Hi Comaris,
I've been using a UNIverse since serial #1 arrived in the US. Welcome to the club!
VTF
Once you're near the VTF sweet spot, a UNIverse will respond quite audibly to changes of .01 or .02g. You must fine tune by ear to get the most from this cartridge, often on a daily basis depending on the weather. If you just pick a number like 1.80 or 1.90 and then set and forget, you'll never hear what the cartridge can do.
Fortunately, finding a UNIverse's VTF sweet spot is pretty simple:
1. Choose a few dynamic, difficult to track passages.
2. Set antiskating to zero.
3. Play the passage and listen for mistracking (slight fuzziness in the HF's just before actual static-like breakup)
4. If you don't hear mistracking, reduce VTF in .05g steps until you do. That VTF is your "mistracking point".
5. Now add a TINY amount of anti-skating. You need far less than the normally expected amount. Use just enough to prevent R channel mistracking on difficult passages. Any more antiskating will smother the life out of the music.
I've had 12 UNIverses in my system. Their individual mistracking points varied but their sweet zones were invariably .02-.04g above their mistracking point. In this they were perfectly consistent.
Once you find YOUR mistracking point, move VTF upward in .01-.02g steps (yes, you must be this exact). You'll hear the HF fuzziness clean up and then the bass will firm up. That's where you should play, at least for today. If you go much higher the HF's will go dull and the music will lose its pace and "jump". Remember, this VTF sweet zone is VERY narrow and it may change tomorrow. Learn what to listen for and you'll get maximum performance and satisfaction from this amazing cartridge.
VTA
Start with the ridge near the bottom of the cartridge body level (don't level the tonearm, that's irrelevant). Adjust by ear from there.
What you're listening for with VTA is the optimum integration of musical fundamentals with harmonics. If VTA is too high the HF overtones will come in "too early". You'll hear the zing of a cymbal almost before you hear the tap. If VTA is too low the HF's will come in too late or be smothered by the decay of the fundamental. The cymbal hit will sound dull or the tap and zing will sound like they came from different instruments.
Hope that helps. Enjoy!
Doug
P.S. If your tonearm doesn't have VTF fine-tuning, get yourself some O-rings that fit the ends stub. Sliding one or more O-rings onto the end stub lets you reduce VTF in .01-.03g increments without moving the counterweight.
