VdH VTA setting preferences

Just to clear some things up. I changed my load from 1000 as suggested by a few magazine reviews of the Condor w. a 0.35 output version (one w. gold coil & one with copper) and dropped it to 500. I don't have 800 unfortunately. I prefer currently 500 to 1000 or 200. VdH recommends on the box 200 & it is indicated as such in the review. The website is different. I am not sure why.

The impedance of the tonearm cable & phono preamp is in the end the key. Mine is a custom job. I can order any resistor set to try luckily.

I agree about adjusting SRA/VTA when your tonearm makes it easy. Once you get that amazing sound I would note your settings so as to never lose it. Nothing like having the magic. Unfortunately an SME V isn't the easiest to work with in this regard.

Boy do Ellan & Louis sound good right now.

Dougdeacon,

You make sense about the difference in mastering. I still feel having a reference for a 180 gm record would be ideal. I wonder if someone sells such a tool. We could then dial in perfectly. Maybe they would have a 200 gm & 160 etc. All w. the same mastering.

I found that once my Koetsu found its sweet spot (though not for all records) I refused to take a chance & tweek any more as I wouldn't be able to find it again. Everything was very palpable & music was the end result.

I am running my tonearm positive right now. I can't get it to what AJ recommends. It just isn't possible, but it does sound good. I am giving it some spins on a few sides before I start playing around.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Dgad, check your Condor box again. I betcha it says ">200 ohms" which means "greater than 200 ohms."

On the vdH website, in the "recommended load" column of the specs for your cartridge, it says "500 (>200)" which means that van den Hul recommends 500 ohms, but NO LESS than 200 ohms.

Nsgarch,

The information from the box is Loam Impedance is 100 ohm - 47 KOhms.
Opt. Load Impedance, 200 Ohms.

It mentions an effective arm mass of 12-20 gm. the SME V is 11 gms if I remember correct, yet they recommend it for the SME V. This leaves me confused.

The Antiskating force is 0.1 - 0.3 grams. Does this correspond to the SME V antiskating scale?? as listed on the side of the arm?

I just finished listening a bit & had great sound @ 500 ohms. Very impressed. Positive VTA as you suggested. I prefer this anyhow as it allows for a record outer ring.

I have some issues. I am using a battery operated Phono Stage. I am still having a ground loop. Any ideas on that? I unplug the charging unit & still have thumps when I turn off lights (flourescent) and do other things. It is on a dedicated breaker but still the lights in the kitchen affect it.

Dear Dgad: I don't know how many hours had your Condor on work, but when already get between 300 to 500 hours you can send to AJ to a " final touch " for free.

I do this with my Colibri and I have a great quality sound improvement: highly recomemnded !!!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dgad, I find the discrepancy between the specs on your box and what's published on the vdH website very strange. I would call or email Andre at the USA vdH office in California, give him the serial no. of your cartridge and ask him to check it with the factory and get back to you.

On the other hand, if you use the standard multiple of 25x the (36 ohm) internal resistance, you could still wind up at 500 ohms be in the load range I suggested (although I would've guessed more like 900, but whatever....)

You are correct about the effective arm mass issue, but not to worry, the resonant frequency for the compliance of the Condor will still be well below 20Hz. There is an interactive graph at www.cartridgedb.com if you want to check it.

The anti skate dial of the SME V does indeed correspond to the vdH specs, except that the markings on the dial don't go low enough! Here's a better way to do it (you'll need good light, but it's very easy):

Set anti skate to zero. Viewing the cartridge from the front and just slightly above, note the position of the cantilever relative to the pole piece behind the coils. Then gently lower the tonearm to the record somewhere in the middle of the first band. Watch the cantilever carefully, just as the stylus goes into the groove. The cartridge body-and-headshell will tend to move toward the middle of the record, pulling inward slightly on the cantilever, and when you lift the stylus up out of the groove, the cantilever will return to center. Do this a few times until you see what I'm talking about. Then begin adding anti skating force a little (1/10 gram) at a time until there's no movement of the cartridge/headshell relative to the cantilever, whether the stylus is in or out of the groove. That's the correct setting. Soloist vocals should be solidly between the speakers. You can fine tune it by ear, but the visual adjustment is extremely accurate once you get the hang of watching for movement/no movement.

Regarding ground loops: they should produce a continuous 60 cycle hum in one or both channels. Is that the problem? or are you getting buzzing, and pops when you turn the lights on and off? The latter is usually due to radio frequency interference (RFI) produced in this case by arcing in the switches and fluorescent starters. This noise can picked up even by your dedicated lines or by phono unterconnects because it is sent out like a radio signal from those devices, and is best eliminated by stopping it at the device(s) rather than trying to filter it out afterward. Usually, you can replace the switches with noise-free ones that have a capacitor across the switch contacts. I think there's a remedy for the fluorescent lights too, but you'll have to ask an electrician.