Isn’t the cartridge/stylus type being adjusted also a prime consideration here?
My personal experience - my standard Denon DL103 seemed to perform very well - setting it up using the free protractors that are available on the web - overhang was close to optimal, but being precise did not seem to impact SQ too much.
VTA did have a marginal effect on bass performance, but I found setting the cartridge such that it was parallel to the surface of a record of standard thickness had little impact when playing 200 gram vinyl
In comparison - my Soundsmith modified version of the Denon DL103 was almost the complete opposite ...
- I initially set it up using the free protractor - then a friend brought over his precision glass protractor.
- Overhang setup was now extremely precise
- Cantilever alignment (as opposed to aligning the cartridge body) was also extremely precise
The improvement using the precision protractor was very noticeable with this particular cartridge.
I still find VTA is less of an issue as long as the cartridge is parallel to the record surface, but ensuring the other settings were precise brought out the very best in this cartridge
I’m still very much a newbie at understanding the "eccentricities" of phono related issues, but I rely on what my ears tell me and for me, using a precision protractor to setup the SS modified DL103 is the only way to go. For the standard DL103 - it was not so demanding
Does the level of precision depend on stylus type ?
The few stylus tyoes I know about are...
- conical (as on my standard DL103)
- elliptical
- Contact Line
- Shibata Style
- Optimized Contour Contact Line (as on my SS modified Denon 103)
Here’s a link that provides many details on this stuff:
http://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information
Regards...
My personal experience - my standard Denon DL103 seemed to perform very well - setting it up using the free protractors that are available on the web - overhang was close to optimal, but being precise did not seem to impact SQ too much.
VTA did have a marginal effect on bass performance, but I found setting the cartridge such that it was parallel to the surface of a record of standard thickness had little impact when playing 200 gram vinyl
In comparison - my Soundsmith modified version of the Denon DL103 was almost the complete opposite ...
- I initially set it up using the free protractor - then a friend brought over his precision glass protractor.
- Overhang setup was now extremely precise
- Cantilever alignment (as opposed to aligning the cartridge body) was also extremely precise
The improvement using the precision protractor was very noticeable with this particular cartridge.
I still find VTA is less of an issue as long as the cartridge is parallel to the record surface, but ensuring the other settings were precise brought out the very best in this cartridge
I’m still very much a newbie at understanding the "eccentricities" of phono related issues, but I rely on what my ears tell me and for me, using a precision protractor to setup the SS modified DL103 is the only way to go. For the standard DL103 - it was not so demanding
Does the level of precision depend on stylus type ?
The few stylus tyoes I know about are...
- conical (as on my standard DL103)
- elliptical
- Contact Line
- Shibata Style
- Optimized Contour Contact Line (as on my SS modified Denon 103)
Here’s a link that provides many details on this stuff:
http://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information
Regards...