Is extremely accurate "VTA" adjustment necessary?

Raul, if you are buying all of these cartridges new, then "testing" them, only to sell them in a month or two, you are wasting more money that Doug ever dreamed of wasting! Of course, as you say, people are free to waste their money at their own whim.

You have indicated that you have tested quite a wide variety of tonearms and cartridges. Please provide us with your first-choice combo at, say, three different price levels. Should be easy for you after all of this testing and would give us your "reference points". Thanks

As a "newbie" (about one year) to analog, I cannot debate the views expressed here with any authority but I am interested in continuing to learn and improve my sound. My approach to setting VTA and azimuth has been to use a little bubble level with double stick tape, centered right over the arm pivot point to level the arm (with the needle dropped into the groove). I can very precisely adjust the VTA and azimuth of my armbord on the fly with this approach. One eighth of a turn in the allen bolts of the arm board is easy to detect with the level. Also, the record clamp causes the record to be pitched down towards the edge and this angle can be matched in the cartridge.
This is probably a "crude" adjustment by above standards but I am pleased with the sound and it seems that most used records have warp, even with a record clamp, that is 10 times the tollerances mentioned. Like the original poster, I am wondering if I am missing a great deal by not paying more attention to this? I would suggest to him that flatter records ( perhaps by using a rim weight) would need to be the first priority before more criticality in VTA adjustment.

Raul,
Thank you for the kind sentiments. I understand you're trying to share all that you've learned. I'd like to discuss your points/questions, but not here please. Restock started this thread to discuss VTA theory. Out of courtesy we should stick to his topic.

There are aspects to our OL/Moerch and Airy/90X decisions that you don't know about, simply because I've never posted them. I'd be happy to explain if you wish.

If you truly think my little audio history is of general interest, please start a new thread and repeat the above post. That way only the terminally bored will have to read about it! ;-) If you'd rather just have me email a response then let me know and I'll do that.

[/hijack]
Doug

4yanx: I'm in the audio design my needs are different.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Jyprez, yours is a good starting point. Try very slightly lowering the arm in the back and take a listen. Continue lowering very slightly until it gets worse rather than better. If your sound is disproportionately coming from one channel, you may need to adjust the azmuth or left/rightness of the cartridge looking straight on to the arm over the cartridge. This too can be adjusted by ear, but the best method is to reverse on channel and playing a mono record, listening for the lowest sound level as one side will be out-of-p'hase with the other.