John and I have just been having a similar discussion about tracking weight.

When setting my turntables up, I always did it fairly simply using measuring weights and visual inspection. I also listen for distortion, and that's generally sufficient.

But I've also always had an oscilloscope around, and it comes in handy for this too. Using a test signal recording, you can check the setup with sweeps and test tones. Look for waveform distortion which appears when the tracking weight is set too light. Just one more thing that can be done to ensure that everything is setup right.

Hi-Fi News Analogue Test Record

• Cartridge Setup