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Pioneer PL-550 Counterweight

jtogg

jtogg

New Member
The counterweight on my PL-550 has always confused me a little bit. It's made of two separate pieces, the smaller of which has the numbers meant to display the weight setting, the large of which is the weight itself. Picture:
mk38wN286a7g_ucYvOKIppA.jpg
The confusing part is that the smaller piece rotates freely of the larger one, and doesn't seem to be threaded on the inside. The larger piece moves back and forth along the tone arm when it's turned, as it should, and I can properly set the weight with a scale but my instincts tell me the smaller piece should be bound to the larger one in some way such that it accurately displays the tracking force. I adjust the smaller piece after setting the tracking force with the scale so that it reads what the weight is actually set at, but all it takes is one of my friends to idiotically try use the counterweight as a handle for the tone arm (this happens with surprising frequency) to screw up the tracking weight and make the dial read something completely inaccurate. I also have to get the scale out any time I want to make a change, which seems unnecessary. Anyway, is something wrong/broken or is that how it's supposed to work?
 
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jtogg said:
The counterweight on my PL-550 has always confused me a little bit. It's made of two separate pieces, the smaller of which has the numbers meant to display the weight setting, the large of which is the weight itself. Picture:
mk38wN286a7g_ucYvOKIppA.jpg
The confusing part is that the smaller piece rotates freely of the larger one, and doesn't seem to be threaded on the inside. The larger piece moves back and forth along the tone arm when it's turned, as it should, and I can properly set the weight with a scale but my instincts tell me the smaller piece should be bound to the larger one in some way such that it accurately displays the tracking force. I adjust the smaller piece after setting the tracking force with the scale so that it reads what the weight is actually set at, but all it takes is one of my friends to idiotically try use the counterweight as a handle for the tone arm (this happens with surprising frequency) to screw up the tracking weight and make the dial read something completely inaccurate. I also have to get the scale out any time I want to make a change, which seems unnecessary. Anyway, is something wrong/broken or is that how it's supposed to work?
Click to expand...

The one on my A45D is kinda the same way, and honestly because of it's confusing nature I don't know how to set it at all. But yeah mine is two pieces but the number bit doesnt spin as freely as yours might.
 
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They turn separately so that you can calibrate the smaller one to zero (by "floating" the tonearm). When the tonearm floats, the tracking weight is zero...so set the gauge (the smaller one) to zero. Now turn them together to the appropriate tracking weight for your cartridge/stylus. Or just get a digital stylus gauge.

The User Manual provides more detailed info on setting the tonearm to zero.
 
Hi i have purchased a pioneer pl-550 from ebay which I think is a fair price,although it is missing the dust cover and counter weight would the pl-112d cover and weight be ok for the 550.

cheers.
 
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