Vertical tracking force for Lyra etna lambda sl catridge

My Atlas, after a rebuild, sounds best at about 1.8. It’s still “breaking in” so this may change. But it mistracks (distortion) at the “recommended” 1.72 pretty badly. I’m playing with VTA a bit as well and currently have it set just a little below level, I’m thinking it’s a little “dead” there. So I may put it back to level. This is on an SME V tone arm.

With the SME V that would be very high. Level for the V is based on the horizontal lines on the tapered arm. Steve Leung of VAS recommends level or slightly down for the Atlas. He rebuilt my cart.

@newtoncr... what rauliruegas is trying to say is run it within specs no matter what. I don’t 100% agree with that as it seems the V runs a bit “light” for a Lyra cart. I think I read somewhere that J Carr even recommended a dab of blue tack to the tone arm to accommodate? I have no idea how much. Anyway, yes, it is possible the overall numbers are not calibrated 100% on the tone arm, but running the Lyra at 1.8-ish isn’t going to hurt it. Regarding the VTA, the lines running down the center of the tone arm are what you use to measure. Start at “level” and play with it up or down, see what sounds best. Mine, as measured with the alignment tool, is about 1mm lower measured front to back. The lower edge of the tone arm is approx 3mm from the record edge with a 150 record. Which are pretty much SME “specs”. This seems to be a nice compromise for thicker and thinner records.