Best tonearm position for VTA?

Good responses from all the above. As Twl suggested, VTA (and SRA) is not a tonearm adjustment. It is an adjustment to the relationship between vinyl, stylus and cantilever that on most rigs happens to be effected by raising or lowering the tonearm. The angle the arm ends up at is nothing but a coincidence.

IOW, don't worry about the angle of your arm tube. If you need a starting point, ask other users of your cartridge how that cartridge rides on the record. Nose down? Nose up? Level?

Even bettter, check out the links provided by Nsgarch. The Walker Audio one is especially helpful.

To give credit where it's due, Nsgarch was the first to mention the Walker link on this thread, not me.

I stumbled across it several years ago while googling around. I subsequently forgot the link but remembered the content and wrote out essentially the same ideas from scratch. Rushton was kind enough to point out I was duplicating Walker's page - saved me a bunch of typing!

Dan_Ed,
What kind of wood do you prefer for those blocks? Cocobolo?

I don't get the comments from some that the best VTA is always near parallel.

Me neither. It depends on the cartridge. Shelters like to be a bit tail down, ZYX's like to be level or *very* slightly nose down. Other cartridges would like other attitudes, depending on their construction and stylus profile. Since there can be manufacturing and age-related differences from one cartridge to the next, even two cartridges of the same model might prefer slightly different attitudes. I agree there's certainly no "always" about it.

Seems most cartridges in my system like to be somewhat tail up. Perhaps it is because my 10t's are kind of difficult to tame in the lower frequencies. I am finding that I usually have to raise the arm to focus the bass, which is great cuz the HF seems to like that.

Here I think we part ways. Except for really gross movements VTA/SRA adjustment is not a tone control. Taming your 10t's bass is not the job of your cartridge or tonearm, its the job (primarily) of your amplifier.

Read Lloyd Walker's VTA/VTF tips again. He does mention tone control-like effects, but only as the first step in setting arm height. With most cartridges there's a pretty wide zone of height settings that yields neutral tonal response. Once you've identified that zone you're not done, you're only getting started.

The most important sonic effects from VTA/SRA changes occur with *very* tiny adjustments inside that tonally neutral zone. These tiny adjustments typically have no effect on tonality at all.

Even some guys with entry level rigs hear this. Check out the many VTA/SRA posts by 'jnhvac' on VA. His ears are way better than his rig. He hears exactly what Lloyd Walker describes on his MMF-5/Goldring 1012GX. He uses playing cards too BTW.

Forget about parallel or whatever setting "LOOKS" right,and start to listen for what sounds like the most accurate timbral definition.This should take a few listening sessions with a wide variety of material to play.

Right on! Timbral presentation of familiar (acoustic) instruments is exactly what this is about. The mix of frequencies that constitute the sound of any instrument occur in a certain temporal order. Changing SRA changes the timing of when the stylus engages each frequency cut in the groove, which affects their temporal inter-relationships. The right-sounding SRA falls within a very tiny range of arm heights, but when you find it the sound of the instruments becomes more correct or "real" and every instrument has tighter, stronger micro-dynamics.

Also,and importantly,try to have some GOLDEN EARED audio pals over while you play with the vta.Experimentation is a "GOOD" thing here,and you will learn about your set-up.

Indeed. Two (or more) sets of ears are orders of magnitude better than one, as are two or more brains for problem solving.

Last night I spun the Classic reissue of Munch/BSO/Tchaikovsky, 'Romeo and Juliet' + Strauss, 'Till Eulenspiegel'. Okay, okay, I know it's fluff - but it's FUN fluff.

Curiously, the yellow sticky with arm height settings indicated the same number for Airy 2, Airy 3 and UNIverse. This seemed odd. The Airy 3 usually wanted the arm about 8/100ths of a turn higher than Airy 2, and the UNIverse typically likes it about 2/100ths or so below that. Nevertheless, I set it where the sticky said and spun it up. I wasn't listening critically and didn't pay much attention after that.

Halfway through side one Paul walked in from the den (two rooms away) and asked, "Did you adjust the arm height? It isn't right." Freakin' golden ears! He reset it and we updated the stupid yellow sticky. It was off by 5/100 of a mm. Oy!

Moral: you don't need to be in the sweet spot to hear SRA changes, you may not even need to be in the same room! Say, do CD's need this level of madness?

Rnm4,
Just having a bit of fun, no intent to undermine Strauss (not even Johann!). There are passages in 'Till' whose harmonies remind me of the Stravinsky of 'Petrouchka' or even later. Strauss composed 'Till' 15 years before that, there's no question he was a pathfinder in his day.