Cartridge, tonearm, anti-skate: How to set up your turntable correctly

Make sure your deck is spinning smoothly.

How do you attach the cartridge? How do you actually balance your tonearm? What is anti-skate even for? Questions we’ve all asked at some point, whether staring blankly at a new turntable, or an old one that’s no longer playing as it should.

Fear not – New York City’s premiere turntable workshop DJ Fix is near to help. Having shown us the guts of a Technics SL-1200 in our last video, founder Jon Hildenstein uses the industry standard deck to walk us through those often overlooked basics of getting your turntable set-up correctly.

And although the SL-1200 is Hildenstein’s guinea pig of choice, much of what is discussed in this video is applicable to other turntables.