Thoughts on VTA......
Raul, I'm looking at my stylus at eye level, with the diamond just sitting on the record, and it looks precisely like the drawing on this link. https://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/vta_e.html This is with the Rega arm and table. If this is what the wood bodied Grado Master looks like, what adjustment do you think I need? |
Dear @orpheus10 : The only way to be sure the VTA/SRA is the best that permit that cartridge/tonearm couple is through playback tests doing VTA/changes to determine with which VTA/SRA change ( up or down. ) the quality level of what we are listening is higher. This is a test VTA/SRA proccess making it through an overall evaluation comparison proccess using always the same LPs tracks, tracks that we know in deep. You can do it through using some shims that I know came with Rega tonearms. Perhaps what you are looking at eye level could means almost nothing for all what I said in my last post and what other gentlemans said in my post : You can read something additional in this information I pasted from other forum: " that, IIRC, at least one stylus manufacturer ( SoundSmith ) explicitly states not to use visual means to verify SRA - because the actual cut of the stylus often has no real relationship to the profile of the stylus as viewed from the side with a magnifying glass. " Anyway, you have to test to live the VTA/SRA experiences in your own room/system and then decide about. R. |
I do it by ear. Too high, and sibilance occurs; too low, and bass goes woolly. There is no one ideal permanent setting due to the variability of LP's thicknesses and the angle of cutting heads used to make the album in the first place. I happen to have a VPI with an easily on-the-fly adjuster, and I don't think I would ever get another turntable without an easily adjustable VTA. |
When I had my first turntable which was a Dual 1214 you basically mounted the cartridge.( If I remember it had a rotating clamp interface). You set the crude stylus force adjustment and you started to listen to records. The year was probably 1972 and I was just a young teenager and I do not recall VTA, SRA, azimuth, anti-skating, etc. Done In 1976 and I purchased my Thorens TD165 which I still have (upgraded now) and I was introduced to anti-skating with the little swinging Thorens weight. Still somewhat of a mystery but I set up the cartridge to the Thorens headshell gauge set the tracking force, the anti-skating per the manual and started listening to records. Done Flash forward to current day and the discussions on turntable setup are infinite and I believe that some of this adjusting setup per every record, digital microscopes for set up, oscilloscopes, volt meters, special software, etc has taken out the enjoyment of listening to vinyl. The Holy Grail that people are searching for is lost within the manufacturing process variation of all the components in the listening chain. IMHO. Buy a decent turntable with a decent cartridge, set it up to the manufactures recommendations, clean your records (cannot stress this enough) and enjoy the music. |
