Tracking force — also called VTF (Vertical Tracking Force) or stylus pressure — is the downward weight your record player’s stylus exerts on the groove, measured in grams. Too light and the stylus skips and damages the groove walls. Too heavy and it grinds through the groove and distorts the sound. Getting it right is one of the most important adjustments on any record player with an adjustable tonearm.
Think of it like a pen on paper. Press too lightly and the nib skips, leaving gaps. Press too hard and it tears through the page. Tracking force is your record player finding exactly the right pressure — firm enough for the stylus to follow every microscopic groove modulation, light enough not to destroy the walls it’s reading.
Most cartridges work best somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 grams — roughly the weight of a small paperclip. That precision matters enormously. A difference of half a gram in either direction is audible, and the wrong setting will either damage your records or cause your stylus to mistrack and skip. Note: some cartridges — including the Rocket AR-N60 — specify tracking force up to 3.5g, which is perfectly safe within that cartridge’s design parameters.
Too Light, Too Heavy, Just Right
This surprises most people. When the stylus is too light, it can’t maintain groove contact during dynamic peaks — so it bounces unpredictably across the groove walls, causing random scratching with each skip. Too-heavy tracking force causes gradual groove compression over many plays. Given the choice, always err toward the middle or upper end of your cartridge’s recommended range, never the lower end.
1.0g
1.5g
2.0g
2.5g
4.0g+
What Wrong Tracking Force Sounds Like
How to Set Tracking Force on Your Record Player — Step by Step
Any record player with an adjustable counterweight at the back of the tonearm can be set to the correct tracking force. The process takes about five minutes and should be done once when setting up, and again whenever you change the stylus or cartridge.
Tracking force should be verified whenever you: replace the stylus or cartridge, move the record player to a new location, accidentally knock the tonearm, or notice changes in sound quality (more skipping or distortion than usual). The setting can drift if the record player is moved or handled roughly. An annual check is good practice for any serious Arkrocket record player owner.
What About Record Players With Fixed Tracking Force?
Many popular record players — including several in the Arkrocket range — come with a factory-set tracking force that cannot be adjusted by the user. This is not a limitation but a design choice: the tonearm and cartridge are matched and calibrated at the factory as a system.
If your Arkrocket record player has no adjustable counterweight, the tracking force is correctly set from the factory. You don’t need to do anything — and you should not attempt to add weight to the tonearm (coins, tape, or any other object) to change it. Doing so overrides the factory calibration and typically makes tracking worse, not better, while adding unpredictable load to the stylus.
The correct response to skipping on a fixed-force record player is: clean the record, clean the stylus, check the surface is level, and check the stylus for wear — not add weight.
Tracking force is the single most impactful mechanical adjustment you can make on any adjustable record player. Set correctly — at the midpoint of your cartridge’s recommended range — it protects your records, extends your stylus life, and produces the best sound your system can deliver. Set incorrectly in either direction, it either damages your groove walls or grinds through them. The five-minute setup process described above is worth doing precisely once, properly, with a digital gauge if possible. After that, your Arkrocket record player will track every groove exactly as the cartridge designer intended.
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