Help... my turntable is alive!

Good suggestion Folkfreak. Indeed, I've often used those terms myself. ;)

Of course, since they are synonymous, if we substituted one of these into Cleeds "objection" it would have emerged as, "There's no such thing as a tail-down VTA! That's physically impossible!"
(Just to show I can also quote out of context when required ;)

Have a good day :)
Bill

moonglum

Since you haven't offered an alternative convention ...

Because there's no such thing a negative VTA, you could say "lower the pickup arm" or "reduce VTA." Either of those would accurately state what you were thinking.

One of the reasons it's important to understand that there's no such thing as "negative VTA" is that, had the OP initially properly set his VTA, he wouldn't have had his phono cartridge bottom out in the first place. VTA can be set pretty reliably, btw, if you have patience and good tools. There are a few devices that can help set VTA, but this one is my favorite. When you consider the cost many of us have committed to LP playback, the price isn't unreasonable. It's much better than relying on guesswork or estimation.