Adjusting SRA using macro lens vs microscope

Lew,

I don't have experience with enough MM's/MI's on rigs with adjustable arm height to generalize. I own one decent MM and tried a friend's MI for a spell, but that's about it.

Your speculation that stiffening of the suspension may explain why some of them prefer a "positive VTA/nose down" attitude makes perfect sense of course. From curiosity, how do these cartridges' sonics change when you play them this way vs. level?

@Dougdeacon

The cutter head is consistently set at 92 degrees on almost ever record cut. The proper SRA will yield excellent play back on 80% of all records. Best results only will be obtained with an MC cartridge on Panels (Magnepan) or electrostatic speakers IMHO.

Don, with all due respect to Jon Risch, that write up works well for arms with no quick and easy VTA adjustment, because there is no other choice in that situation.

You should try an arm that does provide for such adjustments on the fly. You'll be able to get that 80% up to 99%.

As for your choice of speakers. Well, we all have opinions on that subject also.

Dear Glai and friends: I think that MF article was writed just to have some " fun " because I want to think that MF knows/knew what Doug point out on the SRA subject.

IMHO we can't have one answer for all circumstances, let me explain it: if you are experienced on music sound reproduction through a home audio system then your ears could be the best way to go but if you are not so experienced then the MF article makes more sense to me.

The John Rish article has sense and I agree with him if we take in count that what we want is to have the pleasure to hear music as more time we can, so taking an SRA average set up ( according with the kind of LPs we own: grs, years where were recorded and the like. ) could be enough for many of us. But for the ones that want to be " absolutely " sure that we have the precise/right SRA on each LP or the ones that are making especial tests where accuracy is the name of the game then we have to make the SRA/VTA set up with each LP.

Different needs different approaches.

Now, every time we made changes in SRA set up we are " moving " other cartridge set up parameters that in each time we have to reset all them in we want to be " there ": overhang, azymuth and even VTF or antiskating. This means a hard work each time but this is the price for accuracy, nothing comes free.

There are different " roads " to " attack " the subject, each road has its own trade-offs and we choose the road according the trade-offs we accept. As better quality performance has our audio system as lower trade-offs we have to accept.

Obviously that always our each one priorities are the ones that take the decisions.

Btw, Normally in all the Ortofon cartridges the manufacturer recomemdation ( to begin with. ) is that the top of the cartridge body be even to the LP. As Doug point out the Ortofon cartridge are extremely sensitive to SRA/VTA. I never read the A-90 operation manual on the subject but I already heard it in my system at least three times and I made the set-up with tiny positive VTA if not even.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Doug, The Ortofon M20FL Super and the Azden P50VL (or something like that) are much improved with a bit of positive VTA. Also, back in the day I recall that my Grado TLZ also seemed to prefer slight positive VTA. (Paradoxically the bass response is cleaner, AND the highs are more extended, as a general description. The Grado just "snapped in" to focus at exactly the right height.) And these are not among the very best MMs or MIs that have been touted on Raul's site. I own a few of those latter too (Acutex, Empire, B&O, Audio Technica) but have not had occasion to audition them as one of my monoblock amplifiers has been down for repair for the last month. (Since it is I who must repair it, I have only myself to blame.) Yes, I went a bit nuts with these purchases, but each individual one was so inexpensive... It was hard to resist Raul's superlatives.