Ortofon MC A90 Cartridge VTF

Raul, yes jtinn did get a reply (which he read to me) from Ortofon, which he told me he will be posting 'soon'.

both A90's, one on the Rockport with VTF at 2.06 grams with 65 hours on it, and the other one on the Garrard/Reed 2P with VTF at 1.56 grams with 120 hours on it, are still sounding stellar 10 days later.

Steve Dobbins took the 3rd A90 (which had been on the Kodo 'The Beat'/Reed 2P at 1.91 grams with 40+ hours on it) back home with him when he left.

this past week i had 2 visitors that really enjoyed both tt/arm/cart combos. one in particular who is well known for his knowledge of idler tt performance, commented on how the Garrard's performance had surpassed what he thought possible from that type of design.

in a few weeks i'll try different (heavier) VTF's to see if those current settings are still ideal.

Norm,

my quest is only what sounds most real....in all seriousness. i don't have any pre-concieved notion on VTF. it either sounds best or it does not. i do think that only over time and open-minded listening and experimentation can the most ideal VTF/VTA be found.....and even then as the cartridge suspension softens over time these points can change.

i would say that with a new cartridge like the A90, initial break-in should be done in the recommended range, in this case 2.0--2.5 grams. with this particular A90 after about 25 hours on it i did do some experimantation and found 2.20 grams to be the best. but now there is 120 hours on that same cartridge.

we (Steve Dobbins, Jonathan Tinn and myself) had listened for awhile with the Garrard/Reed/A90 (with 120 hours on it) at 2.20 grams VTF. Jonathan felt that overall it was a bit sluggish and lacking 'sparkle' on top and suggested that we try to get it better. Steve was doing the adjustments and all three of us were listening. first Steve lowered VTF, it was better. then lowered it again, better. this cycle was repeated three or so more times. finally it got a bit thin on top, so we went back to the previous spot. better. then went lighter, worse. so back to that spot. now we worked on VTA. we went higher in back...worse. back to the same spot. better. then lower. worse. so back to the same spot. better. then we listened to some different cuts. it sounded great; amazing detail, body, open on top, powerful, articulate bass. then we measured. 1.56 grams. we were all taken aback.

regarding the Shindo and VTA. IMHO tt's don't have VTA, arms and cartridges have VTA. not that Shindo might not recognize that VTA can be very critical, but a particular cart and arm won't have different VTA on different tt's. other forces would account for different VTA's....degree of cartridge breakin, actual VTF, quality of set-up, degree of anti-skate. ambient conditions...etc. etc.

as far as overhang, VTF and VTA; they are somewhat interactive; howvever i am skeptical that overhang would change enough after 40+ hours on a cartridge (of suspension softening) to bother with messing with. it would be nanometers. and VTF will change VTA and SRA more than actually raising and lowering the arm a milimeter. the Reed 2P arm has a lever which allows for a 10mm range of 'on-the-fly' dynamic VTA adjustment which is great to hear tiny VTA adjustments....which we used.

Norm,

i don't presume to be at Steve's level in cartridge set-up proceedure.

i had my 120 hour A90 on that same Triplaner arm that Steve used on his 40 hour A90. we had had it set at 2.21 grams in my system on the Garrard. we had tried VTF's down to 2.0 grams and as high as 2.40 grams. for that cartridge on that arm in my system 2.21 was ideal. a few hours after removing it from that Triplaner and installing it on the Reed 2P we measured an ideal VTF as 1.56 grams for that exact same cartridge.

manufacturers set-up recommendations are 'suggestions'. you must listen. obviously if there is mis-tracking with too light a VTF that's a problem and that must be avoided. but it's right if it sounds best. i can see that too heavy a VTF at extremes needs to be avoided....as you can collapse the cartridge suspension.

i tracked my vdH Colibris from 1.30 grams to 1.45 grams and never had any mis-tracking. evidently the Reed 2P/A90 combo has some sort of synergy going where it's happy at 1.56 grams....at least that particular Reed 2P with that particular A90.

after reading the responses to jtinn and Raul from Ortofon, and then listening over many hours to my A90 tracking very happily at 1.56 grams, one is tempted to conclude that maybe the Reed 2P arm has advantages over the Ortofon arms used to form the factory perspectives.

please note that i am only 'tempted' to conclude and have not actually concluded that.

i do not presume to understand cartridge construction to the degree to question the manufacturer's perspective, i'm only listening and observing. i can say there is no audible evidence that any miss-tracking is occuring. another way to put it would be that any cartridge would be 'proud' to sound like this while miss-tracking.

no negative affects with either of my A90's with VTF's still around 1.80 grams. one is on a Reed 2P and the other on a Talea. they sound great.