Mistracking and VTA

[NRG]

......

NRG, the green stuff (as recommended by Linn - maybe that's the problem )

Hmmmm.....no, its because its a stupid idea I like to wear my stylus down by playing records not by cleaning it!

.... 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.

Its still an abrasive though and its not a good way of cleaning a stylus, its not thorough enough....a small brush is much better...trust me I've seen close up under a stereoscope how much better a brush is than a bit of sandpaper....

Here's a close up of the sandpaper....sorry green stuff.....



I knackered a Troika because of this stuff and the recommendation of its use by a now defunct Linn dealership.

[DSJR]

Oooo-er missus....

I was told never to use cleaning fluids, yet I now use the AT 607 bottle/brush with no problems at all. I even scrubbed the sealed coil assembly on the OC9 as it was filthy and it came up perfectly clean...

Sorry to hear of the knackered Troika. The diamonds were usually well welded to their cantilevers and, to be fair, were of good quality.

I tend to look back on those heady days of the eighties when Linn and Naim ruled supreme for us not too fondly nowadays. It was a bit like religion in many ways - this desire to "fit in" with the "in" crowd. I still think the non "in" dealers had it tough in the UK, but once Linn introduced their own amps, had the "dealer purge" of those who wouldn't share their client-base and split the "in" crowd wide open, the market got easier for everyone. Trouble is, the market, which had been buoyed up by the introduction of CD for a few years, started to contract severely and it's still doing so it seems...

[Varun]

May I please ask Dave the speaker you are leaning against? The support reminds me of SD Accoustics! Please enlighten.

[NRG]

Not too labor the point, this will be my last post on the subject but this shot sort of brings home what you are subjecting the stylus to when using the green stuff.....it may seem a very fine grade but close up and from a Stylus point of view it looks brutal IMHO...

[hifi_dave]

May I please ask Dave the speaker you are leaning against? The support reminds me of SD Accoustics! Please enlighten.

Looks like a Spendor BC2 or BC1 to me.

I don't think DSJR ever got into SD Acoustics and IIRC they didn't do stands for their speakers.

[Barry]

Hmmmm.....no, its because its a stupid idea I like to wear my stylus down by playing records not by cleaning it!

Its still an abrasive though and its not a good way of cleaning a stylus, its not thorough enough....a small brush is much better...trust me I've seen close up under a stereoscope how much better a brush is than a bit of sandpaper....

Here's a close up of the sandpaper....sorry green stuff.....

I knackered a Troika because of this stuff and the recommendation of its use by a now defunct Linn dealership.

I use a size 8 squirrel hair artist's brush for removing loose dust from the stylus and the odd fleck from the record. If the stylus is dirtier, then I use an electronic stylus cleaner (made by Goldring) with one drop of neat isopropyl alcohol on the carbon fibre bristles. The stylus is cleaned by this method for 10 seconds.

Apropos mistracking, the correct adjustment of overhang is much, much more important than the VTA. The latter tends to affect the response and dynamic range. Once the VTA is correctly set (preferably be ear) there ought to be no need to change it, though there there are some who claim that it should be adjusted each and every time a record is played !

Most cartridges seem to prefer an enviromental operating temperature of 22 - 25 degC. To achieve this, I use a small 'spotlight' style reading lamp trained on the deck.

[TKK]

Worn tonearm bearings do contribute to tracing and tracking distortions. Mis-adjusted ones as well. Similarly, a worn stylus or one of those over-achieving stylus profiles if they were not assiduously calibrated.

I'm with Barry totally. VTA is a pain only if you let it be. I don't see the need to adjust for every disc as long as vividness and dynamics are not compromised too much. On some 180 grammers, I agree the bloated midbass of an uncompensated VTA can be annoying, but this seldom to the extent I can't hear past it since it may not be consistent across the disc.

I too use an electronic stylus cleaner, once every 3 or 4 full albums. I dry brush in between sides. I wet clean with the excellent AT bottle and brush only when needed. I play only clean records, naturally. It's a simple enough and enjoyable routine since it's repeated over the last 20 years.

[Varun]

We have had a marvellous participation in this thread. I could not agree more about VTA-I can not be bothered and tend to leave at a neutral point. Mind you one had to a dedicated enthusiast to fiddle with LP 12 and Well Tempered. Things started to become an issue as my collection of the newly reissuded 180 gms grew. I think I have an 180 gm copy of most of the important LPs I have and infact have several copies of LPs such as "Dark side of the Moon and Crime of the century" and the important Dire Straits albums.

I have inluded an image of the dial on VPI-TNT. The setting as seen is used for 180 gms, I drop it down for thinner LPs but then thats it. I never change it LP by LP but mind you Classical Music requires fine tunning to eliminate unwelcome edge and screech.

[Varun]

Yes I agree Dave,

I also thought they looked like Spendor! Thanks

Varun

[Varun]

Thanks Barry for your sage words. I like your Avatar image-hope the list members know what Avatar means. I will come on the issue of mistracking and the confusion my title has generated.

Varun