Hello, I have same table and arm with a helikon cartridge. My cartridge took at least 60 hours to break in. I seriously thought about selling it during this period it sounded so bad, take your time. I would set the arm so that the cartridge is level with the record. You can also play with the fluid damper setting ,I found this made a big difference, unfortunately you will find almost every record requires a different setting to sound its best.I would let the cartridge break in before you start to pull your hair out.I also found that the sound of the SOTA table depends a great deal on what type of surface it is sitting on. In my system I have tried mine on concrete, metal,granite but it sounds by far its best sitting on 1X4 soft wood with tip toes.
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
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