VTA adjustment for VPI 10.5 tonearm

The table was set up for me by music direct. They recommended similarly and have set VTF at 2.3gr and have already calibrated azimuth and set the VTA for a 180gr record and everything sounds good with it. I am not using any damping fluid or the manual antiskate device (I only put one clockwise turn on the lemo connector as recommended and it tracks pretty well even though my cartridge is somewhat old). The arm tube looks parallel and the back of the cartridge looks slightly raised when a thinner record is being played so I thought lowering the VTA from 85 to 50 would help. It certainly sounds better that way. The same is true of people who recommend setting the loading for my cartridge at 200-300 ohms when it sounds good at around 30ohms and too grainy if set higher. I have been adjusting according to sound and less so with precision measurements. I am quite new when it comes to fine tuning LP playback equipment and I appreciate all of your help guys.

One more thing Stringreen, there are rubber feet on the rim drive but how do you tell what is hard and soft when it comes to that? there seems to be some give to it but not much. Would it help to put felt under them?

Powerdoctor..the new VPI feet for the rim drive are very clearly soft. I found this to be very important for the rim drive to operate at its best (I'm sure next week there will be something to make it better).. anyway, the felt under the harder rubber, or metal feet work to some degree, but if you have a rim drive, I advise you to ask VPI for the new soft feet. There is a new "rubber" ring for the rim drive coming soon.

By the way...my point about the VTF setup is this. For each cartridge, there is one "best" VTF. I believe that tracking force is different for every single cartridge. The manufacturer might specify 1.5-2.5 grams, however, within that range, there is one and only one perfect tracking force for that cartridge. A VTF scale is not needed except to be sure that you are in the manufacturer's range, however, experimenting by ear by adding or reducing SLIGHTLY the VTF will reveal that magic spot. There are some arms (VPI et al) that once you get that magic spot, you have to readjust other settings. I can't tell you enough that if you want to know the real magic hidden in those groves, you can find it with this very careful setup.

Stringreen,
When running your table without the anti-scate do you use the wire twist or just nothing? I know in the past you have felt that the wire will fatigue and the twist will loose it's effectiveness. I'm still trying to talk myself out of the anti-scate off and on but currently am still using it at about as light a weight as it will operate without the lever falling over as the stylus reaches the center of the disc.