VTA: am I nutz?


Here's why I think I may need to have my head examined. (OTOH, I *did* hit it on the ice last week...hmm...) Anyway, my several weeks' experience in adjusting VTA during play on my Aries 2/JMW-10/Denon 103D has led me to the following conclusion: what I expected was that somewhere in the range of adjustment would be a smaller range which sounded better than the rest, and that below it would be dark and lacking in highs, and above it would be hard and bright.

However, my observation is that no such range exists. Rather there is ONE CORRECT SETTING for each record, from which you may not deviate. Nor is the "above is bright" and "below is muddy" rule always the case. In fact, I find that there is very little variation either above or below the magic setting.

Now this may sound contradictory, but it IS true that I make all my adjustments from record to record within a range of about 20-30 increments on the dial. So while the sound doesn't vary in any logical way within that range, the IDEAL setting will always be found within that range. And yes, thicker records will require a higher setting while thinner will require a lower. No mystery there.

I guess my question is this: is this "only one magic point" finding in agreement with that of other people? Or am I some kind of analog mental case?

Please, 'cause I'm about ready to order the straitjacket... ;-)
bublitchki

Showing 1 response by bombaywalla

The way I understand it is that SRA (stylus rake angle) is the paramount parameter to be set & VTA is a means to that end i.e. you set SRA by setting VTA. Every record is slightly diff. in thickness so SRA set for 1 LP is not going to be the same as another. 2 very similar thickness LPs will probably share the same VTA setting as the SRA for both of them is practically the same.
So, I am not surprised that you arrived at this conclusion that each LP has "only one magic point". It appears to make sense (& seems rather cumbersome to do :-) unless you have a JMW arm, as you do).
FWIW. IMHO.