Please excuse my complete ignorance here. I'm putting together a stereo system which is an upgrade from my college years system.
This is the first turntable that I have owned where I had to install a cartridge and balance the tone arm. I understand this is supposed to be a simple procedure, but I am completely mystified.

So, I've balanced the arm so that it rests on a horizontal plane. I zeroed the tracking force and then set it to the recommended level and the anti-skate to the same number. When I drop the needle on the record it bounces up and down like a rubber ball. The only way that I can get the needle to find the groove is to adjust the weight so that head falls down instead of the arm being balanced. Then, the only way that I can get a sound that doesn't sound fuzzy is to crank the counterweight down even further- which I'm sure isn't good for my records or providing me with optimal sound. What am I missing here?

My turntable is a Numark TT200 and the cartridge is a Shure M25C- not high end stuff, but I'm thinking it should function properly.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving.