zyx universe cartr.- ideal weight -ideal vta ,

Doug i have been having my Universe for about 10 months. We listen to music a lot. I started charting my time daily in the beginning but stopped in mid May at that time i had 300 plus hrs. By now i am reaching or have surpassed the 1000 hr mark i would guess.
I found your post a while back on this revelation and was saying to myself, man i cant wait till i get there to experience more of what Universe is capable of. Well it warmed up in south Louisiana today and using my digital VTF gauge was tracking at 1.68 with sound that was crystal clear and very enjoyable to the ears. AT times the sound can be a little to lean with some music when tracking in the lower range of VTF but still no distortion. With your idea of using rubber rings it makes ease of making large moves in VTF. With my JMW 10.5i having a fine tuning adjustment i can dial in the best sound. Of course anti skate adjustments with JMW are by ear only as with the wire twist you have no gage to guide you. I have found like yourself that not much is needed. VTA is a breeze with adjustment on the fly.
BTW when tracking at 2.10 and below the loss of air and HF is not as great as you would think in fact with some lps its fantastic.
Any how from what i have experienced with Universe this cartridge will track like no other and deliver the music like no other to.
Many thanks for your super info on ZYX cartridges.
Happy musical days

I just had a great expereince last night. I own the Atmos, of which, not much has been said or even tested. Of course correct me if I am wrong there. As Doug has mentioned, the Atmos is not a finicky as the Universe to precise degrees but I still work within precise degrees.

I am getting to proabably the 30-40 hour mark. Hardly coming into its own. Up to this point I had been tracking generally between 2.05-2.15. I really had not played around with much below that. I have done Dougs method several times of trying to find the mistracking point and increasing from there but I have a hard time knowing exactly what mistracking sounds like. So based on Dougs cold weather expereince I just decided to play around in the higher VTF areas now that it winter.

The sound has been good, excellent even but I knew there had to be more. I mean I am playing around with some stellar equipment so I knew there had to be more.

Well last night after a good warm up I decided to try dropping the VTF slowly. All of a sudden things began to really get amazing. Right around 2.00 the sound just...well blew my head off is the only way I can put it. i have never in my life achieved this level of fidelity! I had to turn my head away in astonishment i could hardly believe that my Focals could produce this sound.

Man I cannot wait to experiment further. I think I might have had my first glimpse of what drives people so passionately into vinyl. Not to mention of course all the fantastic music out there!!

Cheers

Mariasplune not only is the superior sound that vinyl playback delivers satisfying but the fact that its hands on, your own trial and error thats what i love almost as much as the sound. Vinyl play back is a true hobby both in sound and hands on. If you dont experiment you will never know whats possible. Enjoy your weekend

All of a sudden things began to really get amazing. Right around 2.00 the sound just...well blew my head off...

:-)

... not only is the superior sound that vinyl playback delivers satisfying but the fact that its hands on, your own trial and error thats what i love almost as much as the sound.

Me too. It's like playing an instrument that needs constant, knowing attention to give its best.

Stltrains, AFAIK you're #2 in the world to successfully play a ZYX below 1.70g. Welcome to insanity. ;-)

Doug i forgot to ask, you mention that number 2 is your Universe of use now. Whats the story on number 1? Did it reach the point of retiping?
BTW really glad there forums like this where people can find out things of importance like our sickness, analog play back. For me its the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Seriously though i would not have even known of ZYX and Mr Mehran if it wasnt for this fine web site and your super info on them. The big rags dont seem to respect ZYX very strange.
thanks again.