Intro To Home Audio (Basics) - Part 3

This is the last part of a 3 article series 'Intro to Home Audio (Basics)' feel free to read part 1, or part 2 of this series

How to Weight the Tone Arm on Your Record Player or Turntable

Ever wonder what how to properly balance that weight at the end of the tone arm on your turntable/record player. well all you have to do is balance the arm perfectly with no downwards or upwards pressure now in front of the weight there should be a dial that rotates without rotating the weight itself, reset it to zero, now turn both the weight and the dial between 2 and 3.5 depending on the recommendation from the manufacturer of the cartridge you are using.(I usually weight mine to a little over 2 for listening and closer to 3 for spinning records as a DJ to prevent skipping during back slipping or cuing of the record).

If your turntable or record player has an anti-skating dial this can be adjusted with the aid of a blank sided record. Just put on the blank record and adjust the dial until the tone arm does not have a tendency to swing toward the beginning or the end of the blank sided record.

Replacing an Old or Blown Speaker

If you are using a set of older large home stereo speakers and notice a crunchy sound giving you an undesirable quality, than it is possible that one of the speakers within the speaker box is blown, or that the cone has been torn or deteriorated over time. If you own a very high end system you may want to get the speaker itself repaired this is a process where they can replace the cone voice coil or any part of the speaker itself or if its just a moderate quality speaker and you are a capable DIY type person than you should have no problem soldering in a replacement speaker.

To replace a speaker remove the dust cover on the speaker box determine which speaker is blown and buy a replacement, now unscrew the old one( the screws may be hiding behind a rubber/foam strip around the outer circumference of the old speaker. Once you have the speaker out there should be 1 two wire cable hooking to both the positive and negative of the speaker itself, now cut, strip and re-solder the new speaker in its place (apply acoustical caulking, if you want) place and screw the speaker back into place, and apply the acoustical foam around the circumference if desired as well. Now your speaker should be sounding considerably better than it before and you can enjoy your favorite tunes in full clarity.