New turntable SRA questions

this difference won’t damage your record. your stylus will be tracking under the different angle. that might or might not be beneficial. there are solutions such as cartridge spacers, but they add weight and need to be re-adjusted properly after applying. Also you can use extra washers for providing ideal tracking angle. Mainly you’ll want your arm tube parallel to record surface.

Miniscule VTA/SRA adjustments are for perfectionists, and would typically involve better equipment.

IF the arm is parallel to a standard thickness LP while playing, you are good. That assumes the downward tracking force is correct, as the stylus/cantilever flexes a bit)

If not, you need to adjust something.

Fixed height arm, your choices are: buy a cartridge with compatible height; get a thicker mat; shim your cartridge down (least preferable).

you have opened up pandora's box.: beware of assumptions, other things could have been changed from the factory original, the headshell? the cartridge?

if changed, who aligned it for overhand and null points. azimuth verified?

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. The tonearm seems to be fairly close to being parallel with the record. It's not perfect but it seems to be close. I will be look into getting a thicker mat. 

My bad elliottbnewcombjr, I should have clarified earlier. I changed the headshell when I got the turntable. I adjusted the cartridge with a Geo disc, set the tracking force to 2g, and the anti skate to 2. Is there more I should do? 

Thanks again for the responses 

I took some photos the best I could. To my eyes, the tonearm is slightly aimed down. I will try to get it better in the future but this is how it looks now. 

Just place a "thick" LP under the new mat (really thick would be around 2mm/really thin would be around 1mm) and see if it sounds better after readjusting the VTF.

The VTA of the stylus comes first, IMO.

I've owned many, many, many decks with SME arms, without the arm being totally parallel to the disc/platter, and they all sounded super once I dialed in the VTA.

I assume that "parallel" may be a bigger factor on some arms, but I have not experienced such with my older (various) SME's.

DeKay