A boring read for anybody... unless they are VTA challenged
Posted by: Geoff P on 27 March 2004
I just finshed reading an interesting article in HiFi News by Keith Howard. This was the second part of a discussion that in part 1 dealt with TT arm geometry and set up of Lateral Tracking Angle. This second half deals with Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA).
It is pretty in depth but at the end of it all what it points out is that there are signifcant variations in the angle at which masters are cut, variations within a vinyl disc as the result of signal amplitude, and variations in the natural rake angle of cartridge stylii and the contact area of the stylus in the groove which are impossible to eliminate completely.
Essentially when VTA is set (by raising or lowering the playing height of the arm) it can really ownly be done on a subjective basis. The sound produced off the disc in use at the time, will to the ears of the beholder vary as the arm is raised or lowered and will with care be adjustable to what is considered the best balance between the extremes of "bass heavy" and "sharp egded and overbright" FOR THAT RECORD.
OK so there are two ways of dealing with this. Obbssesive and Averaged
Obssesive requires the VTA to be adjusted to get the best balanced "sound" from every record individually, whenever played !!
Averaged requires the VTA to be set and over a range of favorite records tweaked to an average position and left alone.
In either case a little bit of extra VTA adjustment can be acheived by altering the stylus tracking force but it is going to have minimal impact over a realistic range of adjustment.
Than we have the delightfull challenge of different Vinyl "weights" or thicknesses to add to the pot.
So what's the consensus amongst the Vinyl "intelligentsia" to help the VTA challenged novices like myself.
Do you set an average VTA using a 180g record as the "middle of the road" or do you use a 200g to get an average VTA
Do you add and remove traking weight on a regular basis from record to record
Are you obssesive to the point that for your very favorite recordings you raise or lower the arm height (we are talking distances like 1/2 a mm here)
Regards
GEOFF
It is pretty in depth but at the end of it all what it points out is that there are signifcant variations in the angle at which masters are cut, variations within a vinyl disc as the result of signal amplitude, and variations in the natural rake angle of cartridge stylii and the contact area of the stylus in the groove which are impossible to eliminate completely.
Essentially when VTA is set (by raising or lowering the playing height of the arm) it can really ownly be done on a subjective basis. The sound produced off the disc in use at the time, will to the ears of the beholder vary as the arm is raised or lowered and will with care be adjustable to what is considered the best balance between the extremes of "bass heavy" and "sharp egded and overbright" FOR THAT RECORD.
OK so there are two ways of dealing with this. Obbssesive and Averaged
Obssesive requires the VTA to be adjusted to get the best balanced "sound" from every record individually, whenever played !!
Averaged requires the VTA to be set and over a range of favorite records tweaked to an average position and left alone.
In either case a little bit of extra VTA adjustment can be acheived by altering the stylus tracking force but it is going to have minimal impact over a realistic range of adjustment.
Than we have the delightfull challenge of different Vinyl "weights" or thicknesses to add to the pot.
So what's the consensus amongst the Vinyl "intelligentsia" to help the VTA challenged novices like myself.
Do you set an average VTA using a 180g record as the "middle of the road" or do you use a 200g to get an average VTA
Do you add and remove traking weight on a regular basis from record to record
Are you obssesive to the point that for your very favorite recordings you raise or lower the arm height (we are talking distances like 1/2 a mm here)
Regards
GEOFF