how to adjust the height on a turntables tone-arm
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- This is a video showing you how to adjust the height on the tone arm of a turntable.
Please note that in the video I did this with a technics turntable but this can be done on any turntable that has a height adjustable tone arm and it the same procedure.
If you have a technics SL 1200 or 1210 MK2 turntable and the height adjustment mechanism is very stiff or is jammed up you might want to check out my other video How to service/repair/replace the height adjustment on a technics 1200/1210 MK 2 turntable the link for this video is below.
• How to service/repair/...
15 year old video. Was needed today so thanks!
This is the clearest explanation of tonearm height I have ever seen. Thank you.
Technics should award this guy a medal.
Finally! Someone actually showing us a way to get the VTA fairly close! Not like other “detailed” explanations on how to set up a cartridge and then twirl the height adjustment a little before they move on.
Absolute brilliant thank you ! I have adhd and I was engaged for the whole video - the use of drawings is a great visual : very clear explanations of everything. I'm off to adjust ! Many thanks
You are my source for technics 1200 info. Picked one up at a Pawn Shop for $20.00-"Twenty" and have been giving it a good cleaning and tuning. Your instructions
are simple and effective. Thank you.
James you are so informative. I can't thank you enough for all the information and knowledge you've given me about my turntable, stuff that I had no idea about, that I for years never checked while playing my records. With all the crappy and cheap CD's they've been making over the years, squandering such a technological advancement and letting it go to pot, there's now a wonderful re emergence of records. Records that I still have tons of . Thanx again.You are spot on - and I love your accent.
You just saved me a lot of money, I thought my tonearm was completely screwed and it turns out this was the problem, I had no idea height affects tracking so much. Thanks so much for doing these videos man.
Appreciate the clear explanation, I currently own an Audio Technica AT-LP120 and noticed that even in the zero height position my tonearm was not level. Luckily I was able to fix the issue by putting the stock mat below the cork mat I use and it raised the height just enough to be level, or as close as possible. Tested a few records and noticed less sibilance and even some records had less surface noise.
wow im so glad i found these old vids. i took a brake from playing for a few yrs. got the bug again and just bought a pair of used m3ds. after watching your vids i am confident to work on them myself if needed. after adjusting height with concords i noticed at 0 one deck sits about 6 mm higher at needle from deck case compared to the other. so my next move will be to take apart and grease/re calibrate/repair like your other video. might just replace tone arms as well and upgrade rca with internal ground and be done with it in one swoop. floating test with anti skate test kicks both arms to clip at 3 but does not totally kick them to spindle at 0. none of it seems to effect playing with traktor in absolute mode but new parts are fairly cheap online. by the way i like your taste in early 2000 dnb. my favorite genre is techy dnb. big ups for your detail videos!
Top man Very usefull. Just got serrato and saw that the signals were very different.
Had my decks for 12 years and never bothered setting them up properly.
Thanks to your video help they are set up perfectly.
I do professional electronics repair, I just started fiddling w/these 1200's, this was most informative, thanx
Thanks for your videos. I bought a pair of second hand 1210s a few months ago and they were stinking. The last owner never looked after them. Thanks to your videos I've now serviced then and adjusted the height, weight and anti skate to the correct settings. Thanks
I own 2 1200's and it's great to know how to take care and make the most of them. Thanks so much. All your videos have been extremely helpful and absolutely informative.
Best video I saw on the subject even better than turntable manufacturers. You gained a subscriber my friend.
I learned all these techniques from A-trak & Infamous back in the 90s but never knew the why behind it all. Thanks James!!
absolutely brilliant demonstration! I had just watched the other video on the antiskating setting and checked this one right after... You nailed it just like the other one! Thanks!!!
great vid!
I have a tip for the different vinyl thickness problem. set it up with your slimmest vinyl why? because its better to have your tonearm too low than too high. if its too high the needle will totally hack away your precious vinyl.
if you set it up with the slim vinyl, when you use a thicker one, it'll have the same effect as a lower tonerarm. which is your best bet.
Thanks so much! You're the only person on UA-cam that could explain this well. You've earned yourself a new sub!
+Bacon Grace thank you, i really appreciate the feed back. and thank you for your support.
Hi Bacon. See new post above to set up tone arm correctly
Thank-You. It's probably been 30 years since I used a turntable & I had forgotten about the "setup" after moving it. You saved me from a big Oopz!
no worries, I'm glad the video was useful.
thank you for your comment.
Great guide, I think the tone arm height is is a good indicator but not the whole answer. I was eye-balling my LP120x putting more mats on and really checking the angle of the stylus and cantilever. It needed a bit higher up than I initially estimated purely going visually off the tone arm. You can see how the stylus behaves once everything drops.
Got a pair of 1200s recently and I' m doing this straight ahead, once I have them freshly serviced and I got my new Ortofon cartridges. Thx 🙏
@TheReIntegration no problem, thank you for your feed back and your kind works.
I'm glad you like the video, thank you for your comment.
nice one!!!
@TheUzimis Thank you!!!, I never really taught of my self as much of a genius, but I'm glad you like the videos.
I will try to get my stuff sorted and get some more videos up soon.
Thanks again for your comment and kind words.
nice one!!!
@planey2k No problem, thank you for your feedback, I'm glad you like the video.
I never thought of my self as much of a teacher but now I actually quite enjoy it.
thanks again for your comment.
nice one!!!
@FerreNL thank you, I'm glad you like the video, I always like to keep things relaxed when I do my videos, I like people to enjoy watching my videos not feel like they are on a forum and there are too many rules.
thanks for your comment and your kind words.
nice one!!!
Thank you so much for your detailed video regarding VHA. I can't tell you how much you simplified the process of set-up. You rule and all the best to you and your vinyl acquisitions.
Thanks a lot ! Just what I was looking for.
Technics should sponsor you.
Cheers mate
9yrs I owned some 1210's and never adjusted the arm height.. I know feel like a total plum! Great Vid and easy to understand!
Great video on stuck tone arm adjustment. I took apart the tone arm apart. And the ring of the tone arm height adjustment is still stuck. I can’t move it. Any ideas how to unstick it. Some sites say use a heat gun. But not sure about that. Please let me know any ideas
@mushroomleg yeah i can see your point it does seem a bit strange, but the reason is because all needles and cartages are different shapes and sizes, you could have an ortofon blue and set it level but if i than put a stanton 500 on there it will be a bit lower so ill have to re adjust it.
hope this helped and thats for your comment.
nice one!!!
What setting the Stylus rake angle (SRA) the stylus should "rake": forward about 1 -2 degrees to match the average rake angle of the cutting sting stylus on the master .
When people talk about the VTA,, there are actually referring to the SRA.
Soo how much heigt for the concorde on the Technics SL1200 ????????
Key is "height adjustable tone arm".
A lot of turntables lower end or vintage don't have that.
So you can change the platter mat or if your using a standard type 1/2" mount head shell you can shim between the top of the cartridge and and bottom inside of head shell.
fantastic! Just got my Stanton ST150's today. So glad I watched your video today too!
Thanks, you've got talent for teaching.
thank you very much for your comment and kind words.
im glad the video was a help. hopefully more videos to come soon...
nice one!!!
Thanks mate this and your anti skate one are brilliant. You have a knack for explaining these concepts clearly.I've owned 1210s for twenty years now and finally understand anti skate properly.
what you been doing for the past 20 years...
Same here.
Subbed.
Best explanation i experienced so far. Thanks!
Some excellent points. I honestly never gave it much thought of the thickness of the vinyl, sounds weird but I never have. Thanks again for the tips...
Any help or ideas when the hight adjustment seems to be stuck!?
Same. Both of mine are... Did you ever figure out the problem?
@nubedjmusic If you have adjusted the weight as well than you must have a problem with the anti-skate, try setting it to 0 and see if the problem stops, if so set it so 0 and keep it there, I will hopefully soon be doing a video on how to fix the anti-skate.
other than that, your Gimble (the pivot point at the back of the tone arm) could be sticking, try a little drop of sewing machine oil on the barrings.
hope this helped and thanks for your comment.
Nice One ; )
Hello, nice explanation, my question is if I have vinyls of 120g mixed with 180g in my collection, there must be some unlevel in the arm to adapt to all thickess of vinyls, because it can be perfect for 120g vinyls then not for 180g, right?.
Thank you.
I've owned 5 1200s, 1999-present. I got my original set right from trial and error, but good grief, this video breaks it all down. It's amazing. Thank you so much @viperfrank
all your videos really helped out tons. especially the led replacement of the target light. your the man. again thanks
@viperfrank, cheers mate your vids r excellent. i have followed the tone arm and counterweight vids and still have really distorted sound.when i apply more pressure it sorts it. first i swapped the weight round, then moved it after seeing you say it was wrong. i put the tone arms at zero gravity, but then the weight only moves to 2 on dial. not enough tone arm space to move towards the needle end.. technics 1200. 1 ortofon & 1 technics head. ortofon more than technics but both still not perfect
Thank you. I love your videos. I have an SL-1500 and am going to get it into shape.
RobertJason11 That is an awesome Turntable!
Frank you legend mate. Proper helped me out this did. Cheers.
@robbies1 Hi there, thank you for your comment, its probably going to be best to set the weight first, as the weight will effect the height a little bit, as the needle pushes in slightly.
I hope this helped and thanks again for your comment.
nice one!!!
I have a Audio-Technica AT-PL120 which looks exactly like your Technics, just silver instead of black. They must be made by the same company. Very solid direct drive turntable for the past 5 years.
hi there, nice vid
my dial that adjust the height is super stiff and I can't move it. I've tried a bit of oil but it still won't move.
what could you suggest?
please help
Great video, very helpful. My question is can you adjust the pitch of the tonearm? What I mean is that when I bought my 1210 M5G's I noticed that one of the tonearms kind of was tilted inwards, like if a person was pigeon toed.
Cheers mate, this had been confusing me. People said use a mirror but i wasn't sure what i was looking for
Very helpful, I have a Technics SL1500C with a Ortofon 2m red, and it will be replaced by a Ortofon 2m black very soon, thanks for the information.
Is the needle at 90 degrees to the cartridge (perpendicular) on most cartridges? thanks
finally step up to face the two turntables in my room. it's been sitting there for half a year since I bought it. Really wanna pick up what I used to like. but which comes first? the tonearm adjustment or the cartridge adjustment(counterweight)? Sry I'm new to this.
i would try weight adjustment. then tone arm height and the check weight one more time. after that check the anti skate. most people set anti skate to 0 if they scratch and back cue aggressive. this gentleman has a video for all of it and explains very well.
Agree, good video! So basically, as well as doing it by eye, as long as the ruler measurement is the same (back and front end), the tone arm height is set correctly?
i've never done this in over 20 years. definitley going to do it now
Awesome video - well made tutorial. Now I have balanced my 1210s to perfection with fresh needles on them. Thanks Viper ;)
Thanks for the video, the sound quality is way much more better! Anybody tried listening to the Lp without a Slipmat?
Another neat move I've just read is to place the needle on the run-in of the stationary record and raise the height at the tonearm base until the bottom of the stylus housing is parallel with the record. Then do the measurements. This might be more protective of the stylus as you don't need to hold the tonearm level while adjusting with no chance of dropping or bumping.
@newburyg No problem, thank you for your feed back and kind words, I'm glad you like the videos, I will try to do some more soon.
Thanks again for your comment.
Nice One ; )
Great tutorials,,, saved me the trouble of having to explain much of it to some of my mates. Cheers
Hi, My Shure 447's don't allow for the height to be level, even on zero. Are u sure it applies to a headshell style cartridges? it''s as though there needs to be a -2 setting on the height adjust to make this levelling method possible.
I look forward to your reply. thanks.
I had a similar problem and whilst this tutorial is good I think it may be slightly inaccurate, I found a very handy tutorial on the ortofon website. Cant post the link but if you google, "ortofon how to set up a turntable" you should find the tutorial easy enough.
Hope this helps.
So helpful and easy to follow. I'd played about with this before but not really known what I was doing - also your anti-skating video was very useful as I'm about to come into an old 1200 which I'm sure will need a bit of reset. Plus; some of the decks I've played on in clubs have been all over the place and thanks to your video - I now have some idea of why. Cheers!
@ellollio No problem, thank you for your comment and feed back.
Nice One ; )
Thanks for the vid. Very informative. I have one turntable but the height adjustment wont budge. I unlock it and try to adjust up or down but its stuck. Do I need to replace the whole tonearms or what would you recommend? Thanks.
Can you offer any advice on my tone arm lift not picking up or going down? Thanks
Why would a needle slide outwards, i.e. off the vinyl? Adjusting the anti skating doesn't seem to do anything. Would this be a tweak with tone arm or a whole new tone arm? Only happens when lining up a track and it skips backwards off the whole vinyl?! Great video by the way.
Hi there, i did a video on how to service and repair the height adjustment, this should show you how to do the job, if you need any further assistance just send me a message.
Thank you for your comment.
Nice One ; )
Continuation...
When measureing one is always lower and the tone arm sits on the record kind of slanted to the inside sometimes causin my cartridge to scrape the record. Is the any way of adjusting the pitch or roll on my tonearm. Sorry for using aviation terms but its the only was to get my point across with out taking photos.
It is gonna sound silly but, I don't know where to adjust the height. I have an old Akai AP-103 model with a broken needle. I've ordered the needle, it's on its way... But I can't find the place where you adjust the height on that model...
Is this the same thing as arm elevation? My turntable has an arm elevation and it looks more like a lever.
On my Gemini XL-100 manual it's written: "Tone Arm bearings are factory set and sealed. Any attempt at
adjustment will void the warranty."
So now what about the tone-arm adjustment?
I second the cooment below this, another great vid man but my 1210s height adjustment doesn't seem to go anywhere near as low as yours, any ideas?
Cheers for all you put up mate, much appreciated! Already replaced an rca cable from one of your videos and just sorted anti skating (on one only as one not doing it), tone arm height and cleaned contacts for needles etc. and seems a lot better sound wise :) Think my mixer and speakers need servicing but defo way better at the minute!
that's great, I always like hearing that my videos are helping people, glad to hear they are helping you.
thank you for your comment.
This video's great for people who are using that particular Ortofon cartridge... but not all cartridges are the same, and this method will not work for everyone.
Also, some cartridges can sit in the head shell at an angle. So, the tonearm will not always be level. Best to just use a set of magnifying head glasses to see where the stylus is sitting in the groove.
thx man, I have my 1200's for 7 years and really didn't had a clue!!
@kazywaz Thank you very much for all your kind words. I am so glad you like the videos. I haven't done any videos for a long time, I will hopefully be doing some more videos soon.
thank you again for all your kind words.
nice one!!!
Hi mate I’ve just bought mk2 1210 and the lock moves but the rotars won’t move to adjust height , I can’t see from the video you unlocking and what the part you’re trying to move
hi James, how do I adjust the lowering speed of the tonearm? It drops down too fast and hard. It also pops up quite fast as I use the lever to do it.
Thanks for the informative video, I now know I was sold a 1200 with a bent tone arm, haha.
thanks mate...i have learnt a great deal. i bought my turntables 6 months ago...and i didnt know these stuff, thanks alot
i have a pair of technics and the height adjustment knot will not move on both of them,if i add a little bit of WD-40,will it damage the turntable?
Awesome videos james... thanks to you i managed to replace both my tonearms and now my 15year old 1200s sounds much much better and SHINY!!! :) but one problem... they still somewhat skip every now and den when i do simple scratching, i calibrated both the tonearms with new headshell+carts&stylus and also levelled it as in this video.... hope you could advice on some other problems that might be happening :) thanks again james!!! nice record collection btw :)
James maybe this is earier to do. This comes from the Technics 1200/1210 manual. all you need to know is the height of the Cartridge either measure or in instructions for Cartridge.
Table as below
Cartridge height............ Now set scale reading ring at base of tone arm to:-
15mm 0
16mm 1
17mm 2
18mm 3
19mm 4
20mm 5
21mm 6
Hope this Helps
great video but is this information intended for dj decks only? i have a regular record player I cannot find height adjustments
Your videos are excellent. Thank you.
I have two 1210MK2 and I simply cannot get the tone-arm to become parallel in neither. The first one has the height adjustment jammed up so I'll have to check your other video on fixing this. The second one however has a different issue. I rotate the height adjustment as low as possible and I still have the tone-arm base too high! Am I doing something wrong here? Thanks!!
The same question
hi yeah mine was jammed too so my advice is be really careful when messing around with the tonearm cause I broke mine even though I thought I was doing everything like he said in the video...
Nice Job On The Video. Where Were You 20 years Ago I definitely Needed You Then.
Thank you just watched this and your anti skating video, I have now fixed the issue on one of my turntables :)👍
that nice to hear, I'm always happy when someone is able to fix an issue using my video.
thank you for your comment.
Does placing a 180g LP or heavier significantly alter the angle ? Because it's in effect thicker and thus raises the stylus contact angle ? Many say thicker records offer more bass, but it's likely because of the altered angle of the stylus ?
Thanks man!! But i can't do that with my Technics SL-1700... Can you help me to adjust the height and the antiskating??
Thanks your videos have really helped...I just wanted to ask if a small spirit level be useful with the arm height adjustment?
great video. 5 stars
waiting for weight tonearm adjustment video. thanks
@plagueblack thank you, I'm glad you like the videos, I never thought I could be much of a teacher but I actually like it.
thanks again
nice one!!!
Hi Mark what its the best settings for you high adjust mm for ortofon concorde ? Greetings
Hi mate. Just picked up a 2nd hand 1200 mk5. Is it normal for the tone arm adjustment to be really difficult to adjust. Its taking so much force to adjust it its actually making the deck. The setting is set to unlock too so its not locked. Does something need to be looked at and repaired here? Thanks
hi there, no you should be fine to put WD40 on it as long as you don't use too much and wipe off and over spill.
if you spray some into like a small pot like a yogurt pot or something like that, than get a small peace of tinfoil and bend it into a u-shape and use that to scoop some oil up and drip it into the hight adjustment ring. it will be less messy that way and you can get it more accurately.
pope this helped and thanks for your comment.
nice one!!!
I have a Technics SL 1500 and it doesn't adjust like yours. I notice when the arm lever is up the tone arm is level and when it is down on the record it is at a slight angle. I am looking through the manual and it doesn't say how to adjust. Can you please help?
hmm from what i think the needle is already leaning when it's not in the groove by default, and when you drop the needle it is basically go vertically in the groove so either you extend the height or not i think there's no difference and there's a different Vinyl anyway, thinner or thicker. That's why other turntable have a fix height