How to set SRA after determining true vertical?

Nsgarch,

Great geometry refresher, thanks! And yes, it was a compliment. As we probably all know, cutting engineers allowed a wide range of SRA's when cutting lacquers. If they'd all taken such care it would make accurate playback much simpler. Tonearm height adjustments could exactly = record thickness changes. That would be nice.

A naked-eye method for (fairly) precise SRA setting has been posted in the VA FAQ's for many years:

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/1240.html

Jon Risch, the author, offers excellent technical explanations. After studying many different cutting lathes, he recommended that a good compromise SRA for "set and forget" rigs would be 2 degrees forward of vertical, ie, top of sylus pointed away from the tonearm pivot.

Before getting the TriPlanar I used Risch's method when setting up a new cartridge. It was an effective way to settle on a baseline arm height position. Now I'm spoiled. It's easier and more fun to twiddle while listening than to fuss with maglites and magnifiers.

Regards,
Doug

How lucky are we to have such a great venue like this.Nsgarsh,you have done it again,and the other Einsteins are also an appreciated necessity.Really!

Ohhhhhhhhhh, you guy's are making my head hurt. I knew I shoud have stayed awake in algebra class (I never even made it to geometry). I'll supply the beer if one of you will just come on over to my house and set my TT up!

Chris

Simple applied trigonometry. I just can't seem to think like an engineer any more after all these years of writing software.

Thanks again, Neil.

Dan, architecture (what I do to support my audio addiction) is all about geometry, so it comes quite naturally ;~))