Why? Why should you balance your tonearm? For needle/stylus, record life, and maximum audio quality. If not properly balanced, extra weight on the needle and record will cause essessive wear and tear and it will cost you in the end. If there's too little weight, jumping and skipping is abound, and audio quality will suffer.

How? Put a record on your turntable, make sure you installed the cartrigde and stylus properly. Unscrew the tonearm counterweight until the tonearm lifts up while holding it in your hand. Slowly screw in the counterweight until the tonearm is perfectly balanced. That means the tonearm isn't resting or up in the air, nor is it touching the record. The tonearm should be parallel to the platter/record, looking sideways it should be perfectly horizontal.

Once it is perfectly balanced, move the gram dial to zero and check again to see if it's still balanced. Consult your stylus/cartridge manual and screw in the counterweight until the recommended weight is reached. Most likely between 1.5g - 3.5g.

Once you've done this, exactly 1-5g-3.5g of force is being put into the groove of your record. Optimal operational range of your needle for audio quality, and minimal wear on your record.

Is this answer useful? Yes   No So far 209 of 355 person(s) think this answer is useful.