Ortofon MC A90 Cartridge VTF

both A90's, one on the Rockport with VTF at 2.06 grams with 65 hours on it, and the other one on the Garrard/Reed 2P with VTF at 1.56 grams with 120 hours on it, are still sounding stellar 10 days later.

Steve Dobbins took the 3rd A90 (which had been on the Kodo 'The Beat'/Reed 2P at 1.91 grams with 40+ hours on it) back home with him when he left.

this past week i had 2 visitors that really enjoyed both tt/arm/cart combos. one in particular who is well known for his knowledge of idler tt performance, commented on how the Garrard's performance had surpassed what he thought possible from that type of design.

in a few weeks i'll try different (heavier) VTF's to see if those current settings are still ideal.

Mike, I still wonder what your quest is. Is it the lightest tracking force or the sound? I assume that you are redoing the VTA with each lower tracking weight. Is that the case? Also, are you readjusting the overhang in each case? Do you have a mistracking record? I am asking this as I will soon be able to use my Ortofon and have only very old experience in setting up anything other than the Shindo Labs cartridge on their tt. With it you have no overhang adjustment and the tracking weight is a very firm stated 2.85 grams. Even VTA is strongly recommended. Everything is intended solely for the Shindo set up.

I have found that the VTA is very critical on the Shindo and would be surprised were it not on the Ortofon.

Norm,

my quest is only what sounds most real....in all seriousness. i don't have any pre-concieved notion on VTF. it either sounds best or it does not. i do think that only over time and open-minded listening and experimentation can the most ideal VTF/VTA be found.....and even then as the cartridge suspension softens over time these points can change.

i would say that with a new cartridge like the A90, initial break-in should be done in the recommended range, in this case 2.0--2.5 grams. with this particular A90 after about 25 hours on it i did do some experimantation and found 2.20 grams to be the best. but now there is 120 hours on that same cartridge.

we (Steve Dobbins, Jonathan Tinn and myself) had listened for awhile with the Garrard/Reed/A90 (with 120 hours on it) at 2.20 grams VTF. Jonathan felt that overall it was a bit sluggish and lacking 'sparkle' on top and suggested that we try to get it better. Steve was doing the adjustments and all three of us were listening. first Steve lowered VTF, it was better. then lowered it again, better. this cycle was repeated three or so more times. finally it got a bit thin on top, so we went back to the previous spot. better. then went lighter, worse. so back to that spot. now we worked on VTA. we went higher in back...worse. back to the same spot. better. then lower. worse. so back to the same spot. better. then we listened to some different cuts. it sounded great; amazing detail, body, open on top, powerful, articulate bass. then we measured. 1.56 grams. we were all taken aback.

regarding the Shindo and VTA. IMHO tt's don't have VTA, arms and cartridges have VTA. not that Shindo might not recognize that VTA can be very critical, but a particular cart and arm won't have different VTA on different tt's. other forces would account for different VTA's....degree of cartridge breakin, actual VTF, quality of set-up, degree of anti-skate. ambient conditions...etc. etc.

as far as overhang, VTF and VTA; they are somewhat interactive; howvever i am skeptical that overhang would change enough after 40+ hours on a cartridge (of suspension softening) to bother with messing with. it would be nanometers. and VTF will change VTA and SRA more than actually raising and lowering the arm a milimeter. the Reed 2P arm has a lever which allows for a 10mm range of 'on-the-fly' dynamic VTA adjustment which is great to hear tiny VTA adjustments....which we used.

Mike, yes by having everything fixed the Shindo minimizes what needs to be adjusted, including overhang and tracking weight. I just remember the old Shure tracking test records where you sought the lowest tracking weight before mistracking.

While I concede that we are talking about fractions of a degree and of an inch, I still expect that changing tracking weight varies both. I guess I will see once I get the Ortofon mounted and running.

Mike

It would be interesting to see how much of the differences are tt/arm dependent vs cartridge suspension differences. Will you try swapping the cartridges to uncover what is leading to the very subsatntial differences in vtf?

Andrew