign your cartridge when upgrading or replacing your cartridge. Even so, it's not a bad idea to periodically check the alignment.

► LINKS AND OTHER RESOURCES

Follow Us!

TRANSCRIPT:

A misaligned turntable cartridge can cause all sorts of unwanted problems, from premature wear on your needle to a distorted sound. Today, we're going to show you how to check the alignment on your cartridge, and explain how to fix it.

First, when you receive your Fluance turntable, it will come prealigned.
So aligning your cartridge isn't necessarily part of your initial setup.

To check the alignment of your cartridge, you will need a cartridge alignment protractor. You can either buy one, or print one. In the description for this video, we will include a link to a PDF of our own cartridge protractor.

After printing the protractor, be sure to measure the reference scale. Checking the alignment depends on these measurements being exact, and accidentally printing the page slightly bigger, or smaller, will give inaccurate results.

Place the protractor on the spindle, and align the stylus tip with Point A. In this example, the cartridge is way off. It should look like this. The sides of the cartridge should be parallel with the grid lines.

If your stylus is not aligned, you will need to realign it.

Use a flat head screwdriver to loosen the screws. Rotate the cartridge until the lines are parallel. Once it's parallel, move the stylus tip to point B. If the cartridge is properly aligned at point B, tighten the screws, re-check to make sure it's aligned, and you're done. If it isn't, align it, and repeat the previous steps until the sides are parallel at both points.

If you don't get it right away, don't be discouraged. No matter how many times you've done this in the past, it will take a few tries to get just right. This can take a few tries.

Once the stylus is aligned, you probably won't need to align it again, unless you upgrade your stylus. Still, it's not a bad idea to periodically give it a check.

Thank you so much for watching. If you like videos like this, be sure to hit subscribe to get notified whenever we post something new.

[TheTifier]

My recommendation is to ALWAYS do your own alignment no matter what the manufacturer says about it being "pre-aligned". It's an expensive piece of equipment for the purpose of a listening experience that is precise and high quality but can also go incredibly wrong if things aren't set up perfectly.

Always do your own alignments before you start playing records, and re-weight the tone arm afterwards to ensure that the weight settings are still optimal for the cartridge tip.

[steveraleigh]

Thank you. I hope this will fix the problem.

[XanthraxxDMT]

PDF for the alignment protractor presents a 404 error. Seems that the file is no longer there.

[MauroGuerreiro]

I have a doubt. In addition to allowing alignment adjustment, does this ruler also determine the perfect longitudinal distance of the needle in the arm? Thanks.

[Bobpopsiculs]

Does it not matter how forward or backward the cartridge is in the headshell? Would that not affect overhang?

[bradd]

I have heard you should align off the stylus itself instead of the cart. That is REALLY difficult, being as the stylus is at an angle which makes it near impossible to know when you are really looking at it straight on.

[DJIDMixx]

You have a lever next to it, why do you risk holding it with your hand while vibrating to place it on the sheet?

[adriaansmit]

I don’t see those screws on my sony ps-lx220. It sounds distorted. Can I still align the cartridge or is this simply not possible on my model of turntable

[ElectricVintage-uo]

@ Fluance Audio I noticed you provide a Baerwald protractor, but the specifications in your manual seem to indicate an alignment that is closer to Lofgren. Do the cartridges actually come prealigned to Lofgren?

[ummagumma]

Can I ask a dumb question? Since the Ortofon cartridge is a perfect rectangle, like its not a random shape or bigger on one side, can't you just make sure the screws on the tone arm are in line since the screw holes in the cartridge are in perfect line? In the video you can see the end result is the screws in line

[johnsweda]

Yes but you didn't mention overhang you can still have it aligned and have wrong overhang and it's nice to have the arc drawn on the protractor with the overhang and I would say you should line the counter lever not the body of the garage

[benireges]

Is cartridge scale and pivot-to-spindle measuing tool really necessary?

[Steve_Van]

My printout is 5mm too small. How do I adjust that so it’s correct size?

[ejshelby]

Can alignment take the place of adjusting overhang? Alignment is the most important ?