Funked the Rega

[emaidel]

I was wondering if you ever checked your tracking force with a stylus force guage such as the Shure SFG2.
The Shure SFG2 costs about $25

Actually, I still own the original stylus pressure guage that came with my AR turntable that I purchased way, way back in '1964 and it's still a deadly accurate device. I haven't used it to check on stylus pressure, but may have a problem doing so with the 5000: the only time the arm lowers onto the record surface is after the quartz locking kicks in, which occurs only while the platter is spinning. Otherwise, the arm remains suspended up from the record's surface. This is an irritating feature of the turntable, for example, as when using a carbon fibre brush to clean a record, after the arm has landed on the record's surface, causes the speed to slow down ever so slightly, and the arm lifts and waits for the quartz locking to kick in again.