VTA setting up.....how do I find level?

You want to level the bottom of the cartridge body with the vinyl by eye as a initial set-up. The armtube is not the place to look first - especially tapered arms.

Actually, I have to credit Dougdeacon for pointing me in the direction of the Jon Risch post at AA a month or so ago. I was going to post the recipe card suggestion but since so many of the cartridge bodies are not a true rectangle I decided not to. When using the card make sure that it's up against the cartridge body or very parallel to it. Also, make sure the card is not influenced by the outer hump on the record. Shorten the card to avoid the outer edge.

Hi Patrick. Good tip about avoiding the raised rim. LP labels are often raised also, so they too must be avoided. Oy!

Of course Risch's use for a lined card is not to square the cartridge body. We don't play music with that so why align it? Risch wants us to adjust the contact line of the stylus itself - 2 degrees forward of vertical. Having a visual reference for such a tiny line must be helpful, as Bob found.

Of course if you insist on using an armboard thats 1/2" too tall you won't be able to align anything! <;-/

Doug,

The armboard may be right for all I know. Both the arm and the board are on their way to Chris. I'll let you all know what the culprit item is. I'd just like to get this done right and hear it in it's glory before it leaves my house. Besides, I don't find it fun at all to handle these pieces more than the minimum if you know what I mean. Regarding the 901, the stylus is an irregular shape so visualizing a vertical line through it is impossible for me. I'll have to do it the way I've done it for the last 35 years; using my ears. Finding level is a very good place to start. I thank you again for pointing me to Jon's post at AA.

For the longest time I thought the 901 stylus shape was peculiar too. But in fact it simply has a tendency to rapidly build up crud where the stylus meets the underside of the cantilever. Properly cleaned you can see that it's shaped like a sharp V when viewed from the side. The contact lines pretty nearly bisect the V.

It does need a good set of eyes to see this. A wide angle lens for a 35mm camera makes an excellent magnifier, I use my partner's 28mm Canon lens and it works great. Take the lens off and look through the outer end, with the film end of the lens aimed at the stylus.

Of course setting by ear is what you must do in the end anyway, so ignore all the above!