Project 1.2 set-up help

[Anton]

My 1.2 and Phono Box have been out of action for awhile now and I want to get back into my LP collection. The sales guy I bought it from came to my place and helped me set it up the first time, he has now moved on and I'm sure all the moving around I have done with it since then has changed all the careful adjustment he had made. It’s fitted with an Ortofon OM 5E (that came with it right out of the box). The instruction booklet is a good guide to help me set it up, but I’m sure there is more alchemy then chemistry when it comes to these sorts of things.
I don’t have any other set-up tools other then what came with the player.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. :B

[David Meek]

Karl, you can go waayyyyy off the deep end into TT/arm/cartridge set-up if you want - read that as $$$$$$.

A few things you can do without much, if any, costs are:

1) make sure the shelf and platter are level - not close, level
2) make sure you have enough oil on the bearing
3) check the belt for wear or slippage when in use
4) check the arm mounting screws and make sure they are snug
5) make sure the cartridge is snugged to the headshell
6) make sure the headshell is snugged to the arm
7) make sure the wires/clips are all solidly connected - be careful, these are delicate

When I say snug, that does not mean as tight as you can get them!

Now, we'll start spending a little cash:

To adjust the stylus I recommend having your dealer do that unless you are fairly proficient with your hands and don't get frustrated with tiny, detail-type work. If you still want to do it, you should get the following: an alignment tool (Pro-Ject makes their own for $99) and a tracking force guage (Shure's SFG2 is about $20). The Pro-ject tool will step you through everything you need to properly align your stylus and the force guage will keep the pressure on the stylus and vinyl in the right range for your system.

If you want to get more detailed we can....

[David Meek]

Here's a link to the Pro-Ject alignment kit.

[Anton]

Thanks for your help David, think that the alignment kit is a must so I'll get one asap.