An easier way to set VTF/VTA/SRA? Perhaps....

Excellent, Neil! One of the better descriptions of the construction and workings of a moving coil cartridge that I've read. And to you and D: Now I understand that the idea of using WCA is truely "wishful thinking".

Guess I'll have to make the investment in a quality magnifying scope and spot lighting in order to more accurately set SRA. I have extraordinary near vision and can see the stylus angle fairly well, but it makes sense to start from a known setting.

However, the relationship of SRA to VTF and optimal coil position makes the whole vertical alignment process a bit of a "chasing-your-tail" scenario. Set for SRA and then fine-tune VTF for optimal coil position (best sound); but then you may have altered SRA. Reset SRA; but then you may have altered the coil position and have to fine-tune VTF again. And on it goes.

I was hoping for an easier way to find the vertical alignment sweet spot. I wish. :-)

Tom

Tom, you have the sequence reversed. There should be no tail-chasing ;-) ! You first MUST wait 50 hours (100 if you can stand it) until the suspension is settled in; a term I prefer to broken(!?) in ;-)

And forget some manufacturers' claims (like Immutable Music who made my Transfiguration for instance) about their new "space-age" suspension elastics. Maybe they ARE less susceptible to deterioration, however, there are NO supensions/cartridges that I've so far used, or more broadly, heard about or read about from their users, that didn't change quite audibly after the first 50 - 100 hours. Which is another reason why running-in a new cartridge at .25 grams OVER the max. recommended VTF (as I described earlier) for the first 50 - 100 hours is IMO essential for the long term stability of all other settings, including SRA.

The sequence I recommend (to avoid tail-chasing) is:

1.) Install your new cartridge in the TA and make the various geometrical settings as reasonably accurate as possible without being obsessive about it (there will be plenty of time for obsession later on ;-)

2.) Set the VTF to .25 grams over the max. recommended, for the first 100 hours.

3.) Play records for 100 hours. You don't HAVE to listen to them, but definitely play them. I emphasize that because some folks think you can "season" a suspension by just leaving the stylus/arm/cartridge sitting on a record for 100 hours without the platter revolving. I don't know about that one, but it just doesn't feel right to me!

4.) After the initial 100 hours, re-set the VTF for the loudest output. Let the high frequencies be your guide for "loudest", because they are the first to disappear when the coil isn't in the perfect position. You may have to do a few trials before you can decide. Use a mono record as I described earlier. That setting should be good for a long, long, time.

5.) Set the SRA as I described elsewhere.

6.) Level the platter using a small spirit level. Check with the level oriented in opposite directins. Average if you have a crappy level. Then, make sure the headshell is level along the spindle-to-stylus line.

7.) Set the azimuth (if your headshell or tonearm tube allows) using the mono record technique.

8.) Check stylus overhang and cartridge off-set settings from Step 1. But FIRST, note your VTF, because if the overhang needs more than 1 mm adjustment fore or aft, you'll need to reset the VTF to what it was before you reset the overhang.

9.) Set the anti-skate to ,3 to .5 times the VTF as a start. Line contact styli produce so little frictioon in the groove that using any anti-skate is probably gratuitous as far as differences in sonics is concerned -- but it does tame the TA skidding toward the spindle at the mopst inopportune moments!

10.) Set the loading (for MC cartridges) starting at 15 times the cartridge's internal impedance, and raising it slowly until the bass 'tightens up', but before it diminishes any amount in volume; and before the treble gets glaring (the bass will usually go first though.) If your phono preamp has only fixed load settings, 100 ohms will usually work very well for most MC's.

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Nsgarch, there are indeed only very few cartridge featuring a suspension which does need little to no time at all to "settle" or "break in".
To name the very few:
EMT, Fidelity Research FR-7, broadcast version of Ortofon SPU.
All these do have in common, that they were designed and initially made for broadcast use. Means they need to give 100% performance right out of the box.
And thats what they do.
Let me add further, that at least the FR-7 series does feature a very unusual suspension indeed. To this day, I have not found a single FR-7 cartridge which does not perform to specs. The last production run was 25 years ago. I have had over 3 dozen samples of this cartridge-family gone through my hands. All performed within a very narrow window within specs. Outlasting every other cartridge.
Worth mention I think.
So high performance can go hand in hand with extreme durability and 100% out of the box.
My 2nd back-up cartridge has by now the 4th stylus since 1988. Still running and sounding the very same way it did 2 decades ago.
The EMTs suspension however won't last a fraction of that time.

Dertonarm, I never question the reports of others' personal experience(s) except in those (extremely rare) instances when I've had the same experiences only with quite different outcomes ;-)

I also think people need to be careful when assuming certain cause-effect relationships; and that they are responsible for the things they observe.

Because you observe that some cartridges you've worked with perform to spec right out of the box, doesn't disprove my assertion that there is a change, over time, in the elastomers; which there most definitely is, even in modern suspension materials, and especially for the cartridges you mention.

Most new (or even old) MC cartridges, unless they're defective, will perform "within a very narrow window within specs", as you put it, at a variety of loads and VTF settings. So what? I can easily make a brand new cartridge sound 100 hours old by loading it too high and applying a bit more VTF which will increase frequency response at the top and bottom until the suspension limbers up. I choose not to do that however knowing I'm going to have to do it all over again in 100 hours ;-) And because I enjoy hearing a cartridge going through its changes.

None of the three cartridges you mention are typical MC cartridges. They ALL have extremely LOW compliance, even for a MC (5 as opposed to 30 for most MC cartridges) and they all have HIGH VTF specs (3.5 to 9 grams!, as opposed to 2 grams for most MC cartridges.) So it's unlikely you'd hear any performance difference between brand new and 100 hours old, with any of those cartridges. In addition, those three cartridges are very low output and IMO not up to current performance standards ;-)
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Nsgarch, while I agree with you regarding the vast majority of custom MCs and their behavior, let me briefly add, that the 3 MC mentioned by me are quite different in their mechanical parameters.
The Ortofon is indeed asking for 3.5 + grams VTF, but the EMT and FR-7 are around 2.2 and 2.6 respectively.
The EMT isn't all that low compliance and has a lifespan of less than 3 years in use.
The dynamic compliance of the FR-7 and SPU is around 7-9, but indeed mark the low bottom of the range.
These 3 cartridges do perform to specs right out of the box NOT because of certain extreme mechanical parameters, but because they were designed and made to do so - as they had to meet broadcast (read: professional) standards.

While I agree that the SPU and EMT may not be up to full modern day standards in terms of overall sonic balance, I (...well known by now...) still have to mention, that no today cartridge is up to the overall sonic performance of the more refined versions of the FR-7.

I have mounted, aligned and heard extensively EVERY top-flight cartridge of the past 3 decades - with every top tonearm you name and in high-priced and quite sophisticated set-ups.

Very low output brings back the topic of high class matching SUT.........