Turntable advice / opinion on setup / sound.

@billstevenson 

I would rather talk about turntables

Let me try and help you out!

There has been a fair amount of fuss in this thread about adjustability (or lack thereof) of the Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA).  This is usually adjusted by raising or lowering the tonearm.  Sometimes this can be done while a record is playing.  Very expensive decks like Wilson Benesch even provide a remote control to adjust the arm height in increments of a millionth of a meter.

In stereo (2-channel) records, each channel is cut at 45-degrees so to my mind, the Horizontal Tracking Angle (HTA) should be of exactly the same importance as VTA.

For conventional arms with a single pivot, HTA varies across the record during play, in places being around 2-degrees in error for a 12-inch record, no matter what template you choose.

With a nominal 9-inch arm, that 2-degrees would translate into about an 8-mm horizontal excursion at the arm base.  In other words, correcting the HTA would require 8-mm of adjustability during each play of a record, which is far more than the minute adjustments to VTA many obsess about, and is easily more than the effect of cartridge height variations on a Rega tonearm.

How come HTA hardly gets a mention?

HTA matters to me on one of my decks which has a 9-inch SME pivoting tonearm, but is not an issue on my linear tracking Holbo deck, if the zenith is correct.

Both my decks allow the VTA to be adjusted while a record is playing.  The SME tonearm can only be statically adjusted, but I have fitted an aftermarket bearing to the Garrard it partners, which allows the whole platter to be adjusted vertically - by about 8-mm as it happens,   The Holbo has a knob to adjust VTA during play

RB, What you are calling Horizontal Tracking Angle is probably what is usually referred to as Tracking Angle Error.  For pivoted tonearms that overhang the spindle and have a headshell offset angle, HTA can be as low as 2 degrees, as you say.  The problem is that the trade-off for minimizing HTA is a large amount of skating force, owing to headshell offset angle which is usually 20 to 22 degrees. This subject was broached when I admitted here that I bought a Viv Float underhung tonearm. Underhung tonearms cannot benefit from headshell offset and so are straight.  The result is, yes, a large TAE or HTA that can be up to about 10 degrees at outermost or innermost grooves, but HTA is the sole cause of the skating force in such tonearms.  Underhung tonearms generate only one single null point on the playing surface; they are usually set up so that the null point is somewhere near the center of the distance from spindle to outer groove.  But at that null point, there is also zero skating force. (For that instant, an underhung tonearm behaves exactly like.a linear tracker.)  Whereas for a conventional overhung pivoted tonearm, even at the null points, there is headshell offset to generate much more skating force, and there is no instance where there is no skating force during play.  I really do not claim to know why the Viv sounds so good, but maybe the issue of which is the bigger evil, skating force vs TAE, has something to do with it.  

@lewm 

What you are calling Horizontal Tracking Angle is probably what is usually referred to as Tracking Angle Error

Thanks - I did "invent" the term Horizontal Tracking Angle for myself to reflect the symmetry with Vertical Tracking Angle, but then I found out that ChatGPT knew what it was anyway.  Can't tell what came first, so I've assumed HTA was widely used.

Given the symmetry, there are two errors that might be named Vertical Tracking Angle Error and Horizontal Tracking Angle Error. Because stereo grooves are almost always cut at 45-degrees, each of these errors should be equally important to both the left channel and to the right channel.  Anyone disagree with this statement?

So why is so much discussion directed at VTA while HTA is ignored?  If VTA is important, then surely HTA should be just as important.

I can't help but think that since almost all tonearms are pivoting, commercial interests are at play - after all, there's no point highlighting a weakness in your product design unless you can do something about it.

Friction-free tangential arm designs like the Holbo effectively eliminate sideways (skating) forces as well as HTA errors.  And there is no headshell offset or bent tonearm either 

I was once one of these guys  that needed more amp power.100,200,300,500,1,000.Well my tube amp puts out 30 watts,and it drives my big polk speakers that ,I've read  you need 150 watts but more like 300 watts REALLY,  DON'T FOOL YOURSELF...you don't....My plays nice and loud.....

@richardbrand 

Isn't this about setting the two null points, i.e the tracking angle varies by 'no more than' 2 degrees (IF you set the two null points correctly)****.

The radial curve, is OFF a speck/CORRECT (null point one)/OFF a speck/CORRECT (null point 2)/OFF a speck.

how do you turn 2 degrees into a percentage or error?

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The VTA: most of us simply set the tonearm parallel when playing. Lately I set the headshell parallel when playing as I found two headshells that were not perfectly level/parallel with the arm.

By that method, are we more than likely getting the true SRA (stylus rake angle) close, but more than likely off by a percentage equal to 2 degrees off?

IOW, both are acceptable amounts of error from perfection.

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(IF you set the null points correctly)****.

This is why I wanted to know what the hell the two null points were for a Rega arm, for someone without the protractor you get in the box