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VTA on the fly

Of the four tonearms I own, they all have VTA on the fly.  Several months ago I had a small club meeting at my house for Classical music with LP's. 

Now this is really interesting, one of the attendees claims to have a 30,000 LP record collection.  This gentleman in his mid 70's is very familiar with the Boston Symphony Hall and orchestra.  When I played a Boston Symphony record that he brought, he claimed there should be more bass.  While the record was playing I turned the micrometer one half turn clockwise, and there was according to him the right amount of bass.  He then asked me what I did, because he seemed startled, and had no idea.

Think of it, an audiophile that loves and has been playing LP's for over fifty years, but had no idea of the advantages of VTA on the fly.  
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Showing 3 responses by cleeds

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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
lewm
... my point is that a tiny change in vta such as might be expected by a half turn on a micrometer type vta adjuster would likely make such minute changes to vtf, etc, as to be inconsequential ...
You might be right, but it's hard to be sure. It depends not only on the specific pickup arm and how much it is raised by that half-turn, but also on the arm length (the shorter the arm, the greater the change) and the stylus shape itself. (After all, there is no VTA at all when using a conical stylus.)
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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
lewm
... the change in VTF and overhang are so miniscule ... as to be inaudible even to a pair of Golden Ears such as your own ...
I've never, ever claimed to have "Golden Ears." I'm pretty sure most people can hear what I hear, if they take the time to listen.

I've actually never met an audiophile who claimed exceptional hearing.
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cleeds
6,051 posts
 
VTA-on-the-fly is a handy feature, but it’s no magic bullet for phono cartridge setup. That’s because when you change VTA/SRA, you also change VTF and - more importantly - overhang. So if your overhang was correct before adjusting VTA, it will be off by some slight amount after altering VTA.

Some audiophiles in this forum argue that phono cartridge alignment is not critical and that these small changes are of no consequence. I suspect that their systems simply lack the resolution to reveal these changes, and it’s most likely that their turntables are not properly setup.
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