Parallel? How do you set the VTA?

Dear Frogman: Of course and agree with you: what will define where the tonearm will be parallel or not is at wich VTA/SRA the cartridge signal quality performance is the " best ".

Now, due that the analog medium/LP is so imperfect that VTA/SRA is changing every groove on playback as is changing VTF and overhang too.

That Fremer 92 degrees could means almost nothing because that could be only in theory but on playback always is changing. Ok, could be a point to start but nothing to " die for ".

My advise is to have 6-7 differnt LPs that we know in deep and that can help us as a testing tools to the cartridge/tonearm overall set up. These works have to be make it by ears. At the end our cartridge SRA set up can coincide with those 92 degrees but it is not important that that happen but that what we are hearing LP after LP has the best quality performance we can achieve in our audio system.

Unfortunatelly because the whole analog imperfections medium many subjects that gives us the theory can't be achieved during LP playback.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Brf-
How does this paradigm deal with the different thickness of records? Within each record the stylus will rise and drop, how should we account for this change in sra?

We will never agree on a solution until we agree on what the target is. More complicating, a moving target everytime we change records.

Zenblaster, it is all about the “best” compromise. You set the 92 degree sra for an average thickness, etc. Variance in record thickness, difference in cutting head angles, will affect the sra but not to the extent that it will significantly change the tonal balance of the cartridge. I would hazard a guess and say that 99% of all audiophiles do not adjust VTA to compensate for record variances. Also, some stylus tip are more sensitive to sra than others.

Dover,

I've been doing exactly that for 10 years, except that I've no need for calipers. The height adjustment scale on my tonearm provides precisely repeatable settings.

The optimal arm height for each LP is recorded on a sticky note on the record jacket (and updated if I change cartridges). Setting arm height for a re-play takes only seconds.

Set and forget? Nope. Set and remember works better for me.

I don't change VTA when changing records -- that would require not only repeatable settings, it would really require listening and finding the ideal setting for each particular record. That would be a lifetime project.

I can hear the difference when I make surprisingly small changes in VTA by moving the arm up or down at its base. Whether this is really attributable entirely to a VTA change, or whether a small change in tracking force is also involved, is really an academic issue -- I hear a change regardless of the actual cause. But, I cannot see it being worth the effort to optimize VTA each time I play a record.

If differences in record thickness, and the resulting effect on sound, is that big a deal to someone, perhaps that person is a candidate for a longer arm -- the length will reduce the VTA change for any given change in height of the record surface.