Sayas,
A summary:
Vertical tracking angle and stylus rake angle are similar in that they use the same contol, moving the tonearm up and down. What Mr. Risch is saying in his post is that one can only approximate the stylus rake angle for the majority of recordings and explains how one can set it and forget it. In a nutshell if you draw an imaginary verical line through your stylus the correct relationship to the vinyl surface would be for the top of the stylus to be tilted forward two degrees. His step by step description is worth the effort to click on the link I provided and read it completely.
In addition to the link I provided above required reading should include most of the turntable setup posts found in the FAQ section on the front page of the Audio Asylum website.
My thoughts now:
FWIW, I've recently confirmed through a very nice turntable project I've been working on that science is at odds with some regular advice given here. It's way too complicated to explain in the forums and really the only way to understand is to acutally see what is happening. One often overlooked aspect of setting up a turntable properly is VTF. Most folks set tracking force in the middle of the range of recommended tracking and adjust everything else around that repeatedly and wonder why it's just not sounding right. A minor amount of change in VTF can make a very noticable difference in sonics. Most upper end cartridges are very sensitive to VTF changes and IMHO, much less so than VTA. I am not advocating that VTA is irrelevant. It is. It must be correct for the majority of records BUT VTF needs to be right on the money.
Email me directly to coordinate a phone call for further explaination.
A summary:
Vertical tracking angle and stylus rake angle are similar in that they use the same contol, moving the tonearm up and down. What Mr. Risch is saying in his post is that one can only approximate the stylus rake angle for the majority of recordings and explains how one can set it and forget it. In a nutshell if you draw an imaginary verical line through your stylus the correct relationship to the vinyl surface would be for the top of the stylus to be tilted forward two degrees. His step by step description is worth the effort to click on the link I provided and read it completely.
In addition to the link I provided above required reading should include most of the turntable setup posts found in the FAQ section on the front page of the Audio Asylum website.
My thoughts now:
FWIW, I've recently confirmed through a very nice turntable project I've been working on that science is at odds with some regular advice given here. It's way too complicated to explain in the forums and really the only way to understand is to acutally see what is happening. One often overlooked aspect of setting up a turntable properly is VTF. Most folks set tracking force in the middle of the range of recommended tracking and adjust everything else around that repeatedly and wonder why it's just not sounding right. A minor amount of change in VTF can make a very noticable difference in sonics. Most upper end cartridges are very sensitive to VTF changes and IMHO, much less so than VTA. I am not advocating that VTA is irrelevant. It is. It must be correct for the majority of records BUT VTF needs to be right on the money.
Email me directly to coordinate a phone call for further explaination.