VTA and Subsequent SRA of Grado reference Platinum 1 cartridge

Thanks donst100!  I completely agree with your assessment and positioning.  Once I got the cartridge at least level with the record surface it did shine considerably more and opened up as you describe.  I also had increased the tracking force to 1.85 grams and this reduced distortion on highly modulated grooves significantly.  Another observation from these changes is that noise overall was reduced (I guess I'd call is surface noise).  Although this has made me like the cartridge significantly more, I'll keep it as a spare, I'm moving to a Nagaoka MP 500.  I auditioned the cartridge a week ago and found it to be much better than the Platinum in just about every way.  It is also twice the cost so it should at least sound better!  It uses a line contact diamond and a Boron cantilever.  It is more detailed, less colored and more dynamic than the Grado and when I compared it to my stable of moving coils it outperformed most of them on surface noise, dynamics and smoothness ot lack of sibilance.  So soon I will have two relatively new cartridges and representation of all types MM, MI, MC and only missing strain gauge type (and the are way to expensive for my test ot budget)

Stay in touch and thanks for your spot on advice!

Many thanks,

Sam 

Hi Sam,
I have this cartridge and until recently I didn't like it. Had a hard time getting an adequate high end out of it. I played around with VTA and tracking force. Raising the rear of the tonearm helped some. I finally spent some time getting the azimuth perfect and the sound, all of a sudden, really came to life. If you can adjust the azimuth on your table, make sure the front of the cartridge is perfectly parallel to the record. Also, setting the tracking force a bit higher (1.8g) seemed to help. 

The soundstage really opened up, image became much more three-dimensional. It's almost a bit too bright now, which is a problem that I definitely wasn't having before. Also, I probably have at least 100 hours on it at this point.

Got it and yes you're right on the mark.  I thought I was lowering the arm but in fact I was raising it!  Not marked on set dial so I did raise back a little but did not due other observations.  Now to fine tune and move on!
 
Did notice that record choice makes a difference.  Thick records 180 - 200 grams vs normal vs very thin RCA dynagroove!  Probably should use normal thickness knowing that most of my LPs are of this type and mark the difference between these and thick and thin.  Lots to mark and think about and listen to!

This cartridge appears to be very critical of VTA, perhaps as it should be.

Thanks for your comment, Sorry for my confusion and good listening to you melm!

Sam  

Generally when you lower towards the rear, what we call "tail down," you lose the high frequencies and gain bass.

I suggest you run it flat for a while to break it in.  Then, if necessary you would raise the tail if you found it treble deficient.