Tracking Force - Where to set it?

Exactly which V15 are you using ? Your post does not make this clear. I ask this as some of the earlier V15's are known to produce non-linear distortions as amplitude increases. If what you are experiencing is not a volume related issue, i would think that something is not set up correctly. Any of the V15 cartridges are reasonably good "trackers" and should be able to easily stay in the groove with a "real" 1 gram of tracking pressure applied. Sean
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If i can remember correctly, you have to adjust tracking force appr 1 gram higher than normal to compensate for the brush. As such, you would have to adjust the arm for 2.5 grams to achieve an actual tracking force of 1.5 grams. Sean
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Pbb, my comments were based on the earlier V15's. I do not know how well the newer series compare to the earlier ( V15 Type IV, Type III, etc... ) series. Sean
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Bear: I agree about the old Shure's "lack" of sound quality. I personally liked some of the older Ortofon's, Stanton's and AT cartridges, but found that the AT's almost all exhibited a pretty hot top end. The cool thing about some of the AT's and Signet's was that you could buy one of their higher end cartridges and then experiment with the various stylus assemblies. I remember one specific cartridge that they made that had something like 17 or 18 different user replaceable stylus'. Some had different shaped diamonds, some had different cantilever materials, etc.... Each one had a sound of their own. As such, you could literally buy one cartridge and a handful of stylus' assemblies and have the sound of a different cartridge in a matter of seconds every day of the week.

Outside of all of this, it is pretty funny how doing some simple changes to cartridge loading within the phono stage can make such drastic changes. You can literally get the tonal balance, transient response, noise floor, etc... to do a 360* change by simply swapping a few resistors and capacitors. Sean
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Bear: After re-thinking your comments, they make perfect sense. Your method would be akin to setting "ride height" on a vehicle. If the suspension was "perfectly centered", it could make large excursions in either direction without fear of "bottoming out" or going into compression. This also keeps the coils or armature somewhat centered in the magnetic field. This should result in increased dynamic range, higher s/n ratios and slightly higher output levels. That is, if the cartridge is actually designed correctly to begin with.

The one drawback to this is that one might run into added stress on the cantilever and cartridge suspsenion, not to mention that the tracking force would probably be slightly higher than what we think we can get away with. I don't really see that as being a problem though so long as the cartridge / arm are properly aligned and the stylus is in good shape. Having "clean" records is mandatory if you want the best in performance and want them to last, regardless of the tracking force being used.

THANK YOU for opening my eyes. Hopefully, my ears will agree with you : ) Sean
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