VTA setting for 'parabolic' and 'elliptical' styli

Dear Axel: The " pain " on all this is that even records ( on the same manufacturer ) on the same " times " come with differences because the whole cutting process is not perfect.

I know at least to persons ( perfecionist ones in this regard. ) that change the VTA on almost every single record and I see them that some times in different same record tracks, my friend Doug is one of them and I undertand him ( and Paul ) because they like to achieve the best of what they are hearing.

I don't have the patience ( maybe I'm wrong because I like too to obtain the best on it. ) for this so I focus and give more time to the music.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Dear Raul, see - once again - I totally agree with you on this matter. I do alter my VTA several times during each session - depending on the record playing and the cutting angle used to engrave its groove. I started doing this in 1987 after my first visit to Sid Marks in Brooklyn/NY.
I think its vital.
Many sonic judgements regarding cartridges or tonearms may well be just a matter of a momentary "VTA sweet spot" on one combo and missing it again on the next.
You are always concerned about the circumstances of a given test/comparism - and right so.
This here is the maybe most important point in the cartridge/tonearm evaluation. Missing the correct VTA for the given record is dangerous in a serious test set-up.
Cheers,
D.

Hi :-)
I think Raul is seeing the light, bless you man! >>> ... I focus and give more time to the music <<<

Maybe something to re-learn for a lot of us 'perfectionists' and count me in also.

Not so sure about DerTonarm's approach any more: >>> I do alter my VTA several times during each session <<<

Man oh man, is this it?

I do get my own exercises that way, oh yes, and it's becomes like a 'bad habit' it think.
Next I'd hop up in a concert and try do the same :-)

>>> Many sonic judgements regarding cartridges or tonearms may well be just a matter of a momentary "VTA sweet spot" on one combo and missing it again on the next. <<<

Yes Sir, I feel more and more this holds some powerful truth Mein Herr!

And >>> Missing the correct VTA for the given record is dangerous in a serious test set-up. <<< YES!!!!

That's what's been hitting me like a ton of bricks, actually. You sort of know it, but somehow not synthesise what it can actually result in.

Like I'm listening to some of my classic older vinyl, fiddled the VTA to some point of general 'consensus' (with my self), in comes my Audio friend and insists on hearing 'Tin Pan Alley' for the 1 000 time, and tells me that cartridge sux! Ha!

Don't know if want to cry or laugh?

Cheers,
Axel
PS: Hyper resolving carts (ALL MCs...) are now being considered the HEROIN of hi-end. You get addicted, have to pay the price, and pain of the withdrawal syndromes...

Dear Axel,
after a while you have settings for each label. These can be marked.
Changing VTA becomes a matter of 15 seconds.
Time well spend.
About the same effort as getting the LP out of the cover, placed on the platter and clamped.
After all these years its kind of automatic procedure and something I don't think about anymore.
We are putting so much effort, time and money into many other fields of the audio-chain.
Compared to this - the change of VTA-setting is a very cost-effective "tweak" - to say the least.......
Cheers,
Daniel

Raul's memory of how Paul and I play is correct. This craziness is not mandatory, unless your name is Doug or Dertonarm or you have Paul's ears.

We write each LP's optimal arm height on a sticky note on the record jacket or sleeve. Setting height for replays takes no playing time - I do it while the platter is spinning up.

Records that we've played for years develop a long list of height settings as we change cartridges (5 or 6 so far) and tables (3). This history makes finding the setting for a record we haven't played in a while easy: I just add up the known changes due to equipment swaps since we last played it. This always gets us very close.

We also get close to optimal VTA very quickly on many records that we've never played. Find an LP on the same label that weighs about the same (we record the weight of every LP as a proxy for thickness). Whatever height setting is right for that is usually close to being right for the new one. It varies widely by label and era, as Dertonearm said, but within those limits the settings are very consistent.

Also worth noting is that the window for optimum VTA (SRA actually) for any given LP is extremely small, especially with a modern stylus profile. Our recorded settings are to the nearest 1/200th of a turn on a TriPlanar's height dial. Small movements away from that spot are quite audible. Larger movements do not make much more difference, if any.

Madness? Perhaps. But no interested visitor has ever failed to hear the difference when I've demonstrated. Whether the difference is worth the trouble is up to each of us, naturally.