How to set SRA after determining true vertical?

Greg -- what a terrific website (you were referring to the article on Vinyl Microscopy?) My favorite part:

The animal (below) is a young silverfish with its extended cercae overlapping the closing bars of the final movement of Bruckner's third symphony. I mention this as it is not possible to tell from the photograph. There are few places in a Bruckner symphony where the sound of a diamond stylus colliding with a dead silverfish would be less welcome. The cadaver was removed by brushing with a carbon fibre brush.

Nsgarch, Dougdeacon,

This is a great post. This combined with the John Risch article enabled me to explore VTA positions that I would not have ventured to test before. I am now achieving stellar performance.

Dougdeacon's advice in setting SRA by listening is important. However, what I found the most valuable about this post and related references is that it' s very effective at getting a good starting point and idea about the range of arm psotions that can yield great sound.

Being a novice, I assumed that a parallel arm position was the best initial setting and that one shouldn't deviate too far from that. However, the best position I have found ranges from 1-2 degrees from vertical.

The arm is far from parallel in this range and I never would have ventured this far away from parallel had I not read these posts.

I also agree that listening to the bass perfromance and the HF detail are tell tale signs of optimal settings in SRA.

Thank you!

I hope more people can benefit from this.

Andrew

I'm right there with you, Andrew. The starting point has always been something of a mystery to me but this thread provides a very repeatable methodology.

Andrew,

I don't know if Dan_Ed noticed when he visited us a few weeks ago, but our armtube is not level either. It really doesn't matter that much. I rarely hear any sonic effect that I would attribute to armtube angle. What we do hear is best explained by the SRA-matching Nsgarch and Jon Risch described.

Glad to learn you're achieving great results! The more you play around with it the easier it gets to hear. When you start putting little yellow stickies on each LP jacket to record arm height settings, we'll know you've gone over edge - like me! ;-)

Hey Doug,time to sell the Mazda and go for the Air Tangent "electro",where you can set VTA by remote and have a cute little digital readout.The price of gas DEMANDS this of you!!