zyx universe cartr.- ideal weight -ideal vta ,

Doug,thankfully warps don't occur with my table(vacuum).Yet my next move,next spring/summer is to definitely get a disc flattener.Gotta have one!!Sometimes you can replay a previously perfect LP,and find a slight warp(sucks,if too big).The Cosmos has most of "those" covered,but occassionally I have a slight problem,which requires my pinching the tubing,to fool the table into thinking it is vacuumed flat.
My Olympos friend(I'm sure Jcar knows him)has the Titan i,and the mono Titan i,plus the Koetsu Coral Stone(I hate him,btw-:).He mirrors Jcarr's thoughts almost exactly,as to performance.BUT what he does(lucky dog)is switch arm wands based on music played.
For all I know,he may have a PC-1,in house as of now.
BTW..he did not win the lottery,but DID get a divorce,awhile back.Maybe,in his case,that was winning the lottery-:)

PS,I am surprised you are loosening up,regarding the "O".What you heard,should still remain valid,unless you heard it again!This statement is "strictly" hobby talk,no agitation intended.
While on the "hobby talk" subject(hey you blocked me,so how else to yenta about stuff),I was shocked that my 2.2 sold in 4 days!!My pal,who I always set up stuff for,did me a favor and sold it for me.
The Phantom is coming much sooner than I thought.Perhaps next week,but my arm board is at Sota.
Truthfully,I am SO worn out from all my playing around and voicing of stuff,that I am NOT looking forward for more scrutinizing set-up work!!
Sorry for my always long winded posts,but some things I can't change.
Best.

Hi Jonathon,

Thanks for getting me more up to date. I haven't heard a Titan i but of course I'll pay close attention if/when I get the chance.

"Artfully stylized" sounds alot like "brushed with a hint mink" to me. ;-) It really was artful, as I said.

Those poetic liberties weren't audible the first time we heard an Olympos, in another system, but they were clearly on display during our recent session. That's a good demonstration of the points you made regarding setup, other components and the neutrality of systems as a whole. The less colored everything else gets, the more noticeable even subtle shades of color become when they're present in any one component.

Of course personal preference always wins out, as you said. This particular Olympos owner brought it around to compare because he wanted to hear it in a system that's more neutral than his own. He prefers a hint (just a hint) of that poetic license. His system has a touch of it and he understands quite well this is why he prefers the Olympos.

BTW, thanks for the nth time for your helpful advice re: the frequency of stylus cleaning (2-3 years ago on VA). We've been religious followers and advocates ever since as you know, to good effect. I've saved any number of "broken" cartridges belonging to others simply by cleaning up the state their neglected styli had fallen into.

Regards,
Doug

I just finally set up my Universe/Triplanar on my Galibier
and have to admit I haven't yet truly dialed in vta

maybe the problem is that I was trying to set it by tonearm parallel to record as opposed to the base of the cartridge being parallel

I just can't hear the significant sound improvement over a small range dialing in on the sound sweat spot when adjusting vta

I've read and done all the triplanar tips (thanks Doug)
haven't set left to right azimuth (it appeared lined up)

I've had some records sound absolutely stellar and some don't quite have the tonal qualities of being there yet
I guess I here it most in the rich overtones (I play around with upright bass)

I must say the triplanar / galibier / universe synergy - dead quiet and no record flutter is astounding when everything lines up - I just want to be able to fine tune and live in this sweet spot

another issue - when I'm heavily dialing vta it seems that my 233.5 offset (as checked on a fiekert protractor) gets quite a bit out of alignment (1/4 inch) and I have to dial it back via the vta knob

also my vtf seems to vary a bit also when I adjust too much vta
(I have it locked down) 1.9 - 2.0
sometimes I can't get the digital gauge to read any force

should I only be going a few revolutions on the vta adjustment?

I'll take Doug's and other's detailed descriptions and try to dial this in more

thanks
tom

Using the guidance in some of the earlier responses on this string, i found that the lighter vtf (1.7) brought out more of the magic of this cartridge than the heavier settings. I followed DD steps to lower vtf to the mistracking point and then increase vtf slightly. I am not using the triplanar arm but rather a linear airbearing arm but my system would mistrack about 1.65 (horrible sound when mistracking!) but it settled down about 1.68 and the sound opened up about 1.7 to 1.75. I also tweaked the vta after setting the vtf. I went back and forth until i was satisfied i had the best sound. The cartridge is very close to level (slight tail up) with the vtf at 1.7 for a 180 g record. I use a little dampening with my arm(I have a tapered pin that is in a dampening trough with about 1/4 inch of the pin in the oil). In my opinion, this cartridge sounds better at the low end of vtf versus the high end. One point to make, large changes in vta will impact vtf and overhang so you need to avoid large changes in one without adjusting the other

I just can't hear the significant sound improvement over a small range dialing in on the sound sweat spot when adjusting vta

Lucky you! Set the base of the cartridge level and get used to its sound before giving yourself fits over VTA. We dial it in because we hear it and it annoys us if it's off. Otherwise we wouldn't bother.

I guess I here it most in the rich overtones (I play around with upright bass)

You can bring those in or out by fine tuning VTF, as Oilmanjo described. Getting VTF just right has a bigger impact with this cartrdge than getting VTA just right.

I've also found I can vary the balance between musical heft and weight vs. overtones and transparency by adjusting antiskate. More A/S = more heft, less = more delicacy.

when I'm heavily dialing vta it seems that my 233.5 offset ... gets quite a bit out of alignment

Normal on a TriPlanar, unfortunately. That's why the instructions say to loosen the VTA set screw and then resnug it to "barely loose" before moving the arm up or down. This minimizes play in the locking mechanism, which is what allows offset to change.

After making a VTA adjustment, I hold the bearing cage with my right hand and try to pivot it gently back and forth while I tighten the VTA set screw. That assures the set screw is properly seated against the vertical channel.

should I only be going a few revolutions on the vta adjustment?

From the cartridge bottom level position, our entire record collection falls within about 3 revolutions of the VTA dial, 1.5 either way. Going beyond that is very rare. I can only think of 1 or 2 records out of a thousand that need a bigger adjustment than that.

The actual sweet zone for any particular LP is VERY tiny. If you're spinning the dial around whole turns at a time you'll zoom right past it and probably hear no change at all. Try a familiar record and adjust in 1/10 turns at a time, or less.

Oilmanjo,

Seems like you're hearing pretty much what we hear. I agree with all your points. A few hundredths of a gram above mistracking is always best for us too.

We've gotten so we can run VTF down to the sweet spot and predict today's mistracking point without actually having to go there and come back up. But when learning the technique it's best to work through the whole range, to get a feel for how it works and sounds. It took me months to get my head around the methodology, but since then it's been consistent and it gets easier every day.