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Dialing in my analog rig - Need help

I took a giant leap forward in sound quality this past weekend after deciding to check the setup that was provided by the dealer. Hell, I watched him and thought he covered everything. I was largely unhappy with the sound of my newly acquired rig. I am now only slightly unhappy as I discovered the following.

Being that it was a used Turntable/cartridge with no manual I downloaded the manual and performed the following. What I found was that my cartridge was way out of alignment according to the jig provided by VPI. That was a painless fix I than checked the levelness of the tonearm as it pertains to the platter. What I found was that the tonearm was set (or never set) all the way at the bottom of its adjustment. Doh! So I cranked that up to "level with platter". Was that how former owner had it set? Then there was the alignment of the head shell and of course that was off too. Now I was on to the tracking force which I defaulted to slightly more than 2 grams. The gauge I have is kind of crude compared to what the dealer was using but then the dealer seemed to miss a few items anyway...

As I mentioned earlier in this post, although being very unhappy it has gotten a LOT better. Many smiles have practiced over the last few days but one thing that still plagues my setup is the graininess or lack of smooth sounding highs. It's detailed as hell but vocals still have a "grain" to them. Nice staging and a goodly amount of air. I just seem to lack the smoothness I thought would be natural to vinyl.

Setup is;
VPI Scoutmaster, Dynavector XXV Mark II which feeds a PS Audio GCPH phono stage then direct to a Pass Labs amp. MBL 121 speakers. No preamp yet - still looking.

What's next?
desalvo55
desalvo55's avatar
desalvo55 OP
257 posts
 
I have a VPI arm, not sure what model but it's part of the 2005 Scoutmaster I purchased used. Nothing upgraded from what I see. anti skate is via the tonearm wiring. That's ugly IMO from the start.

I noted some longer arms with VTA OTF for sale used here, like the 12.6 or 12.5, Valhalla wiring on some. What is an appropriate arm for a pretty high level system I seem to have assembled? I don't want to sell Jr. but I still need a preamp!

Doing some research i noted the the clamp is plastic. I have the proprietary ring but not the stainless steel clamp. Is that a big deal? The feet look pretty nice and I'm sure they're stock feet. I'll have to look up minifeet. They don't look "mini" to me :)
manitunc
795 posts
 
Wow, there is some unusual math going on here. If a 4mm rise in the tonearm at its pivot point creates a 1 degree change in the sra, and the difference between the thickness of a 120g record and a 200 gram record is less than 1mm, then the change in sra between a 120g and 200g record is less than 1/4 of a degree. If you can hear that, more power to you. And if a cutter can cut with that accuracy, more power to them.
stops
56 posts
 
Manitunc: The math is trivial. The sine of 1 degree is .017 so depending on the distance of the stylus to the arm pivot this is an easy calculation.
For the record (no pun intended) I do not hear or adjust for differences in LP thickness.
glai's avatar
glai
446 posts
 
Different record thickness change SRA very little.

Perhaps the converse is more significant.

Record companies cut record at different angles . You need to change VTA quite a bit (4-8mm) to compensate for 1-2 degree difference.

SRA is also changed by VTF. When raising VTA to change SRA, VTF is also changed slightly. This compounds on SRA change in addition to simple geometry. For each VTF, there is a different VTA setting to maintain the same optimum SRA.

I suspect when the record goes into motion. The friction exerts at the tip of stylus may also change SRA (dynamic SRA). The friction force is relative to VTF. Another variable at play.

Learn to adjust by ear.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,531 posts
 
Don't get the minifeet...get Bearpaws (vermontaudio.com). a major upgrade
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