Tonearm Height affects music quality.

J

jomondz

Active Member
Yes or No?
Simple, right?

Early morning nothing to do so decided to listen to classical.

First, turned the volume up until softest part could be clearly heard.
Then, have to turn the volume down because the loud part of the piano surprisingly felt very loud. Usually, the softest part and the loudest part of the piano sound are not so drastically different.

Software:
Deutsche Grammophon
Frederic Chopin
Scherzo Nr. 1 h-moll op.20
Presto con fuoco

Hardware:
Ortofon 2M blue
Linn ITTOK LV II
Technics 1210 M5G (power supply outside the turntable)
Isonoe audio isolation system silver
Tracking 1.8 grams
Skating (adjusted using Laser disc at 33 ⅓ rpm)
 
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I don't understand what does the tonearm height has to do with your playback experience. Did you modify it recently? On the other hand, the VTA modification (which could be caused by a tonearm height change) would certainly modify the playback sound quality.
 
Altering the height of the tonearm (at the pivot) changes the VTA and can have a dramatic impact on the sound coming off of your cartridge. This is the primary way that VTA is adjusted on many higher end tonearms and changes as small as 1/32 of an inch in height can be the difference between meh and nirvana - especially with line contact type styli.
 
Unless shimmed to cure the issue, if the cart mounts dead flat to the mounting end of the Ittok, anything above or below level at headshell during play, the azimuth is off also. Stylus rake angle will affect tonality of the cart.
 
VTA affects the treble to bass response.
Overhang must be correct to minimize distortion.
Azimuth will affect channel balance and distortion.

It starts at the source, which is the cartridge and the way it extracts information from the vinyl. (Imagine an airplane flying straight, level and horizontal).

But the OP described an unexpected dynamic response (the difference between the loudest and softest passages). Which seems like a good thing to me.

No mention of the phono stage (even if integrated). If the gain on my phono stage is set too high, it seems to overload the following stage. Cartridges can resonate or "ring" if improperly loaded. Loud passages can seem too loud if the cartridge's response peaks at a frequency where resonance occurs.

Not so simple in my opinion. Everything must work in concert and it takes a lot of trial and error. A quality piano recording is an excellent source.
 
VTA (vertical tracking angle) is an important topic to consider. AKers who enjoy using record changers, have to accept that every record in a stack is played at a different VTA, for example, and settle for an "optimal range" of VTA." Single side players can be sticklers and strive for the perfect VTA on their equipment.

Unfortunately, the original poster, in starting the thread, gave not a single detail that helps give a picture of his/her VTA circumstance at question. There are a heap of other details in the posting. I hope this person will post again and try to clarify what was meant to be shown or asked.
 
as other say, it appears you are experience the impact of VTA. Many current arms have digital or gauge readouts to ensure you know you are moving this and how much
 
Measuring tracking force of a needle could be done by using force gauge.

Adjusting the opposing centripetal force is a gamble but easily done by using Laser Disc. Is using Laser Disc is a recommended method since Laser disc is clear and Vinyl record is not clear, I always wonder if Laser Disc would emulate a real vinyl record on this skating force adjustment.

How to adjust the VTA on LINN ITTOK LVII black tonearm? Waiting for a technologically-equipped-tonearm is not current priority.
Specific recommendations on model/manufacturer of a digital-readout-VTA tonearm?


For information, was fiddling around with the tonearm mounting board so that the "better dynamic" version of setting has a higher position of tonearm plane than the former setting.
Simple Reason: easier access to adjust the locking bolt by increasing the tonearm mounting plane.
 
jomondz said:
For information, was fiddling around with the tonearm mounting board so that the "better dynamic" version of setting has a higher position of tonearm plane than the former setting.
Simple Reason: easier access to adjust the locking bolt by increasing the tonearm mounting plane.
Click to expand...

I guess that modified the VTA. How about going back to the previous position and comparing?

http://www.theanalogdept.com/adjusting_vta.htm

TAD_sra_vta.gif
 
How to adjust the VTA on LINN ITTOK LVII black tonearm? Waiting for a technologically-equipped-tonearm is not current priority.
Specific recommendations on model/manufacturer of a digital-readout-VTA tonearm?
Click to expand...

I used playing cards as shims to set the height back at the pivot on my tone arm. I loosened the locking screw, and by varying the number of cards I was able to accurately dial in the proper VTA.
 
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