Is extremely accurate "VTA" adjustment necessary?

dougdeacon. as long as you dont move the bdoy of the cartridge, pivot to stylus distance is a constant. you are however right in that you have alterered the overhang points. i think what you meant to say is that raising or lowering causes the stylus to fall on a different spot on the circumference of the record. it will then describe a different arc from than the one you used to optimize overhang.

Rene,

Something new and even more awkward just occured to me. It's so obvious I'm surprised we didn't think of it before. Geoff Husband didn't touch upon it in his article either.

On nearly all tonearms, including the TriPlanar and VPI that he discussed, changing the arm height moves the arm bearing straight up or down on a line perpendicular to the plane of the record surface. There are a few rare and immensely costly exceptions (Rushton?) but this simple geometry is true for the vast majority of arms.

You see what this means. If we begin with the arm bearing on the plane of the record, ANY movement of that bearing on a vertical line, whether up or down, will shorten the stylus-to-arm mount distance.

Therefore, whenever we adjust arm height on such an arm we are altering not only SRA but overhang too. This of course means we are altering our alignment point(s). Finally, assuming a pivoting arm with offset headshell, we are altering azimuth and stylus alignment too. Oy!

Even if an arm and cartridge were set up "perfectly" in every parameter, moving the vertical pivot of the arm vertically alters that setup.

If we were adjusting strictly for record thickness then setup geometry would be preserved, but IME that is not the case. Different arm height settings for similar thickness records are common IME.

I'm beginning to believe it's impossible to reproduce music via these crazy tools at all! Fortunately, the evidence of my ears tends to overwhelm the scepticism of my brain.

Crawls into corner, sucking thumb, but still tapping toes...

restock, thank you. being involved in audio for thirty years i already had this discussion. back when my eyes were good and my hand was steady, I spent long hours into the night trying to adjust vta. back then hardly anybody cared about vta. that meant very crude methods of lowering and raising tonearm height. beleive me i scratched up more than one of my favorite records trying to adjust vta while the record was playing. you can measure arm height to very small tolerances. you will have to go outside audio to find a device to do it. the manufacturer has designed the stylus so all things being equal and the cartridge body is parrallel to the record surface you will duplicate the intended contact patch of stylus to record. trust me. that is the intent of all these cartridge adjustments. think about it. any misalignment of the cartridge either shrinks the contact patch or skews that contact patch from the center of the grove. don't worry about the angle of the cutting head. it's varying record thickness that throws of the vta of your own setup.
the other parameters are not senstive to record thickness. thus they dont vary from record to record. having said all that. the final test of anyhting audio is in the listening. if you can't hear it it aint worth the trouble. Just remember the the first magazine article i read on vta was based on mathemical proof of the signifcance of vta which was then later confirmed by the golden ears. I pitty the poor soul who is trying to find the sweet spot by ear. even if it can be done, which i doubt, it has to be maddening.

I'm wondering what it would be like to replace my MSE Gen II's with Poiema, but there's that pesky cash issue.....

It's not a bad site at all. Evidently he's made a big effort to find out what suits his taste. He also found a great niche photographing wedding$, which allows him all that spare cash. I'm wondering what would happen if he'd insert all Poiema cabling in his system...

Ha! I guess when you've been banned from about everyone site you're joined, the ultimate solution is to start your own..... Wish he would take as much time to describe what he likes instead of what he doesn't like. Romy - Mr. Half-Empty, himself.

Good thing he doesn't know what's in my system cause all my "brands" have gotten a pass! ;-)

Rene,

I was going to post a link to Romy's site, because I find it quite amusing! But, there are some here who he pissed off big time. But at least we know he has a system! His rack description is a classic:

This would pretty much give an idea where is my TT lives. The stand was collaboration with Rix-Rax and was a custom solution to accommodate 14 components. The stand’s frame is metal, hollow and filled with a mix of sand and led shots, toped with heavy like hell, granite bridges. The turntable and the granite shelf are decoupled by a Vibraplane. The rack is as “dead” as it should be. To test is very simple: stop the platter lover a cartridge to the mat, turn the volume all the way up, and begin to jump in the room like a wounded in ass antelope. With .5mV cartridge output, 28dB gain in step-up, 55 db gain on preamp, 11db gain in preamp, 12 dB gain in power amp, with a LF-capable 109-sensitive speakers the woofers should not fly away… Also, in the left bottom corner you may see my beautiful Koshka who has hundreds light-years of space between Her ears…

And, to top it all off, I'm glad you actually did get something out of this thread!

Joe

Thanks again to everyone for their responses and back to the original topic of discussion. I think many of the posts have been very informative and really helped a lot in answering the question of importance of micro adjustments of vta/sra. Sorry for not responding for quite a while. Here’s a collection of answers to various posts that occurred during my absence (dating back to 10/8/04)

Doug – Thanks for you very much for your responses and thanks for going back to the article and for taking a fresh and more neutral look at the article. Thanks for trying to answer my earlier question on why don't we hear the variation in VTA as the LP rotates, since this variation is much bigger than changing the arm height by .005'. I agree that it is very difficult to find a satisfactory answer to this question, in particular since you and many others do have systems that are able to resolve very small differences in vta adjustments via arm height. I am quite convinced that it is the actual minor change in the vta or sra angle that causes the audible differences, but I agree that the answer in the article seems not very convincing either. Your observations are no explainable by mechanical rigidity arguments, since changes in the sound that are due to the arm height change would not be as repeatable as they are if mechanical resonance behavior would be the answer. Also the construction of the TriPlanar arm seems to address the mechanical stability question already.

Thomas – I agree that azimuth is an issue that needs to be addressed in fine-tuning much more than vta. In particular since it is not even a question on which angle to choose. Too bad most companies choose to only hand you a mirror. I think there’s probably more people out there arguing and finding solutions to vta that finding good approaches to azimuth adjustments. Maybe a good time to start a new thread about azimuth…

Eldartford – I did not quite understand you comment on measuring the different critical parameters by reversing wires in one channel. Would you mind elaborating on that some more or eventually giving references?

Decay and Greggadd – Thanks for you discussion of measurement vs. adjustment by ear. In my opinion objective and accurate measurements seem almost not possible in this case. The missing knowledge of the correct cutting angle for each record as well as the inability to measure angles to an accuracy of less than a tenth of a degree seems to make accurate measurements impossible. Remember that I was talking about changes in arm height on the order or less than 1/10mm. Although measurements might give a good starting point but the ultimate measurement in this case seems to be the ear. Also one more question that you might be able to help me out: If one tries to adjust for a 2 degree variation in cutting angle, would that not correspond to a change in arm height by about 6mm? These are huge changes compared to the ones we were talking about earlier.

Again thanks to everyone for his or her answers.

Best wishes,

Rene

Raul, Psychic, Jphii, 4yanx: Since all of you seem to missing Romy the Cat so much: Here's a nice treat for you all...

Romy the Cat - Forum

Thanks Francisco. I'll check that out once we've nailed down exactly what impedance we want with the Airy.

Doug: First I don't think I have to start a thread on that subject: if you don't want to share ( for whatever reason ) your points of view on those issues, it is ok.
" re-read the previous....": What specifically do you want to tell me? , it is personal?. Read my last answer to you.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hey Doug, I can help you w/ the resistors issue. Robert Schult (Ridge Street Audio) chose some really *kick ass* NOS resistors for my phonostage. Besides getting the appropriate 75K loading for my modded Groovemaster, there was indeed a lowered noise floor as Robert promised me.

Raoul needs the internal cleansing. Perhaps I'm mistaken and it's really Alzheimer medication what's really needed. The internal cleansing can't hurt, anyway--neither the *girlfriend*...

Romy actually posted a genuinely positive message - once - suggesting that I would benefit by changing to higher quality resistors for cartridge loading. I emailed him to say "thanks" and asked for specific recommendations. Rather to my bewilderment he sent a pointlessly insulting reply with no technical content whatsoever; it was actually rather psychotic. Audiogon banned him just a day or two later.

Rauliruegas,
You've chosen not to respond to my offer to discuss your irrelevant and unfounded criticisms in a more appropriate place. This makes it abundantly clear you were only trolling. I suggest you re-read the previous paragraph and keep it constantly in mind.

Romy the Cat is the moniker of someone who posted often at Audio Asylym (an other places). He was very knowledgable however most of what he wanted to share was his opinion of you and your beliefs - always negative, demeaning, and provocative. Some felt that his demeanor should be tolerated because his knowledge occasionally added something worthwhile. His lack of civility ultimately got him permanently banned.

What's the meaning of "Romy the Cat" ??

It's funny. I jokingly wondered the same thing to another member in an e-mail and then saw Francisco's post about a half hour later. Eerie.

Ah yes, finally a replacement for Romy!

Meow meow, it's Raoul the cat--el Gato de Tapachula...

4yanx: You can't understand because you are not follow the
the "old" dialogue between me and Doug.
Differents needs in testing analog rig. "...does not have the balls..", your expresions are out of place. Be serious.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Is Raoul the Mexican version of Romy the Cat?

Raul, your needs are different in terms of buying and selling cartridges or in your ability or willingness to tell us your first-choice arm/cartridge combos? I will tell you this. REGARDLESS of motivation, affiliation, or "needs", I find it EXTREMELY offense and counter productive when a guy basically tells someone else that they made a mistake by buying this or that item (especially in a decidedly condescending tone) and then doesn't have the balls to come through with their “right” answer. I know you’ve mentioned a Moerch arm – but no model, no complementary cartridge – nothing. Yet you blast Doug for his choices.

Look, I appreciate as much as anybody your spirit of questioning, not accepting dogma as fact, and an occasional kick to the anthill. But, constantly citing problems, mistakes, and misconception as you see them by others without giving detailed alternatives is deceptive, very unhelpful, and perhaps downright cowardly. Sorry, that’s my take on your actions of late. Sure everyone is here trying to learn, but you're not educating anyone - unless you count educating them that you merely take issue in a nasty way without giving at least what you feel is the correct "way". It's like a math teacher telling a student they failed to find the correct solution to a problem but not telling them the correct equation - and, frankly, it's getting old!

Jyprez, yours is a good starting point. Try very slightly lowering the arm in the back and take a listen. Continue lowering very slightly until it gets worse rather than better. If your sound is disproportionately coming from one channel, you may need to adjust the azmuth or left/rightness of the cartridge looking straight on to the arm over the cartridge. This too can be adjusted by ear, but the best method is to reverse on channel and playing a mono record, listening for the lowest sound level as one side will be out-of-p'hase with the other.

4yanx: I'm in the audio design my needs are different.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Raul,
Thank you for the kind sentiments. I understand you're trying to share all that you've learned. I'd like to discuss your points/questions, but not here please. Restock started this thread to discuss VTA theory. Out of courtesy we should stick to his topic.

There are aspects to our OL/Moerch and Airy/90X decisions that you don't know about, simply because I've never posted them. I'd be happy to explain if you wish.

If you truly think my little audio history is of general interest, please start a new thread and repeat the above post. That way only the terminally bored will have to read about it! ;-) If you'd rather just have me email a response then let me know and I'll do that.

[/hijack]
Doug

As a "newbie" (about one year) to analog, I cannot debate the views expressed here with any authority but I am interested in continuing to learn and improve my sound. My approach to setting VTA and azimuth has been to use a little bubble level with double stick tape, centered right over the arm pivot point to level the arm (with the needle dropped into the groove). I can very precisely adjust the VTA and azimuth of my armbord on the fly with this approach. One eighth of a turn in the allen bolts of the arm board is easy to detect with the level. Also, the record clamp causes the record to be pitched down towards the edge and this angle can be matched in the cartridge.
This is probably a "crude" adjustment by above standards but I am pleased with the sound and it seems that most used records have warp, even with a record clamp, that is 10 times the tollerances mentioned. Like the original poster, I am wondering if I am missing a great deal by not paying more attention to this? I would suggest to him that flatter records ( perhaps by using a rim weight) would need to be the first priority before more criticality in VTA adjustment.

Raul, if you are buying all of these cartridges new, then "testing" them, only to sell them in a month or two, you are wasting more money that Doug ever dreamed of wasting! Of course, as you say, people are free to waste their money at their own whim.

You have indicated that you have tested quite a wide variety of tonearms and cartridges. Please provide us with your first-choice combo at, say, three different price levels. Should be easy for you after all of this testing and would give us your "reference points". Thanks

Raoul, what are you doing? I can see *you* need software: a complete DVD collection of "El Chapulín Colorado".

¡Cállate cállate que me desesperas!

Ooops, that's "El Chavo del Ocho." Same comedian, what the hell...

Dear Doug: ".....why these attacks are with out basis...".
From the first time that I post in this forum you was attaking me, last time in the Shroeder tonearm thread. You don't like that I don't agree with you in every subject, sorry I can't do that, but when I disagree with you or with any people in this forum I never attack to anyone: I only expose facts about the subject and always trying to help. I know that many people don't agree with my points of view, but I don't attack them for that, as a fact I always learn from their points of view.
I'm not against you and I have not any bad fellings about.
Many times we think that we already learn everything in the music home reproduction and we close the door. Many of my points of view are very differents from the people point of view in this forum and many of those peoples are really close to learn/change/test/check/understand and that's why all of them ( including you ) have so many trouble with my posts.
If you or anyone don't accept differents facts on differents subjects from yours: it's ok for me and bad for you.
I think that in this kind of forum all of us wins one way or another: it is not who are right but how can help to all of us.
There are many ways to growing up in the knowledge in home audio. Doug for your last choices you choose one of the hardest roads for growing up, I explain this ( it is not nothing against you,please ):
as I already speak about and the time confirm it, you do a mistake when you choose the Origin live tonearm against the Moerch one: and that desicion do that you have to pay for two tonearms ( OL and Triplanar ) instead of only one, the Moerch.
Like five months ago you not only be happy with the Shelter 901, I read your posts about it and I can say you was in heaven with it. In that time I disagree with you and I post that the 901 was a hi-fi cartridge and that the 90X ( as you know I own both ) was the " lonely star ". Five months latter you find that the 901 is a hi-fi cartridge and you do another double mistake: buy the ZYX cartridge, why a double mistake?: you already like the Shelter sound and the 90X is an stellar performer, why don't change the 901 for the 90X?, instead you choose a cartridge that in its actual generation it is not in the same league that any other top highend cartridges, maybe " other peoples " take this desicion for you: Salvatore, reviews and all your audio friends. Yes, I already hear three differents models in my system ( one of them I buy it and two months latter I sold ). I think that this manufacturer is right on the road and that their next generation of cartridges will be on the very top.
I know that this is your money and that you can spend where you want, but there are better ways to spend our money: the audio is a expensive love for the music, don't do it very, very, very expensive.
As I already told you: no bad fellings.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

ok then i concede that the cutting angle varies form lp to lp with no real way to tell. so let's suppose using my method you landed at 22 degrees as optimum. that would leave you with a +/-2 degrees window for any given record.
Let us be generous and say by the golden ear method you are using a one minute passage of music to find the vta.
I could be mean, but I will not. Since you don't want to measure, I assume you have a contioulsy variable method of varying tonearm height. That would mean there is infinite number of settings and assuming you did not get lucky, you could be left sampling an infinite number of settings with no way to repeat them or even be sure you were listening to them all with any real consitency. If you remeber the abx comparator box one of the problems was sonic memory. But let's be nice and assume you have an arm which allows you to divide each degree into tenths. Again assuming you did not get lucky and have it "snap into focus" right away you would have to pick one setting and compare it to the 39 others. it would take atleast forty minutes to do that. That also assumes you were satisfied with only one pass, that you had the sonic memory to allow you to make just one pass and remember where the best one was. Since you don't measure, even if you could remeber the one you like ,how could you find it. I could go on, but i think you see why i am skeptical of the golden ear method.

Gregadd:

I believe that there is a "play" area as far as VTA goes. VTA to me is then a tone control/balance adjustment.

The interaction between various LP grooves and various styli is far from being of a consistent nature.

I also DO NOT make "minute" adjustments on an LP to LP basis, and instead use the simple rider mat procedure I mention first on in the thread. However, I would enjoy having this capability if it were easy to use.

The adjustable arm I tried years ago may have been an Alphonsen (sp), but I'm not certain. The deck itself was a higher end Rega. I can't image easily adjusting this arm on my suspended deck (it was tricky enough on the fixed deck), nor do I even know if the arm works well on suspended decks.

I set the standard VTA of my arm/cartridge (standard being a mean of the typical/thicker LP stock I play) using two sets of ears. My wife prefers less treble/more bass than myself and I adjusted the VTA with both tastes/preferences in mind.

I installed coaxial drivers in order to make adjustments, other than that of VTA, as my everyday speakers start rolling off @ around 14Khz. Instead of normal placement the two speakers were placed out into the room, approx. 4' apart, in a triangular near field setup.

I used to have these adjustments done @ a local shop that used an "O" scope along with my test LP's, but the shop and my friend who worked there are long gone.

Both setup methods seem to give the same results, though there was a certain peace of mind having it done @ the shop with the test gear. The shop was also much faster (1 hour VS my few weeks of making further minor adjustments when I felt like it).

I find it impossible to set up a cartridge (by ear) in a single attempt as after a short while I loose my ability to hear clearly. Big difference between analyzing sound and listening to/enjoying music.

TWL mentioned an add-on VTA adjustment device for Rega arms (got the impression that it could be used "on the fly") a few years ago, but I have not read/heard anything further about it.

Good, as far as it goes. The challenge is the inconsistency with which records have been mastered over the years. As has been commented on already in this thread (Doug, I think) a standard was not adopted until later on in the LP era and even then not all mastering engineers rigorously followed the standard. So you have cutting angles anywhere from 20 degrees to 23 degrees, and thus variation from some LPs to other LPs even though they are the same thickness.
.

ok, here's what you want with respect to vta. the stylus manufacturer has decided stylus stip shape. maybe spherical, eliptical, micro line,etc. your goal is to have that stylus tip rest in the grove exactly as the manufacutrer intended. thus you will achieve maximum contact of the stylus as was intended. thus you need to have the cartridge aligned perfectly in all planes. Also correct antiskating force is essential.
If vta is off it will cause the tip to tilt forward or backward giving less than optimum contact. Take a good record get the vta right. tonearm parrallel to the record surface while stylus is resting in the grove with correct tracking force and anti skating force. then you need only measure the width of each record and adjust tonearm height for the difference. don't measure the thickness from the lip of the record but from the middle part of the record.

In several instances where I have had others around while seeking to set the VTA, there has been total agreement. I do not think it is so totally subjective as TWL suggests. But I totally agree with him that it is a subjective experience, that you say, "Aha, that is it."

Dougdeacon, yes for most arms the VTA has to be a compromise setting. I once had the Wheaton arm which has an easy VTA adjustment with an easy reproducted marked scale. I did mark many albums as to where they should be set. One cannot do this with the Schroeder so I use the best overall setting.

what is the purpose vta adjustment? some say it is to duplicate the angle of the cutting head. If you accomplish that you have got it right. other's adjust vta for the "best sound".

Your two "alternatives" do not represent different purposes. They represent different techniques for achieving the same purpose.

The purpose of our hobby for me is maximising musical enjoyment in my home. I set arm height for best sound, since that maximizes enjoyment, but isn't it likely that I'm also matching stylus angles, within the limits of my hearing of course?

I listen for and hear certain specific things while adjusting arm height, so it's reasonable to think there's a consistent mechanical explanation. (That hypothesis is the topic of this thread.) My current unproven belief, until a better explanation comes along, is simply that I'm using "best sound" as a proxy for matching playback stylus angle to cutting stylus angle.

Whether I'm matching as well as one could with a scope or other measuring device is of little practical significance. Optimum arm height varies from record to record. Having to drag out a scope to calculate arm height for every record would be wildly impractical for home listening. I can adjust arm height to my satisfaction while listening to and enjoying the music. As Rushton said, using a scope to set azimuth is preferable. This is because, unlike arm height, azimuth does not change from record to record. Use the scope once and forget it until you change cartridge or arm.

If I were playing LPs for archival or commercial transcription to digital I would take the time to get SRA technically "perfect". But for home listening that seems over the top to me.

Addressing the issue of "golden ears" here, for a minute, I'd suggest that everyone has "golden ears", and by this I mean that everyone has an idea of what they think it the best sound performance in their own systems.

So, in this respect, each person can decide which settings are most pleasing to them. There is no "perfection", so everything is some kind of compromise. Even with the most accurate measuring equipment, there is an accuracy tolerance which will allow error, even if small. Some might say that the ears are flawed as measuring devices. Others would say they are the most meaningful measuring device for audio systems.

Regardless of your measurement techniques, getting the audible results that you desire is the end goal. I know that opinions vary greatly on this issue, and there are some who don't want to accept any compromise, while some will easily accept compromise for ease of use.

To each his own. If measuring everything precisely with meters and gauges makes your experience more satisfying, then by all means, go to it. If just simple "set it and forget it" adjustments make you feel better, then that's fine too. It is all in what you want as a listener.

I think many of the above posts gave excellent information for people who are trying to maximize the performance of their systems.

of course any adjustment to your sytem should result in some improvement of sound or mechanical function.
what is the purpose vta adjustment? some say it is to duplicate the angle of the cutting head. If you accomplish that you have got it right. other's adjust vta for the "best sound". the latter of course is a subjective determination and by definition must be assessed by ear. However, I contend the actual arm height adjustments must be measured either by using the tonearm manufacturers built in device, a la wheaton triplanar, or some other extremely accurate measuring device. Only then can you be sure of what you are doing and to be able to repeat your efforts. the more sticky issue is duplicating the angle of the original cutting head, assuming one could determine what that is. Of course you would need some fancy protractor to adjust your tonearm to achieve that angle.
then of course what do you when your golden ears tell you that some other vta produces "better sound"? I don't know.
in a perfect world we would hope that the angle of the original cutting head and the "sweet spot" as determined by our golden ears would be the same. not likley.

Gregadd, for VTA I suppose I'm in the adjust by ear camp (but not by eye!). For azimuth, I totally agree with you about using some additional mechanical/electical aid to the process.

For setting both VTA and VTF, I've learned from Lloyd Walker's approach, and I find that, with an appropriately designed tonearm that gives one a way to make highly controlled micro-adjustments to the VTA, doing it by ear is the only way to get done well. (Trying to insert shims would be the death of me, though. :-) )

Here is Walker's explanation of the fine tuning process for any who have an interest:
http://www.walkeraudio.com/fine_tuning_your_turntable.htm
.

dekay, i see, you took my comments as a personal assult on your golden ears. that explains everything.
i stand by my position that vta adjustments require such minute adjustments that they require they assistance of very accurate measuring devices.
if you are lucky, the tonearm designer incorporates it in your tonearmarm.
if i was inclined,how do i prove you personnally are not acurately setting vta by ear? i'll leave that alone. maybe your ears are better than mine. If you are one those mechanically gifted persons who can repeatedly make micro adjustments by eye god bless you. I'm not. nor have i seen anyone else do it. what you are really talking about is rocking the tip of a micro fine stylus back and forth in the groove(raising the arm pitches it forward-lowering the arm pitches it backward) until it reaches a theoretical optimum position. putting aside a discussion of whether that optimum position actually exists,finding it by ear is a hit or miss proposition. Indeed finding it with the aid of tools is also extremely difficult. At least with the aid of tools you can be sure you're actually changeing the height of the arm in a predictable repeatable way. with my sme 4 I have some success with a vernier caliper and other drafting tools.
As far as you being nice. we need more people who are not afriad to speak thier mind.

Fran:

Attended a wedding today. Nice kids, both musicians/songwriters, and still feeling positive in the aftermath (this will most likely pass:-).

Dekay, you not being nice? How come?

Gregadd:

Fascinating that you have not learned to set VTA by ear in all this time (30 years - I certainly have:-)

As cartridge manufacturer's recommendations/guidelines are generally far from spot on I can't imagine a better way (in general) to adjust VTA.

This said, in the spirit of the thread, adjustable "on the fly" VTA is a desirable feature, IMO, but then again this is usually adjusted/set by ear.

As to not confuse the subject your initial post/claim specifically regarded to VTA.

Tools/"O" scopes are helpful for other adjustments (not VTA).

My last reply to you disappeared, hopefully this one will stick.

Tbg...True...if you run one phono pickup channel with inverted polarity you need to invert other inputs of that channel. I did it with electronics modification, but you could also use a simple "knife type" switch in the speaker circuit. There are a number of advantages to running one channel inverted, which I exploited, but in this thread I was thinking only of phono pickup setup procedures.

I cannot begin to explain all the ways that a linear tracking arm eliminates the plethora of adjustments needed for a pivoting arm. The real problem with a pivoting arm is that many of these adjustments can only be correct for one or two points in the LP recorded area.

Your comment about the overhang, "if off, is off all the time", hits the nail on the head about linear tracking. Whatever the error, it's not changing, and can therefore be adjusted effectively.

My arm is servo controlled, and does not care about level. Some linear tracking arms were demonstrated playing the record upside down! A stunt, of course, like Fritz Kreisler playing his virtuoso violin encores with the instrument held upside down.

How does going to a linear arm negate these adjustments? With it being absolutely level is added to your problems, and if your overhang is off, it is off all the time.

The idea of reversing the ground and hot on one channel is old and does not work with having any other input as you have to reverse that side's speaker cables also.

Having long since gone to a linear tracking arm, it is some time since I had to make all those critical adjustments. However, for most pickup adjustments, the technique of inverting one channel, AT THE PICKUP BY REVERSING WIRES OF ONE CHANNEL, is probably better than any measurement method. This approach adjusts the axes of pickup sensitivity (what you hear) rather than some mechanical axis that, even if perfectly measured, may, or may not, correspond to the axes of sensitivity.

One reason why the Wheaton tonearm was so easy to use was the micro adjustments it allowed. I now have a Schroeder, however, so I now know the benefits of its design. What we really need is a rigid, low mass, easily adjusted linear tracking arm. Having gotten my Schroeder adjusted, I can patiently await this perfect arm.

first hand experience? try thirty years as an audiophile. I have heard or owned most of the major turntable, tonearm, cartridge combinations. i currently own a vpi aries 2,sme 4 and benz glider. I have old sota star waiting as a back up.
As far as Michael Fremer is concerned, while I am a fan of his, it is a fact that he reviewed a set of tools that take the guess work out cartridge tonearm alignment. A stylus is so small that even the smallest movement has an effect. anyone claiming to be able to get those adjustments right by eye strains crdebility!

Isn't Fremer the one who started measuring TTs specs a while ago and then stopped because their specs weren't really good and that would affect advertising?

Gregadd:

Go away until you have "first hand" experience on anything other than ZIP/Whack Off in this regard.

for you young whippersnappers. you may look up back issues of the audio critic by peter acel. He broke the story on vta. He gives a detailed analysis of vta, overhang and and antiskating.
while i think vta is important, i never took anyone seriously who cliamed to do it by ear or by eye. check michael fremers colum in stereophile for the necessary tools.