Headphones for setting VTA?

Wow... that's some system you have put together! All those tubes must be entrancing. I always love it when I run across someone who is even more "out-there" than me, if you know what I mean. :)

I used to know one guy who liked to set up his expensive cartridges using Stax headphones. He would listen for the purest highs. So I'm sure a good set of headphones would be fine for that purpose.

I normally either raise or lower the arm in small amounts and listen to each change after I make it. When I'm lucky, I hit a spot that seems to sound better than all others and then that's where it stays for quite some time.

I was recently surprised when I installed a ClearAudio Virtuoso cartridge. It sounded pretty wretched at first and I realized the arm (previously set for a Benz) was way too high. Once I got it right the Virtuoso began sounding quite impressive. I'm just surprised that this MM cartridge is every bit as finicky about VTA as any MC cartridge in my experience.

Best of Luck!
Frank

Thanks Frank,

I have a pretty good VTA spot right now, and just raise it a little for 180 gram LP's, but am looking for a better way to tweek by ear.

Any other people use headphones this way? I have a friend that use headphones to evaluate cables changes, etc. and swears by it. (Though he has no analog right now)

Dear Emaillist: Ar first " eyesight "/a-priori its " sounds " like a very good alternative and worth to explore on it and not only on the VTA subject but in almost other audio setting items.

I own four different headphones ( from Stax to Grado. ) that I almost never use it so I don't have in deep experience on the real differences ( other than here the room is out of the quation, very important/critical subject btw. ) with what we heard through our speakers. So maybe the first step is to " experience " the headphone " alternative like a " medium " to hear music.

Now, my other thought is that if we want to be " serious " about we not only have to have first rate headphones but first rate headphone amplifier and cables because everything will be dependent of this quality performance.

I think that a to achieve a top quality performance through headphones and use them like a " precision tool " we need to invest serious money.

Anyway good idea.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I use headphones when adjusting all aspects of my cart. VTA, VTF, Anti-skate, etc.. It makes it very easy to hear the differences and you don't have to go back to your listening position to hear what's going on. It is also much easier to hear it when your cart is not adjusted properly because of the detailed view headphones allow.

One of the keys, however, is getting to know what your headphones sound like first. I don't think you could just throw on some phones and make some adjustments and then go back to speakers. You really need to get accustomed to the sound of the phones and the sound of your vinyl through phones so you know what you are hearing.

For this job I would highly recommend the Sennheiser HD-800 with balanced harnass. These cans will definitely reveal the subtleties of minor VTA changes!