So what influence is left for a turntable? Well, manufacturers of turntables often say that with a good turntable the importance of tonearm and pickup decreases. But manufacturers of tonearms just as often say that a very good leading tonearm, which can be perfectly adjusted to the pickup, compensates for any weaknesses of the drive. And a dealer who has concentrated primarily on the sale of cartridges told me a few years ago “quite confidentially” that it really only depends on the pickup, the rest is “purely a matter of design”.

Practical experience with the combination of turntable drive, tonearm and cartridge

Based on our experience, we say that all three of the above assertions contain a part of truth. But at the same time we claim that none of them is right and pursues only own interests. If you add up, the author of this article has owned or intensively listened to more than 15 turntables in the last 10 years, combined with 10 tonearms and 20 cartridges. At least this provides a certain foundation for a credible practical assessment. And this was always very differentiated.

Criteria for a good turntable drive

If you look at the turntable drive alone, there are some criteria that let it play at high-end level or even below. And you wouldn’t believe how well certain candidates come off in test reports, whose factual values leave a lot to be desired.

Noise voltage ratio and friction wheel drive

As with a good phono preamp, a high-end turntable should produce as little running noise as possible. Because if the record already physically produces running noises, the turntable should not interfere louder than necessary, so that both even swing up in the worst case. The record medium itself usually achieves a maximum of 65 dB noise voltage difference. A turntable should be well below that. So if you read values of less than 70 dB “rumble distance” in a report about a “high-end drive”, move on to the next article or test candidate. Because that should always be possible with today’s technologies and know-how.

Do we like it at all when a tonearm tries to “sounder”? No. From our point of view, the tonearm has one central task above all: it must guide the mounted cartridge and at the same time give it the necessary freedom, while not itself becoming sonically apparent and above all resonating as little as possible. In order for the tonearm to be able to guide the cartridge consistently, its effective mass must fit the cartridge and it must be able to adapt to it by means of the finest adjustment possibilities. And of course the bearings must be of the highest quality.

Compliance: why the compliance of the needle suspension affects the sound.

Compliance indicates how hard or soft the suspension of the needle carrier is, which in turn supports the scanning diamond. The unit of measurement of compliance is µm/mN. It is measured, and this is where it gets exciting, at 10 Hz – most of the time. Some measure at 100 Hz, especially Audio Technica. And the value is already 1.5 to 2 times higher than the specification in the brochure. In addition, especially with Audio Technica, that – for whatever reason – the compliance data often looks quite different in practice, even with correct interpretation. With a measuring plate, it doesn’t get any more precise than that. Why this is so: quite honestly, we don’t know, but the experiences are also worth something.

In addition, there is the distinction between dynamic and static compliance. Dynamic counts; and you get it if you divide the static value by two. Very roughly, bean counters will certainly find numerous objections, because the specified contact force also plays into it – but we simply don’t care about that at this point.

Our basic rule for compliance

(slightly different interpretations/limits are common and legitimate, but also not decisive, more on this later)

• Low compliance = hard suspended systems = values between 6 and 12 µm/mN
• Medium compliance = medium-hard/medium-soft suspended systems = values between 11 and 22 µm/mN
• High compliance = soft suspended systems = 22 to 30 µm/mN
• Very high compliance = very soft suspended systems = 30 to > 40 µm/mN

Tonearms can be roughly classified according to the following scale

(here, too, there are logically “floating” limits)

• Ultra-light tonearm: 4 to 5 grams
• Light tonearm: 6 to 9 grams
• Medium-heavy tonearm: 9 to 15 grams (most arms in use today)
• Heavy tonearm: 19 to 24 grams
• Very heavy tonearm: 25 grams and more

Important: for tonearms with interchangeable headshells, always include the headshell.

Tonearm and pickup as a mass-spring system

The values/divisions mentioned are important because the combination of tone arm and pickup represents a spring-mass system. Like all classical spring pendulums, such a combination has a natural frequency that depends on the hardness of the spring and the mass of the overall system. This is the famous “moving mass”, and only this is decisive: If the hardness of the spring increases (i.e. at lower compliance), the resonant frequency increases. If, in turn, more mass is added, the resonant frequency decreases.

The excitation of the mass-spring system and the consequences

What happens if you excite this mass-spring system with its natural frequency? Logically: it resonates, so that the oscillation builds up extremely. These oscillations in turn superimpose other frequencies. They lead to interference or droning and color the sound image or limit the exact reproduction of the music. For example, if the resonant frequency were 40 Hz and you were playing a nice Kraftwerk record, your needle might do a dance and bounce out of the groove.

The “right” resonant frequency for tonearm/cartridge combination.

Derived from the 40 Hz example, one might conclude that the resonant frequency should be as low as possible, and then be “inaudible.” Unfortunately, there are other troublemakers in the frequency cellar:

• The natural resonance of subchassis players (e.g. some Thorens models), whose platter board is spring-loaded. Depending on the model, the natural frequencies of subchassis players are usually in the range of 2 Hz to 5 Hz. So pushing into this range is counterproductive.
• The groove of the record itself. The groove itself is not exactly round – especially with our great new pressings. This means that groove noise and thus interference waves are generated during playback. Engineers at Shure have conducted a study on this and found that 70% of such waves are below 5 Hz and 95% below 8 Hz. This makes it clear why the resonance frequency should not slip too far down even with board players or mass drives.
• Excitations by impact sound: one should not dance around like Rumpelstiltskin in front of the turntable anyway; nevertheless it is not good if the needle becomes unsteady due to frequency excitations over the floor.

Thus, over time, a “rule of thumb” emerged that the resonance frequency should be between 8 Hz and 12 Hz, so as not to negatively excite the tonearm / cartridge with either low-frequency music signals or wavy records.

What the height adjustment of the tonearm is actually about is to trim the dipping angle of the needle into the record to the angle specified during vinyl cutting. This actually corrects the SRA (the stylus rake angle). The standard for this (exceptions prove the rule) is around 92 degrees, if the needle dips with the correct contact weight. Why not 90 degrees? Because the cutting stylus scrapes out material when cutting vinyl; and to prevent this from accumulating in front of the stylus, you add a few degrees, so you mill at a slight angle. 92 degrees it is. Now there are people who actually spend a lot of time in your life measuring pickups and evaluating the results.

The bottom line: reality is complex – here, too.

Mounting angles from 87 to 97 degrees are an enormous range that opens up here. Now let’s assume that the needle is mounted in the needle carrier at 97 degrees and we want to correct the “misalignment” by 5 degrees to 92 degrees. You can now reach for the set square and draw the whole thing enlarged on graph paper for a 12 inch arm – or you can watch the videos above. You would have to correct the tone arm upwards by centimeters (!!!).

With this in mind, evaluate some statements in forums/test reports: “I always adjust the tone arm height in relation to the thickness of the record, so with 200 gram pressings I hear with a different height than with 120 gram pressings.” Or, “When I corrected the tonearm height upward by 1 mm, everything then clicked into place, the proverbial curtain fell, and I could immerse myself infinitely in the music.” Fantasy meets physics, a delightful argument!

Setting the tone arm height and the SRA in practice

So how does one approach the right SRA professionally? It’s almost impossible without a USB microscope and subsequent measurement of the image if you want to play it safe. Or is it? Again, Dietrich Brakemeier, mastermind at Acoustical Systems, has created a helpful tool, the “SMARTstylus”. Like all products from Acoustical Systems, this auxiliary template is not positioned in the low-price segment, but the approach is great: you place the template directly next to the headshell and read off the angle of the needle on a scale. This can then be corrected by adjusting the tone arm height.

With the Aquilar tonearm from Acoustical Systems and the Arche headshell mounted there, there is also a very intelligent feature: when the tonearm height is “horizontal”, you only adjust the mounting plate in the headshell on which the pickup hangs. On the one hand, this allows for greater corrections, and on the other hand, you turn exactly the screw that matters, and not 30 cm further back with the corresponding lever.

At this point we would like to emphasize once again that you can make the described settings as always by ear and gusto, also test records provide valuable clues for this. Those who have trained ears can and should use them. In the end, it is the same as with frequency response perception: what you really hear, you can also measure. What cannot be measured is often only anchored in the human psyche.

How to correct crooked needle carriers and diamonds

What can only be corrected by adjusting the azimuth on the tonearm is a laterally slightly skewed diamond, which unfortunately occurs in 80% of all cases with MC cartridges. If you want an exact position of the needle in the groove and thus a perfect result, you have to measure and correct the azimuth. Many do this by ear. Respect, who can do that!

A little more professionally and above all faster it goes with a software (for it you need a good sound card and a PC): Adjust+ of Dr. Feickert measures for the azimuth fine adjustment the channel separation and the phase. If you want to do it exactly, you need the Level Difference Meter PDM-1 from Sperling Audio, which we use as a service for our customers.

The goal of an azimuth measurement is always to create as equal a channel separation as possible through different angular positions of the headshell. With well-produced pickups, the corrections are +/- 0.5 degrees or less to achieve the desired position. This sounds like little at first, but at one degree you can see the “skew” more than clearly. Pickups that show more than 1.5 degrees deviation for an optimal azimuth should be sent back together with the measurement report. That’s just not the way it works, dear industry. And for this reason, some cooperations or trade relations with Bohne Audio have already been terminated again. Because we measure pickups for you on request.

Tonearms without azimuth adjustment – not possible at all

A tonearm that does not offer azimuth adjustment is, in our view, poorly implemented – the above reasons speak for themselves. Yet there are several great concepts for this: On headshells like the Thomas Schick Graphite Headshell or the Arche Headshell from Acoustical Systems, you can loosen a screw to turn the headshell.

The Reed 3P tonearm, which we hold in high esteem, allows azimuth adjustment while playing a record (!) by rotating the entire arm tube (you should then adjust the counterweight “straight” down again).

And on a Kuzma 4 Point, the arm tube is split into two parts, and the front part can be rotated in extremely small and precise increments with the associated Allen key, without affecting the rear part of the tonearm including the bearing in any way.

Excitingly, the azimuth correction is also solved with a Well Tempered tonearm, here you turn the thread suspension back and forth. (This is also possible during playback.) As you can see, there is no lack of creative solutions, and the results after a successful azimuth correction are absolutely worth hearing!

How to choose the best record player

The first thing you should know about these devices that allow us to listen to “old-fashioned” music is what they are made of. They focus on the main thing and are composed of:

• Arm : It is this “limb” that we see on one side of the record and that must rest on it when listening to music. There are 2 different types: mechanical (more comfortable and with a better calibration) and manual (we have to press it against the CD ourselves, but this offers a higher precision and makes the CD suffer less when changing songs).
• Needle : If you call it that, it will surely seem more familiar, but it is actually located in the pickup capsule , which is responsible for “reading” the discs. There are 2 different types of this cartridge: magnet (cheaper) moving coil (more accurate). If both models are well calibrated, only the experts on sound issues will notice slight differences.
• Base : the part with which we support the turntable on any surface. This usually includes rubber feet to prevent the unit from moving when touched.
• Record : place where we “drop” the CD. There are 3 different types of turntables: belt (They slowly reach the rated speed for playback and deteriorate faster, but on the other hand are cheaper), direct drive (more expensive, but with the advantage of deteriorating slowly because they lack parts mechanically) and pulley (they are more easily damaged by their number of parts, but in return quickly reach the rated speed and their price is affordable).
• Motor : Responsible for driving the entire turntable mechanism. In current models, it is most common that it is a DC motor.

Now that you know what parts make up a record player, it’s time to talk about essential details that you should consider before buying. In addition to considering the differences that exist between the different types of components (with their advantages and disadvantages) that we have already mentioned, you should consider the following:

• Weight : Weighing like this may seem old-fashioned, but in this case, “If it weighs, it’s good.” This is because due to the way music is played on a turntable is strongly influenced by vibrations . The heavier this device, the better it absorbs them.
• Disc diameter : Depending on the disc you want to use in this device, you can find sizes of 7 “, 10″ or 12 ” . It is very important that the turntable accepts all these sizes so that you can reproduce the vinyl you put on it.
• Vinyl angle speed : This parameter is measured in revolutions per minute (rpm) and the usual values are 33, 45 and 78 rpm . As you can imagine, it is essential that your turntable is compatible with these values to be able to use it.

These are the basic characteristics that your turntable must have yes or yes. Then there are others that can be a good addition in some situations:

• Speakers : Some models have 1 or 2 speakers attached to the body of the unit. These are usually not of great quality . However, if you want portability and practicality, this can be a good aspect.
• Connectivity and connections : As mentioned at the beginning, some things from the past certainly return “Modern” details that are intended Improve our experience with them . In this case, some turntable models include Bluetooth connectivity, USB ports, audio connector or S / PDIF connector, among others.