But doesn’t all the magic happen in the (LIVE) recording venue of the
studio? The position, location and placements of (booms) mics,
musicians, room sound treatments, the experience level of a competent
recording engineer ect?
Am I wrong to notice not only the
science of a recording but the ART form as well? I think there is a bit
more that goes INTO a recording than what you say above.
I agree with this 100%! But it really isn't anything relevant to this debate.
When a blank piece of vinyl is cut at the factory, in your opinion which
is more important. The cartridge/stylus making the grooves or the tone
arm?
There really isn't an arm- and you don't cut vinyl- you cut a lacquer. My Westerex 3D is as good an example as any, as a cutter head its a mechanical transducer built into an articulated mount- but its one assembly- I don't know of a setup that allows a different transducer in the mechanism- they can't be seperated. There isn't an arm because the mount drives the cutter across the lacquer with a worm drive. My cutter deals with warp (which had better be pretty minuscule in a lacquer) using a device called a 'track ball' which allows me to set the groove depth. So this really doesn't hold up in this debate either.
It's important to get setup right but don't get too obsessive. There
will always be the odd opera torture track that will give most arm/cart
combos hiccups.
There had better not be! I've yet to run into such a track- my system breezes through everything effortlessly.
I would have to say that I disagree with this. There is a huge
difference between my Benz Micro and my Koetsu Onyx. On well engineered
recordings, it’s not really close. There is an audible difference
between them and my Koetsu Rosewood Signature.
Now, I suppose you could say that I don’t have the Benz "set up" properly.
I
have a Sumiko MMT arm in a VPI HW MK IV table. Do those components
allow for the adjustments needed to "set up" properly, which in my 40
years of experience has simply meant to use that protractor-looking
thingy and follow the instructions of each manufacturer, then fiddle
until it sounds the best that I can make them?
@unreceivedogma I've owned the MMT; its a tricky arm to get the adjustments right. And yes, its a good bet that something was off with the Benz; it could simply be that it had a compliance value that in tandem with its weight and the resulting mechanical resonance, it simply was not going to be able to strut its stuff where the Koetsu did. If you're dealing with that, you can set the tracking pressure and VTA till the cows come home and the cartridge still won't track right!
The problem we're dealing with here is that the groove is ***microscopic***, so tiny adjustments have an enormous effect on how the cartridge makes distortion. By 'tiny' I do mean at or near microscopic. Most arms simply do not have the necessary provisions to do this right- you can get the basic stuff like tracking pressure and maybe even overhang, but the nuances are where this really makes a difference. Look up above in my post here- I've quoted someone who has come to accept that some records 'will give most arm/cart
combos hiccups.' This might be the case- but its a good sign also that something is amiss- and the most likely culprit is the arm not the cartridge unless the cartridge is actually damaged or its suspension is shot. I can list a good number of arm issues that can cause mistracking, and it really doesn't matter which cartridge you have.
IOW, if the arm isn't doing its job, expect mistracking. Obviously the converse is also true, if the arm ***is*** doing its job, then the cartridge will track effortlessly. When its effortless, that is when you will find that the cartridge (as long as its in good condition) plays a far less significant role in this.
