Tonearm adjustments on the fly

Yes, too much time and electrons have been wasted on trying to make the SRA/VTA differentiation understandable or pertinent.

I've heard/read Michael Fremer and Harry Weisfeld mention that any cartridge - even an expensive one - with a glued-on stylus is more likely than not to be askew in some form (tilted, rotated), so that for me throws any talk of getting the cartridge/tonearm/cantilever parallel with the record out of the window as a definitive suggestion.  It's a good starting point and if you want to obsess with the measurements you certainly can, but ultimately you have to like the way it sounds.  I can't talk for anyone else, but I've never had a come-to-Jesus moment after making the suggested adjustments - usually minor tweaks - using various test records or multimeters (haven't sprung for a digital oscilloscope quite yet), and have always adjusted it to sound good to me; if I can't hear a difference, I set it at the recommended setting and go on with my life.

Thanks Millercarbon for reminding me of the words pedantic, polemics and noobs.   

Erudition elevated. Check. Thanks!

Mike Lavigne, I’ve always admired your system and your knowledge and experience. Thanks for contributing here. I’m assuming you are referring to the Durand (at least in part). I’ll look into that once again

thanks.

my room was used for some early Durand tone arm testing, so i heard the various versions, and owned the Talea and then the Talea 2, which did allow for on the fly VTA adjustment. then he developed the Telos, which was higher performance with more mechanical solidity. and now the Tosca even better. neither has on-the-fly VTA adjustment.

i also owned a Triplaner which VTA could be adjusted on-the-fly, and a number of arms bettered it in my particular system. it certainly holds it’s own among choices in it’s price range, i still like it. but it’s not the last word for sure.

hard to pin-point one feature and connect it to why another arm surpasses it. but solidity in the base and bearing tower seems to be a significant factor in ultimate performance. what does it take to engineer in VTA on-the-fly and is it a compromise somewhere?

with the Rockport it was not. but now that would be a $300k-$500k turntable with that arm. it was hugely overbuilt. but that’s what it takes at the top of the food chain. i’m not an engineer, just an observer.

YMMV.

Thanks mijostyn.
I quite agree a degree or two of VTA cannot be heard.
I was just trying to be nice and pander to Miller and others who say it can, but not in blind tests.
Fremer measures his with a microscope although his ears are aging now.
Ho hum.