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Setting VTA on a new Shelter 901?

I'm trying to dial in a new Shelter 901, knowing I face several dozen hours of break-in before I ought to be too critical.

It's in an SME IV.vi arm on a SOTA Star. The arm has a VTA adjustment dial/rod...but it's not that easy to move, up or downward. Both ways requires loosening some base screws, etc. Not precisely repeatable, either. Nevermind that, my question is...

What's a good "geometry" ballpark to begin VTA tweaking...
cartridge bottom parallel to record? Slightly down at the back? Somebody on Audiogon mentioned slightly down at the front, but that sounds (and looks, in my mind's eye) very scary. But, so far, what do I know?

The cartridge is very, very slightly down in the rear right now, about 1-2° I'd say. Bass seems mostly controlled, but load...treble (strings) are very bright...vocals I'm familiar with seem pretty about right...so far, nothing I'd call warmth. That's some break-up that happens on crescendos...sounds like eggs frying ...seems more like electronic distortion ugliness that mistracking.

Thanks for any help and ideas.

Noel
128x128nnauber

Showing 1 response by nameci

nameci
53 posts
 
My Shelter 901 took ~80 hrs for break in, it's sound is getting better and better.
I would just set the cartridge in parallel to record until cartridge has at least ~50hrs on it(same for the loading, run it at 47k until cartridge has ~50hrs on it).
Initially, changing VTA did not yield significant changes in the sound. But after break in, I like the sound of it when it is slightly tilted back(very slight) with 1.8gram VTF.

Also I messed around with cartridge loading initially and ended up staying at 47k(becasue before cartridge was broken in, any loading under 10K yielded somewhat of muffled/congested/lack of dynamic). After ~80hrs, I tried the different values again and now I'm running at 200 ohm.
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