Wow... that's some system you have put together! All those tubes must be entrancing. I always love it when I run across someone who is even more "out-there" than me, if you know what I mean. :)
I used to know one guy who liked to set up his expensive cartridges using Stax headphones. He would listen for the purest highs. So I'm sure a good set of headphones would be fine for that purpose.
I normally either raise or lower the arm in small amounts and listen to each change after I make it. When I'm lucky, I hit a spot that seems to sound better than all others and then that's where it stays for quite some time.
I was recently surprised when I installed a ClearAudio Virtuoso cartridge. It sounded pretty wretched at first and I realized the arm (previously set for a Benz) was way too high. Once I got it right the Virtuoso began sounding quite impressive. I'm just surprised that this MM cartridge is every bit as finicky about VTA as any MC cartridge in my experience.
Best of Luck!
Frank
I used to know one guy who liked to set up his expensive cartridges using Stax headphones. He would listen for the purest highs. So I'm sure a good set of headphones would be fine for that purpose.
I normally either raise or lower the arm in small amounts and listen to each change after I make it. When I'm lucky, I hit a spot that seems to sound better than all others and then that's where it stays for quite some time.
I was recently surprised when I installed a ClearAudio Virtuoso cartridge. It sounded pretty wretched at first and I realized the arm (previously set for a Benz) was way too high. Once I got it right the Virtuoso began sounding quite impressive. I'm just surprised that this MM cartridge is every bit as finicky about VTA as any MC cartridge in my experience.
Best of Luck!
Frank