zyx universe cartr.- ideal weight -ideal vta ,

Doug
It was interesting to get to the mistracking point. I tend to make a small move and listen for a side of an lp before making another move. I had actually been near 1.65 for a couple of days and was playing an album when it mistracked. It was a screeching sound for just a moment then it settled down until it hit another stretch of "busy" music and screeched again. After three or four incidents on this record, i increased the vtf slightly and played the same side(i know there are those who say that is taboo), but i needed to know if i had hit the mistracking point. It played good at 1.68 with no screech or mistrack. I played the same track the next night again at 1,70 and as i described, the highs locked in and the bass became more solid. I played several other albums that night and was very pleased with the sound. I came back a couple of nights later and moved the vtf up first to 1.72 the up to about 1.85 in small increments. What i found is that above 1.75, the highs starte losing some of the zing and clarity and the soundstage seemed to collapse compared to 1.7 to 1.75. The bass response was solid in all of the ranges above 1.70. I have not played vtf above 1.9. Thanks for yours and others ideas in this universe thread. It gave me the confidence to move to areas that i had not been before.

DOug

I guess what I was saying is I must not be in the sweet spot and am doing too much vta dialing
then again I was starting from parallel arm not parallel base of cartridge

I did hear times where the transients sounded all wrong
(edgy top end) and times where the bottom end sounded syrupy and congested, and a few brilliant sounding lps

I'll try to get things more exact and dial in very small amounts. Should nail vtf first (1.95 and 4 anti skate rings)

thanks
Tom

Oilman,

Your experience matches ours. The precise numbers differ from cartridge to cartridge, climate to climate, but all the effects are the same - including that variability from LP to LP and passage to passage.

Tom wrote:

I did hear times where the transients sounded all wrong (edgy top end) and times where the bottom end sounded syrupy and congested...

That's great! You just heard what to listen for. :-)

Edgy HF's on transients indicate the arm is too high. Try moving the arm down in TINY increments until transients are crisp and integrated rather than edgy. This is exactly what I listen for when fine tuning VTA. (Remember, to drop below the setting you want and come back up, to take up backlash in the threads.)

Syrupy LF's usually (not quite always) indicate the arm needs to move up, again in tiny increments. As you approach the VTA sweet spot the bass notes tighten up and attain maximum amplitude. This is what Paul listens for.

We invariably agree on the same setting, even though our ears/sensitivities tend to focus on opposite ends of the spectrum. So listening for either of the above may work for you.