Mistracking and VTA

[hifi_dave]

Very few arms have no VTA adjustment, in fact, the only ones I can think of are Rega, as they are not into fiddling about. Their argument is that it is far more important to have a rigid structure than to have a VTA adjustment. The Ittok has a VTA adjustment.

VTA varies with the cartridge, tracking weight, temperature, record cut and record thickness, so you need to adjust it every time you play a record. Fortunately, very few enthusiasts are that anal and an approximate setting is perfectly OK for most people.

IMO is nowhere near as important as the overhang, which really needs to be spot on or else mistracking will rear it's very apparent and ugly head for sure.

[DSJR]

We two elderly HiFi Daves are quite right you know...

The ittok used an "engineer's clamp" style of arm height adjustment. The base plate which is bolted to the arm board has a slightly eccentric hole with two "flats" running down one side. The other side has an Allen bolt which "pushes" the pillar against these flats and locks the pillar to the base. "We" always did the bloody Allen bolt up too tight, which it didn't need in all honesty, although the arm-rest needs to be done up tight on the arm-board, along with careful but very firm tightness of the arm-rest height thumb-nut.

Make sure your stylus is scrupulously clean as any welded-on gunk will cause horrendous mis-tracking. Linns (3M derived) "green-stuff" is usually safe with many cartridges, although Koetsu's and similar with tiny diamond chips butted on the end of the cantilever (rather then through them) may be very frail if slightly abused. I like the AT stylus fluid with brush and it cleaned an old OC9 up a treat.

One final thing with fine-line, MR or Shibata style tip profiles. they tend to have deeper access to the bottom of the groove than standard conical or elliptical tips do and wear often causes them to start playing the bottom of the groove with disastrous results (my OC9 is a bit like this on some pressings).......

[Varun]

Well, all I remember was a hell of a lot of criticism in the early 80s about Linn not including it- or was it to do with the issue of VTA being a load of hogwash! Anyway- I was not the one to move the pillar up and down- there was enough up and down movement as it was.

I was going to say that this particular Mercury Living Presence proved the need to have a good VTA facility as the adjustment needed was far more than I was expecting- but did get sound right in the end. Thick vinyl record but it has also to with the cutting and so on. It would have been unplayable on LP12.

The 60s Decca recordings are the best-but sometimes MONOs sound even better.

Cheers

Varun

[Varun]

addendum:-

I did not see the two elderly Dave's words of wisdom- much appreciated. I use the Clear audio stylus fluid as well as the Green Sticky stuff provided by Stylus Expert. It needs to be cleaned- I mean you are not meant to use the same surface or the same spot again. So I used to shave the dirty top layer off. If I do return to Koetsu, if it is re-tippable or if I have the courage to buy a new one-then the Green Gunge will be needed- Do I understand right Dave?

Many thanks

Varun

[DSJR]

The green stuff I used to use was/is a sheet of fine "textured" green plastic paper - rather like very fine wet-n-dry paper, which was cut into strips a couple of cm wide and around 4cm long. A piece of this stuff lasted ages and seemed safe enough..

If you have a Koetsu in need of a re-tip, i'd see if VDH still offer this service. The Onyx I heard that had been "done" sounded so good - clear, but with the effortless quality so beloved of Koetsu lovers and with absolutely NO false "romance" in the delivery and no harshness or "HiFi" impressiveness.

[NRG]

I'm gonna have to disagree with the elderly Dave's wise words of wisdom!

An abrasive is the last thing you want to run over your stylus and that's exactly what the Linn green stuff is. Its made by 3M and is used as a finishing abrasive in the jewelry and watchmaking world (and many others no doubt). There are various grades available. ESCo ship with their re-tips 'Rodico' another product used in the watchmaking world and another product that's unsuitable IMHO for cleaning stylus. Rodico has a tendency to leave traces of it'self on the surface it's trying to clean and thus your records.

Stick to a dry brush like the clear audio 'pan handle' brush or similar and clean once in a while with the clearaudio stylus cleaner and stylus treatment.

[Varun]

Yes Dave,

I slowly got to know the "Hi Fi" impressiveness but will not list the names of some famous companies. My experience with Audiophile demonstrations is that they tend to use "Close Miked recordings". Once a Hi-Fi dealer in NZ (I spent some time there) was demonstrating his new and the largest Proac Studio speakers with an Accuphase twin box CD player and 300 W/ch valves mono blocks (WTL). All the dealer had were recordings with vocals and a few instruments and all closed miked recordings. I could not find a CD which could put the system through its paces. In the end 'Dark side of the Moon' was spotted but the sound no better - or rather worse than my analogue system. Blame the CD if you will.

This is closely linked with the thread of VTA- as often what sounds like a bad recording can be tidied up. The whole purpose of my thread was the "the small fractions" of increments and decrements these dials offer. With the Well Tempered and using the feelrs guage I had no way of knowing where I was before- so returning to it. I suspect LP12 would have been even worse. Also you can change the VTA while the record is playing and listen to the sound change.

Varun

[Varun]

Here we are-VPI TNT WITH THE CLEANING PARAPHARNELIA




Varun

[DSJR]

Interesting looking deck you have there

NRG, the green stuff (as recommended by Linn - maybe that's the problem ) was safe enough as it's a VERY fine grade. In the event, one held one end of the strip and GENTLY STROKED the stylus from back to front at a 45 degree angle as looked at from the front. I fully appreciate your concerns though, mainly because the best styli do seem to be butt mounted to the cantilevers with minimum adhesive/braizing, rather than staked though the flattened end of the tube, as Linn/Supex's were.

Back to that VDH Koetsu and bearing in mind NRG's comments above, Jimmy got the original at a good price because when originally supplied, it had been "kerbed" on a record edge and the little diamond stylus chip had been knocked off. I have an OC30 in the same state, with fully intact cantilever but no diamond..

[Varun]

By the way

The white streaks on the side of the platter are caused by "Taylor's chalk" powdered for the belts to be shook into.

Varun