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VTA Adjustment

Thanks for all the EXCELLENT answers to my last thread. Now another question....what is VTA? Vertical tracking adjustment? Second question, does a Nottingham space deck (with space arm) have a VTA adjustment? The documentation mentions only "playing weight", is this the same thing? The documentation that comes with the deck is absolutely horrible, two confusing paragraphs and a hand drawn diagram. The assembly instructions that came with my 2 years olds bicycle manufactured in china were much better.
mythtrip
twl
3,251 posts
 
4yanx has a Spacedeck. He will help you out with that one.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
VTA=Vertical Tracking Angle. The correct vertical angle is established by the angle of the cutting head on the original master disc. You want to match the angle of your stylus exactly to this angle. Now all you have to do is figure out what the angle of the cutting head was, what the angle of your stylus is, calculate the thickness of the record you are going to play, and you will know how to set the VTA properly. Yeh I know, its a bitch but nobody said vinyl was easy. These problems are some of the reasons people and manufacturers don't pay much attention to VTA, but is IS important. Its best handled by ear on each record with a tonearm that allows you to adjust VTA on the fly.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I would certainly contact the distributor if you find anything about the included documentation to be less than fully informative or totally clear. If you got this from a local dealer, they should be helping you to set it up correctly, or more likely doing it for you. (BTW, "playing weight" presumably means VTF/vertical tracking force, which is not the same thing as VTA. These adjustments will all depend on the cartridge you are using, which should also have documentation.)
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