What is best VTA for Clearaudio Maestro Cartridge?

Search for Mint on these forums. You'll find many dozens (hundreds?) of very satisfied users, including many who use JMW arms. The improvement vs. the stock protractor that came with my TriPlanar was (cliche alert) equal to a component upgrade. One of the best investments I've made.

I agree with Kehut in general. You might try putting the metal weight ABOVE the headshell instead of beneath. That will certainly change the way resonances behave, though whether for better or worse only your ears can tell. Damping will also help, it's often necessary with many unipivots.

Dear Jbcello: The Maestro cartridge has very good quality performance.

You was satisfied wih the Maestro/RB300., now all what other people already posted could help to improve on the cartridge performance but it seems to me that that VPI tonearm is not the best match for the Maestro.

I read that in the past you was loking for the RB1000 and here and now I think that that tonearm could be one of the best solution for that cartridge or other cartridges in the future.

So IMHO and before you make other investements about maybe it will be worth to consider that tonearm as a solution alternative.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I believe Kehut meant to say that proper VTA is achieved when the cartridge body is perpendicular to the record, not the stylus.
Records are cut at an average stylus angle of 15 degrees. Phono cartridges follow more or less the same geometry, however due to cartridge manufacturing tolerances, changes in vertical tracking force, different record thickness and non-standard VTA used by several labels, VTA is best adjusted by ear. A good starting point is with the arm tube paralell to the record.

Here is an update of my problems with getting my Clearaudio Maestro cartridge to sound good with my Super Scoutmaster Reference Turntable. As I have stated previously, because my Maestro Wood cartridge is so light in weight, I was not able to set the proper Vertical tracking force on the VPI 10.5 arm - I could not bring the rear counter weight forward enough. So, I had to use the extra small metal weight that Clearaudio includes with the Maestro cartridge. I installed this weight between the Maestro and the tone arm head shell. This enabled me to set the proper VTF of 2.5 grams.

After setting up the cartridge, the sound that was created was shrill, edgy, bright - really bad. I tried different tone arm cables with no change. I played with VTA and traking force and rechecked the arm set up. The terrible sound did not change. So, I decided to try putting the extra Clearaudio weight on top of the tone arm head shell, instead of in between the cartridge and head shell. The sound did not change much; still very unpleasant.

After living with this frustration for a while and thinking I should give up on this cartridge, I came up with the idea of trying the cartridge decoupler that came with an older MCZ Grado cartridge that I own. This decoupler is a light weight, metal like triangular piece that has three raised dimples on each of it's three corners. It is installed between the cartridge and the head shell and the three dimples rest against the cartridge, thereby decoupling it from the head shell to some extent. After setting up the cartridge for like the tenth time, I sat down for a listen. The sound was very different and much better. My records are now listenable and the sound is pretty good. I do believe there is room for more improvement though. For what I paid for this table, it should sound fantastic. So, I will continue to work with the Clearaudio Maestro. I think it can sound better.

There are a few more things that I think will improve the sound. One is the Mapleshade Nanomount system, which gets a lot of recommendations for the VPI tables. This will further isolate my cartridge from the tone arm. (see http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/nanomountsystem.php)

The other thing that I believe will help is to experiment with different resistance/capacitance loadings in my Magus preamp. Another Audiogon member has had good luck doing this using the same cartridge I have. Also, I spoke to Mike at VPI and he said they just got in a new McIntosh preamp that lets the user automatically change resistance/capacitance loading from a remote. Mike said that the change in sound can be startling.

The third thing is to keep trying different phone cables until I get one that sounds great.

Any comments or any other ideas that you readers may have are welcome. I have a feeling that I can make the Maestro sound great with my SSM table, but it may take a while.
Thanks for all you help. Joe

You may want to make sure that the Maestro's compliance is ideally matched to the VPI tonearm. With a Clearaudio tonearm at 2.2 grams, the Maestro tracks beatifully and does not giggle or wobble when playing warped or off-center discs, a sure sign of optimized cartridge compliance for the specific tonearm mass.
Also, the Maestro is sensitive to anti-skating force. Looking from the front, its stylus will play off-center if the anti-skating is not perfect, which seems to be difficult to set up with your tonearm.
AFAIK 2.0 to 2.2 grans is the correct VTF setting for the Maestro, not 2.5 grams. At 2,5 grams the moving iron will be misaligned with the stationary coils and the cartridge will sound dull and undynamic.
Also, if the tonearm weight pushed all the way forward gives a tracking force of 2.2 grams, do not worry about balancing the arm to zero or ading weights. A counterweight very close to the tonearmpivot will have minimal effective mass, which is a good thing to track warped records..
Good luck