AR XA Cartridge Alignment

[MadcapLaughs]

Oh the Familiar places I can find myself in...

I seem to be having some tracking and alignment issues with my AT130e cartridge that is set up on a stock headshell for the AR XA turntable. I can see from my alignment protractor (assuming the protractor print out is scaled correctly) that the cartridge body is cocked unevenly from the alignment plane, I have it mounted as evenly as possible on the headshell but the headshell does not allow you to adjust the body.

Has anyone ever mounted an at130e or 120e on the AR before and if so, did you use shims to adjust vta? Did you experience any distortion and bad sibilance like I have with this table? I heard these track great, but it is brutal trying to align the cart on the outdated headshell. is alignment impossible on this table and is there a cartridge set up that can finally stop horrible sibilance? I have used varrying speakers, amps, carts, and alignments with this table and always end up with sibilance. I am tracking at 1.8 grams which is on the higher side for the AT, lower vtf only increases sibilance.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Moved to appropriate forum...

 

[ludite]

i use the acu trak template with the stevenson alignment for my stanton 681 w/ a shibata stylus & have no issues. the only adjustment on the xa is the tonearm length via the set screw and shims on the cartridge

 

[gkimeng]

VTA on the AR turntable is adjusted using shims. The table originally came with a set of plastic blocks. Here's a copy of the instruction sheet that will show you where the blocks go, but if you don't have the parts (hardly anyone does anymore), you'll need to make them. Balsa wood works pretty well.