Best tonearm position for VTA?

I have been messin with VTA adjustments for 21 years and I still mess around with it.
If your arm is an Allen set screw type, then the playing cards are "BRILLANT" you always need a reference to make baby steps..

I always thought the rule of thumb was designers of Tonearms and cartridge manufactures made their products to work together. when the vta is set properly the cartridge body is close to parallel to the record surface. So if you are way up or down, you are way off?

Presently my Shelter sounds best to me a little down in the back. This however is not as important to the sound for the Shelter anyway, as VTF.

Don't get me wrong both are important but for the Shelter you have to have the vtf right first, and remember the vtf changes with vta adjustments.


Peace
Ron

So I was bock over on VA last night and found a post that suggested weighing records and then making slight VTA adjustements based on the weight. I assume that the theory is that since the records are approximately the same surface area the weight differences must be due to the thickness differences. I haven't tried this but it seems to me that this is a crap shoot because it really depends on the cutting angle when the record was made. Maybe it will work sometime, and maybe even most of the time. The poster who proposed this was also careful to say that you still have to make the final evaluation by ear. What the poster was offering was a way to guestimate the VTA adjustment when one is experiementing with a record who's VTA setting has not been previously found. I'm not sure I'm ready to do the VTA adjustment for each record while fumbling with my playing cards. Maybe I'll try settings with a few normal weight records and then a few heavy weight records and just settle on a happy medium.

Dan, You are correct the heavy lp's are thicker and do change your vta. How this affects the sound depends on how fussy your cartridge is for vta.

Good Idea, try a few of both to see what happens.
I personally set mine for the normal weight lp's. The vast majority of my lp's are like 120 gram. I do however notice on some 180/200 gram lp's that I need to come up a little, to get that upper detail.

The thing that really messes with your setup is the Seasonal weather changes. You may find that from time to time you will need to adjust your rig.

you should always start with the arm paralell to the platter and try your best to keep it that way. if need be add shims betewwe the cartrdige and and head shell. as a slightly unbalanced lever the tonearm works best that way.

I know what you mean, Rockinroni. I'm already fighting the battle with static. This time of year it's bad one day, completely gone the next. It also takes about 2 hours to lift the temperature in my listening room (finished basement) using only the heat from my system to warm me and the cartrige suspension. It averages a 5 degree rise, but I'm saving money on the oil bill by not having to turn the heat zone on down there. At this rate I could pay for my stereo equipment in 100 years or so.

I am coming around to the idea that level is the best place to start. I have read about cartridges being made so that their stylii are set at a certain angle with respect to the body, which is usually spec'd at being parallel with the LP surface. Beyond that I'm joining the camp who believe that you should set the arm to what ever is needed as dictated by what angle the stylus should be at to properly trace the groove. Now that I have a better feel for dialing in from scratch, it does seem that this optimum setting is generally going to be within a few degrees of level, but that is really not the goal. That is, the goal is not to keep the arm level as much as it is to get the arm in whatever position it needs to be in so that the diamond is in the proper attitude with respect to the groove angle.

That's all I can manage for now, Jack is calling my name. And loudly!