Thorens VTA Question

[GR3GRS]

I recently stumbled upon some information on adjusting VTA when looking to align my cartridge. I decided to fiddle with it on my TD 147 using a guide from the analog depot. When loosening the lock screw to adjust up and down movement, the plastic gimble/anti-skate mechanism also spun side to side. I think I tried to fix something that wasn’t necessarily broken and am not sure that I put everything back in the right spot. Top of cartridge seems parallel with the record surface. Not sure if my mind is messing with or not, but the sound production seems a little flatter than before I messed with it. Any suggestions on how to make sure I set everything back correctly? Any help would be awesome. Thanks everyone.

 

[tnsilver]

I decided to fiddle with it on my TD 147 using a guide from the analog depot.

Bad choice! Fiddling with the TA mounting screws on a TD-14X variant will likely tamper with the auto-shutoff mechanism! It will also, with high likelihood, render the cue bar / TA distance subject to further re-adjustments. All in all - with VTA being overrated - it's a real bad choice!

The Thorens way of tackling VTA with the TP-16 on those models is using shims - enough to get the armtube parallel with the platter at playing position. The anti-skate assembly is riding the tonearm pillar and wrapped around it - so once the TA is free to go up/down, the AS assembly is free to go left/right. There's a set screw securing the AS assembly to the pillar.

The natural relationship and positioning of the AS assembly vs. the tonearm can be somewhat illustrated in this image:

 

[GR3GRS]

Thank you! The way I have it’s set now the anti-skate mechanism is about parallel with the cue bar. Does that sound about right?

 

[tnsilver]

yup, it should be about parallel.

 

[DavidTT]

I forever wrecked the stop/lift auto mechanism on my TD-145 by playing around with VTA. The good news was that one thing led to another, and I learned how to solder, how to take a TP-16 down to pieces-parts, how to rebuild and adjust pivot bearings, etc., with the help of some AKers along the way, including @tnsilver. The TD-145 is playing in an office system, sounding wonderful, still not auto-stopping at the end though!

 

[ehoove]

The common rule is if the tone arm is lower towards the pivot assembly the more bass response and the opposite will create more top end response. Only one of my 4 arms are perfectly parallel to the record surface as It really is arm/cartridge match dependent IMHO I want it to sound right more than look right, but prefer both if possible.
Regards,
Jim