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VTA and HTA overhang

I was adjusting VTA on my tonearm tonight and out of curiosity decided to check how it effected the overhang according to my MINT LP protractor. To my surprise, very small changes to VTA on my 12" arm are quite noticeable when trying to align my stylus to the arc on my alignment protractor.

My question is to all of you who change VTA for each LP. How do you compensate or adjust for the resulting change in Horizontal Tracking Angle (HTA) or overhang each time you change your VTA setting?

Besides the hassle of adjusting VTA for different LPs, this is another reason I don't fuss with VTA once I have found a good setting for the majority of my LPs. I wonder if those who attribute sonic differences to VTA changes are not also hearing slight changes to alignment which surely effects the sonics.
peterayer
theo's avatar
theo
2,659 posts
 
If your read Fremers article a few months back in Stereophile he emphasizes that the Rake Angle is more crucial to the playback of lps. I recently had mine adjusted and I will attest that Fremer is correct. I attended the Music Matters gathering at Audio Alternative in Fort Collins he refers to in this months Analog Corner. And he touched on this subject that night as well. It makes perfect sense to me that we strive to approach the groove with our stylus at the same angle as it was cut or scribed when the orginal stamper was made. So I would suggest, and this is only intended as food for thought, that you look into that setting as your reference point and adjust from there. If you are in Colorado or nearby give Rick at Audio Alternative.com a call and make an appointment. He has mine TT and Cart working at peak performance.
peterayer OP
1,382 posts
 
Theo, I think you are referring to an SRA of 92 degrees. I have met MF and listened to him discuss this topic and it makes sense to me and I have viewed my stylus through a USB microscope and tried to calculate the angle. I do my final adjustment my ear.

My point is that I was surprise by how much the overhang changed when I adjusted my VTA/SRA by lifting the back of my arm. I have settled on one height and corresponding SRA angle and leave it at that. I don't plan to adjust my VTA for each LP.

My questions is really for all of those analog guys who purport to adjust THEIR VTA depending on which LP they have spinning on their platters. I am wondering if when they raise or lower their VTA (on the Graham, Tri Planar, Durand, whichever arm makes this easy) they are taking into account the resulting change in HTA or overhang. The cartridge's alignment changes with changes in VTA and I'm not aware of audiophiles realigning their cartridges with each change in VTA, that is with each LP.

Thanks for the suggestion to contact Rick, but I'm all set with alignment and settings.
actusreus
733 posts
 
Why would the overhang change when you adjust the VTA? It seems to me the only other setting that should be affected is the SRA.
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