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Advice on setting VTA

I have set it before, but not exactly certain if I’m going about it the right way. I am generally setting it by eye, eyeballing the botton of cartridge body to get it as parallel as possible, sometimes using a 3x magnifier to assist.  I have also in the past used playing cards as a reference for some cartridges, so I have something to fall back on. Generally using the cards stacked at the tonearm base, similar to using feeler gauges. I’ve read that using an index card on top of record can be a good way to set it due to the parallel lines on the card. My question is what am looking at to get parallel? The bottom of tonearm, top, or the bottom of cartridge? The tone arm is a carbon fiber/aluminum 9 inch pro-ject. It does appear to have a slight taper towards the headshell end of arm.
audioguy85

Showing 2 responses by petg60

petg60
1,486 posts
 
Hi,
follow general instructions from cartridge manufacturer, and then adjust by ear (assuming all other alignment is correct). Parallel arms or cartridge bodies tell me nothing. What you want to achieve is nearly correct or absolute SRA (remember it is largely affected by playing weight).
petg60
1,486 posts
 
hi,
what you want to achieve is correct or very close SRA.
There is not correct or wrong VTA depends from cantilever position and how stylus is attached onto it. You may discover in the end that back of tonearm is high or low. My practice is to align the cantilever and stylus first and then search for the magic spot with VTA/SRA.. Do not forget that tracking weight is also in the equation and not a minor point of alignment. If bass is fast, tight, high positioned in picture then it is almost done.
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