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New turntable SRA questions

Hello I am very new to vinyl. I bought a Technics SL-D2 that was in good shape but the mat was hard and oily. I bought a Hudson HI-FI rubber mat to replace it. At the time, I didn't know about VTA/SRA. I measured the old mat at 4.2mm and the new one at 2.6mm. This TT does not have a VTA adjustment. Will that difference damage my records or will it just sound worse? Or is it ok? My records still sound great and everything looks OK to my eye. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

 

My TT setup: Technics SL-D2 with Audio-Technica VM95e headshell and cartridge.

rwkn22

Showing 2 responses by holmz

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

I measured the old mat at 4.2mm and the new one at 2.6mm.

Which is a difference of 1.6mm or 1/16th of an inch.

If the arm is 9” then the angular change is 1/(16x9) which is 1/144.
(That is gross 😎)

So it is 1/144 of a radian or ~<1/3 of a degree. I would not worry about 0.4 degrees if you have a stylus that is elliptical.
Maybe a line contact would notice that… but you probably do not have that type of stylus.

Does it sound good?

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

Holmz: Yes it is elliptical and it sounds great to my ears. Both L and R are clear and it's tracking well. I really can't compare it to anything other than spotify though.. 

If it sound as good or better than Spotify, then you are doing good.

 

DeKay: I am unfamiliar with SME. Is that the type of tonearm I have? I will definitely experiment with a lp under the mat and see if it sounds better then go from there 

Thank you all for the great advice. I'm learning a lot 

I would suggest that you clean the oily old mat… That may work better for the standard LPs.

The new mat being thinner would be good for the thicker 180gr jobs… and then both thicknesses would be at about the same level… in case you shim or otherwise get a perfect SRA.

Like this @dekay  fellow:

As adjusting the arm height on my current SME 3009 non-improved is a PITA I set it up for average thickness LP's and I use a lifter/under mat for thinner LP's (the thinner one's are generally "import" LP's from Europe issued in the 70's/early 80's).

 

 

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