What is best VTA for Clearaudio Maestro Cartridge?


I have a new Super Scoutmaster Reference turntable. I have put my 2 year old Clearaudio Maestro moving magnet cartridge on it. The sound is very bright and rather harsh. What is the best VTA setting for this cartridge- level, tipped forward a bit, or tipped back a bit?
Does anyone have any other set up ideas to get this cartridge sounding better?
Thanks,
PS. The Maestro sounded great on my tricked out Rega Planar 3, my previous table.
jbcello

Showing 1 response by dainapoo

There is a resonance frequency calculation tool that should give you a pretty good idea of how well a cartridge and arm will mate. You simply need to know the mass of the arm and cartridge and the compliance of the cartridge. If memory serves me right, the best resonance frequency is in the 8-12 hertz range. The problem I've had with this is that Clearaudio doesn't provide a spec for compliance (they do use a spec called trackability, but I'm not sure what that is or if it converts to compliance somehow). I've been considering a Maestro or Virtuoso wood for my VPI Scoutmaster with JWM 9 arm but can't be sure I'm even in the ballpark. But from what I'm reading here, it appears to me that the Maestro is not a good match for the arm. It's not a good/bad arm or cartridge, it's just a compatibility issue. According to the tool, and info I've gathered, the vpi 10.5 has a mass of about 10.9 gm, the Maestro wood's mass is 7 gm. Therefore it's looking for cartridge compliance of between 9 and 22 µm/mN to hit that 8-12 hertz mark. I'd really be interested in finding out if anyone has calculated the compliance for these cartridges - it would at least give us a ballpark within which to work.