VTA and cartridge loading

Curious how cart setting has gone and what settings you've arrived at.
Thanks
Sam

Hi Sam,
My AirTight PC-1 cartridge is loaded at 22 ohms at my Pass Xono. The VTF is 2.1g and antiskate is at about .8 on my SME V arm. VTA is close to level, adjusted by ear. I don't change VTA as it is difficult on my SME arm.

There is a useful thread going "MC loading at 47K" elsewhere in this chat so you can look at that for more information.

In my experience I got a much larger change in the sound from adjustments to VTA and the playing weight than the load resistance on the cartridge. But they ALL are important.

Set the playing weight at the center of the mfg. spec supplied. Set the arm level with the stylus resting on an OLD record with the table stopped (unplug it if necessary)! An index card is very useful for this leveling adjustment.Take care with the cartridge it is resting on the record!!!!

Set the load resistor at about 1000 ohms to start with (For a MC).

Now play a record. A string quartet is useful. You should get some bite from the strings and some depth to the soundstage. Raise the back of the arm by small increments. There will be a point when the lower notes die away and the sound gets too shrill. Back off the adjustment. You can level the arm and lower the back to see what happens. Usually the sound gets tubby and loses definition. Somewhere between the raising and lowering the sound will "lock in" and will sound very right.

The load resistor can now be lowered in value while playing a busy passage. Listen for definition of the various instruments in the mix.

Hope this helps.

Set the cartridge loading at 1000 to start with (MC). Set the playing weight at the center of the spec. If an optimum setting is suggested use that instead
Put a very used/scrap record on the turntable and unplug the table from the power. Rest the stylus on the record. Take Care. If you are clumsy stop!! Using a 3X3 index card level the arm by sight by placing the card on the record and sighting the arm.
Lift up the arm get a good record and plug the table back in. I use a string quartet to set VTA but any well recorded acoustic instrument will do. Raise the back of the arm in small increments till the sound stage locks in. (depth and sound). If you raise the back too far the sound will lose body and get shrill. You can repeat the exercise by re-leveling the arm and going lower in the back. The sound will get tubby and lose definition. Somewhere between you will hear it as very right!
The loading of the cartridge is a little more subtle. I use a complex passage such as an orchestra in full flight and listen for the individual instruments. A critically damped cartridge will give you that definition. Too low a resistance will reduce the highs. You are critically tuning a tuned circuit made up of resistance, capacitance and inductance. When undamped this gives the usual peak in the high frequencies seen on ALL moving coil cartridges. The resistive load you put across the cartridge (this includes the connecting cables to the preamp) helps to reduce the peak. Too low a resistance actually drops the high frequency response of the cartridge. This is another wrong case of "if some is good even less is better" This is tweaked by trial and error and depends on the cartridge and system. You cannot damage the cartridge by reducing or increasing this load resistance.

Hope this is useful.

Peter,
Thanks for the response. How do you go about setting up a cartridge?