Why not just make a weighing step with enough drop-down to put the stylus at record height when the scale & step are sitting on the platter? Let's you measure at the right height and, if you make it the right weight, it will put your scale near it's midpoint of weighing capacity, which is where load cells are most accurate. I made one by folding a piece of copper strip. Cost me $0.50 from a hobby shop and 2 minutes of time.
Beyond all that, adjust your VTF by listening, not by what some scale says. Scales only get you in the ballpark. Your ears will tell you when it's right. Changes smaller than .01g are audible on my rig so a scale's useless anyway. The only time mine comes out is when I'm changing cartridges.
There is no "magic" SRA that can be pre-set. Every LP was cut at a different angle. Unless you know that angle (nobody does) the only way to set it is by listening.
Azimuth is important and in theory there IS one perfect setting. I set it by ear also but a measuring device like the Foz is also valid. Diffence between channel output level is not what you should be measuring however, azimuth doesn't affect that. What you should be measuring (and striving to reduce/balance) is crosstalk.
The sonic effects you described are much more likely affected by VTF than by SRA or azimuth. Spend a LOT of time playing with SMALL changes in VTF. Try this exercise:
- set A/S to zero
- choose a passage that's difficult-to-track cleanly (hard hit piano, solo horn, solo soprano... especially on inner grooves)
- play, reduce VTF by .05g, play again
- repeat until you hear mistracking (actual breakup, fuzziness, faint crackling... with A/S at zero you may hear it in the R channel first)
- increase VTF by .01g and play again
- repeat until the mistracking sounds diminish or disappear
- continue replaying adding.01g to VTF each time and listen for two things: speed, pace,HF clarity and low level detail vs. weight and punchiness of bass
- the cart will have a VTF window where these two opposites are optimized, that's where you should play it; the window may be wide or narrow (on my ZYX UNIverse it's exquisitely narrow, actually less than .01g wide)
- the window will move(probably lower) as the cart ages and will fluctuate with the weather and other factors; I've had my window move by .015g just because I stopped for dinnner for two hours, giving the cart a chance to cool down a bit.
Err... have fun!
P. S. If JC weighs in believe him, not me. :)
Beyond all that, adjust your VTF by listening, not by what some scale says. Scales only get you in the ballpark. Your ears will tell you when it's right. Changes smaller than .01g are audible on my rig so a scale's useless anyway. The only time mine comes out is when I'm changing cartridges.
There is no "magic" SRA that can be pre-set. Every LP was cut at a different angle. Unless you know that angle (nobody does) the only way to set it is by listening.
Azimuth is important and in theory there IS one perfect setting. I set it by ear also but a measuring device like the Foz is also valid. Diffence between channel output level is not what you should be measuring however, azimuth doesn't affect that. What you should be measuring (and striving to reduce/balance) is crosstalk.
The sonic effects you described are much more likely affected by VTF than by SRA or azimuth. Spend a LOT of time playing with SMALL changes in VTF. Try this exercise:
- set A/S to zero
- choose a passage that's difficult-to-track cleanly (hard hit piano, solo horn, solo soprano... especially on inner grooves)
- play, reduce VTF by .05g, play again
- repeat until you hear mistracking (actual breakup, fuzziness, faint crackling... with A/S at zero you may hear it in the R channel first)
- increase VTF by .01g and play again
- repeat until the mistracking sounds diminish or disappear
- continue replaying adding.01g to VTF each time and listen for two things: speed, pace,HF clarity and low level detail vs. weight and punchiness of bass
- the cart will have a VTF window where these two opposites are optimized, that's where you should play it; the window may be wide or narrow (on my ZYX UNIverse it's exquisitely narrow, actually less than .01g wide)
- the window will move(probably lower) as the cart ages and will fluctuate with the weather and other factors; I've had my window move by .015g just because I stopped for dinnner for two hours, giving the cart a chance to cool down a bit.
Err... have fun!
P. S. If JC weighs in believe him, not me. :)