Help with getting shims for my Ortofon Cadenza Blue.

use your magnifier on handphone to try. place it on blank cd. and reduce vtf to half. anti skate off
roughly it can be seen. but ortofon is not easy to get vta right they have quite soft cantilever. they will change when stylus is playing . normally 94 95 is ok for a start. when broken in it will go 91 92. so too much is usually ok 

your assuming sound is brittle and gritty  too much vta? sometimes it's just new.. need 40 hours of play time before serious listening

azimuth is more critical.. actually. 

First, VTA is adjusted by ear not eye. Nevermind how it looks. Raise it up a bit and if it sounds better it was too low. If it sounded better and better as you were lowering it, and when you are as low as you can go you are sure even lower will be better, then yes shim it. The best way by far to do this will be to buy some fO.q tape. This will both improve the sound a lot as well as effectively lower VTA. Then if one piece isn't enough and you want even lower, put another piece towards the rear of the cart to angle the rear lower. Use the rest of the sheets all over your arm, table, and other components. A very effective tweak sure to bring out lots of low level detail.

I broke my cantilever on my Cadenze :( and just got it back from a repair at SoundSmith.   Maybe I do need more break-in hours and see where VTA settles in at.   I bought a digital microscope yesterday to see where VTA is, but currently I don't think it's near 90 degrees to the record.   Once I can get it to near 90 degrees I'll use my ear to adjust it.

i have the cadenza blue on a technics also.  use the stock headshell because it puts the cartridge closer to the platter.  i use one shim to keep the azimuth ridge out of the headshell recesses.  
for a great starting point put a small round bubble level on top of the headshell and adjust vta dial until it is level, assuming the platter is level, stylus in the groove of an lp and VTF adjusted to compensate for the weight of the bubble level.  
https://www.lpgear.com/product/SCREWONWTS.html

sra  should be close to 92 actually  that's how they cut the vinyl.


when they stylus drag with with vinyl playing. the sra will also reduce, {unless it a real stiff cantilever and suspension} after burn in it also be reduce . so don't worry about too much sra. even at 94 or 95 it's still sometimes be ok. just listen after burn to it until the hi freq sounds right. then adjust

instead azimuth is more important. use the scope will get you close.