Is extremely accurate "VTA" adjustment necessary?


Here's a very interesting article by Geoff Husband of TNT on the importance (or better relative unimportance) of overly accurate VTA adjustment.

Exposing the VTA myth?

A short quote form the article:

Quote - "VTA, or Vertical Tracking Angle is one of those topics that divides opinion...That 'VTA' matters is indisputable, but the purpose of this article is to examine the validity of the claims made for the relative importance of VTA...SRA/VTA matters of course, but in the real world not THAT much, rigidity, simplicity and lateral alignment are all more important"

What are your thought and comments on this issue?
restock
Hi Rushton,

I do not dispute that you and Doug and others are hearing these changes.
And I do trust your ears and system more than mine. To keep my question
short and precise: My question after reading the article is just: Why don't we
hear the variation in VTA as the LP rotates, since this variation is much bigger
than changing the armheight by .005'. This was really the technical problem
that stroke me the most when reading the article.

I guess we can't really tell the change in sound over a two second period but
then we all can hear diffrences over a much shorer timescale than that. It
seems to me from your experiences It might be just the average vta that
counts for each record even if the errorbars are much bigger than that.

Oh, this doesn't come quite down to just intellectual curiousity. I am
deliberating to get a Teres table and I was wondering whether a $200 VTA
adjuster would make sense and whether I am giving up mechanical stability in
that case. The above article just caused myself to rethink some of what I have
heard here on Audiogon and elsewhere. I guess based on your experiences
maybe I should just give it a try.

Thanks again,

Rene
How about this for a practical answer? If you are debating whether to spend $200 to allow EASY and REPEATABLE VTA adjustment and you think that you will be adjusting VTA on an even occasional basis, buy it!
Rene, I think you are right on target with your question as I see you just stating it:
Why don't we hear the variation in VTA as the LP rotates, since this variation is much bigger than changing the armheight by .005'
For some turntables, the geometries are such that the variations over the playing surface of the record can and do simply swamp efforts to be hyper-critical in setting VTA (and azimuth and VTF for that matter). Design and execution can allow arms to vary in height across the surface of the record, platters may not be flat, records may not sit flat against the surface of the platter (for a host of reasons), etc., etc. All of these will do exactly as you describe: create VTA changes that are far greater in magnitude than the adjustments Doug Deacon and I are talking about. You are correct to question this.

For example: For many years I owned and enjoyed an ET II tonearm. For all its many virtues, however, the implementation of its design allowed the arm to sag by as much as .006" from one end of its travel across the record to the other. The resulting change in VTA was clearly audible as the tonearm traveled across the LP. You could either have it exactly right at the center, or at the outside edge or in the middle, but not all the way across the LP. The result, with some cartridges, was an audible shift of soundstage as the cartridge tracked across the record, with some shift in tonality as well. My solution was to use a Grado Reference cartridge in the arm which was less fussy about critical VTA and enjoy the other virtues of the arm.

With my turntable today, and I can only speak to my turntable, it's a whole different situation. My turntable today is a Walker Proscenium, and this turntable has no variations of geometry across the LP playing surface. Given your interest and your background and training, I thought some technical information would be interesting to you, so I called Lloyd Walker to get some specific data on various measurements:

Platter: a 70lb lead platter machined flat to within "one-half of one-ten-thousandths of inch" across the entire platter surface.

Platter diameter: smaller than the lead-in grooves of the LP so the raised lip of the outer edge is OFF the platter; label area deeply recessed and larger than the label. Result is that the playing surface of the record lies perfectly flat on the platter.

LP Clamp: pulls the LP firmly down onto the surface of the platter so the LP is in continuous contact with the platter across it's entire playing surface.

Platter Bearing: Air bearing that maintains the surface of platter in a perfectly flat horizontal plane - their is no spindle so no spindle play, only a centering pin.

Tonearm: Air bearing tonearm that maintains a tolerance of "one-half of one-thousandths of inch" variance in height to the platter across it's entire travel. Rigid VTA and azimuth lockdowns to eliminate any structure flexibility or play. The set up time for the tonearm at the factory to achieve these tolerances typically takes about 2-hours.

VTA adjustment: Rigid and locked during play. Allows for continuous adjustment in amounts as small as "one-half of one-thousandths of inch" - 0.0005".

People sometimes wonder why a Walker Proscenium turntable is so expensive. It's expensive because it's built to these incredible tolerances. (Lloyd says the tolerances he demands are unique.) And those build tolerances are reflected in the incredible playback resolution this turntable delivers. This is the reason that, for me, VTA adjustments are not swamped by other aspects of the LP spinning on the turntable: that LP is spinning as virtually flat as is possible to achieve.

Hope you've found the technical data interesting. I did as Lloyd explained it to me.

With regards,
.
Platter: a 70lb lead platter machined flat to within "one-half of one-ten-thousandths of inch" across the entire platter surface.

You won't get *that* with a wooden platter!!!
Dear Rene: I agree with you ( your second answer ) and Twl
points of view. here it is one of my answers in the past on this subject:

05-24-04: Rauliruegas
Dear Samir: Here it is another way to adjust VTA/SRA:
invert the polarity in one channel, put a mono record, set the preamp in mono and adjust the VTA/SRA where you hear least sound.
The VTA/SRA is a critical parameter, but don't be madness and obsessive with it.You, like me, want to enjoy music instead of adjusting equipement, so always we have to take a compromise position. I recomended that you use an average thickness record or 3 to 4 different thickneses/labels of records and finding the best compromise. Then : turn on your audio system and enjoy listening to the music.
BTW and only for information: The industry standard for cutting head VTA is 20 degrees, each cartridge is designed to function around this angle when the tonearm is parallel to the record, so you have to start with your tonearm parallel to your records, this position is very very close to the " ideal ".
There are many issues in the VTA/SRA, but what you want is to know how adjust it and I think that now you already knew it.
Best wishes and always enjoy the music.
Raul.
Rauliruegas (Answers)".

Now, the only way to get the perfect VTA/SRA on a record is using a scientific tool like the Spectra Lab. We can't to have the perfect VTA/SRA through our ears, but through our ears is the easiest way.
Now, I don't want to go on with the same answers that other people ( including the article reviewer ) already speaks about. What I can tell you is that with your cartridge it will be very dificult to hear minute changes in the VTA/SRA.
Rene, you told us that you have 10 years of experience in analog: Doug has only 13 months on analog, but as you can see he feels like an " expert ". Hi is an inexpert people (likes to be in any single thread repeating what other people say. Don't do any own contribution )on analog and this is reflected with his wrong attitude against the article on VTA/SRA and that in your fouth answer you put all things very clear. Be carefully with this Doug.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.