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Vinyl record player setup for beginners

This guide will help you set up your vinyl record player or turntable for the first time

7 min readMay 9, 2020

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Photo by Juliane Mergener on Unsplash

Before you play any of those new, sealed vinyl records with your record player, use this simple guide to setting up your turntable.

A record player is a very sensitive instrument, and even small inaccuracies in setup can have a big impact on the overall sound.

I’m assuming that you have a working turntable, and that your amplifier either has a dedicated phono channel, or you’re using a standalone phono preamp into your amp’s auxiliary channel.

There are three main things you need to do to set up your record player:

  • position and level your record player
  • set the stylus pressure
  • align the cartridge.

Some terminology

First, some definitions so we’re all on the same page.

  • I use the words turntable and record player interchangeably.
  • The stylus or needle is the tiny, delicate point that sits on the surface of the record as it spins. It picks up vibrations from the groove and transmits them…

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Andrew Macrae
Andrew Macrae

Written by Andrew Macrae

Freelance writer and editor. Sign up for my newsletter about writing, freelancing and whatever is worrying me https://tinyletter.com/Andrew_Macrae

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