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Vertical Tracking Angle On-The_Fly adjustment

Ken Mitchell

Ken Mitchell

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Awhile back fellow AK member @Ilikevinyl had seen that I swapped out the stock Jelco SA-250 tonearm on my 2011 build Luxman PD-171 turntable, with a new old-stock Jelco TS-550S tonearm that my dealer had gotten along with s few other Jelco tonearms. The forum member has the TS-550S type 2 on his suspended Thorens turntable, and suggested I consider the micrometer type VTA adjuster that he uses, on mine. He remarked that because my turntable has a fixed top plate type tonearm I might be able to use the Vertical Tracking Angle adjuster "on-the-fly". The VTA can vary with differing thickness of records and with various cartridges...especially those with a microline and Shibata stylus. Being able to quickly adjust it is a BIG advantage.

I finally got around to ordering one. It took about 18 days from the UK to get through customs and to my door in Massachusetts, but installed quickly and does indeed allow me to adjust it on-the-fly with NO hint of making the tonearm skip. Very noticeable difference.


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Ken Mitchell said:
Awhile back fellow AK member @Ilikevinyl had seen that I swapped out the stock Jelco SA-250 tonearm on my 2011 build Luxman PD-171 turntable, with a new old-stock Jelco TS-550S tonearm that my dealer had gotten along with s few other Jelco tonearms. The forum member has the TS-550S type 2 on his suspended Thorens turntable, and suggested I consider the micrometer type VTA adjuster that he uses, on mine. He remarked that because my turntable has a fixed top plate type tonearm I might be able to use the Vertical Tracking Angle adjuster "on-the-fly". The VTA can vary with differing thickness of records and with various cartridges...especially those with a microline and Shibata stylus. Being able to quickly adjust it is a BIG advantage.

I finally got around to ordering one. It took about 18 days from the UK to get through customs and to my door in Massachusetts, but installed quickly and does indeed allow me to adjust it on-the-fly with NO hint of making the tonearm skip. Very noticeable difference.


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would not doubt it. Especially with the ART AT cart. One other thing you can do is replace those headshell leads with cardas or AQ litz leads. A nice upgrade.
 
mcgjohn said:
would not doubt it. Especially with the ART AT cart. One other thing you can do is replace those headshell leads with cardas or AQ litz leads. A nice upgrade.
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The Jelco HS-50 headshell that the AT ART9XA cartridge is mounted on comes with "Litz" leads and they seem pretty darn nice.
 
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so how does the sound vary as you go from too low to too high on the tonearm?

How wide a sweet spot do you have? Is it just a quarter turn or something more/less?

Once set for your fav records, do you need to readjust it for others in the collection? Will you be noting the VTA setting on the micrometer for each record?
 
I switched over from the ART9XA cartridge to a re-tipped AT33Sa that is now a microline stylus in a boron cantilever. I figured it would be easier to hear the difference.

And yes, I can hear the subtle changes. It takes more than a couple full turns to make a difference, and I am taking notes on exactly what setting sounds best with which thickness of a record.
 
Looking forward to your listening impressions. Been using a Magnepan arm for 40 years with OTF VTA and although I don't fine tune all the time I remember what I was hearing back when I did this. This arm changes the angle by 0.22° per revolution of the adjusting tool and it does take a few turns to 'get out of the zone.'
 
Ken Mitchell said:
I switched over from the ART9XA cartridge to a re-tipped AT33Sa that is now a microline stylus in a boron cantilever. I figured it would be easier to hear the difference.

And yes, I can hear the subtle changes. It takes more than a couple full turns to make a difference, and I am taking notes on exactly what setting sounds best with which thickness of a record.
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6mm adjustment on a 9 inch arm is only 2 degrees. In my tests it took a crazy 10mm before I could hear or measure anything change.
It is nice to be able to adjust arm height but anything you are hearing with small adjustments is perception bias at work.
Chris
 
cafe latte said:
6mm adjustment on a 9 inch arm is only 2 degrees. In my tests it took a crazy 10mm before I could hear or measure anything change.
It is nice to be able to adjust arm height but anything you are hearing with small adjustments is perception bias at work.
Chris
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I'm a master machinist/toolmaker, and understand trigonometry pretty well. The micrometer on this rig has 25mm of travel.
 
Ken Mitchell said:
I'm a master machinist/toolmaker, and understand trigonometry pretty well. The micrometer on this rig has 25mm of travel.
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Yes I get that, but my point was most people are adjusting half, one or two mm and obsessing about which sounds better. 1mm is literally fractions of 1 degree which makes no difference at all. My point was it takes around 10mm before things change and nobody has the tail of the arm up 10mm from level.
Chris
 
cafe latte said:
Yes I get that, but my point was most people are adjusting half, one or two mm and obsessing about which sounds better. 1mm is literally fractions of 1 degree which makes no difference at all. My point was it takes around 10mm before things change and nobody has the tail of the arm up 10mm from level.
Chris
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And actually, when I add the length of the headshell connection to the tip of the stylus to the 228.6mm of the tonearm alone, it's more than 4mm to get 1°. :D
 
Ken, AWESOME!!! :thumbsup: Now, each cartridge will sound it's best! Looks really nice on your Luxman turntable! :thumbsup:

I use a small notepad and write down each VTA measurement for every cartridge along with VTF & anti-skating plus loading & gain. Makes cartridge swapping so much easier!
 
Ilikevinyl said:
Ken, AWESOME!!! :thumbsup: Now, each cartridge will sound it's best! Looks really nice on your Luxman turntable! :thumbsup:

I use a small notepad and write down each VTA measurement for every cartridge along with VTF & anti-skating plus loading & gain. Makes cartridge swapping so much easier!
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Thanks! Already started documenting the settings.

I had been wondering why you hadn't noticed before now. No matter, it's there and working pretty slick.
 
I would call it a tonearm height adjuster. Changing height also alters the pivot position and the force moment between pivot and stylus. Whichi in turn affects both dynamic tracking force during drag and SRA/VTA when riding warps.
 
It doesn't seem to affect the ability of the tonearm to maintain good tracking. I *have* rechecked tracking force (weight on the stylus) after a big adjustment and it didn't seem to change either.

That said, I haven't tried any badly warped records, because I try to get replacements for those soon after I find them.
 
Ken Mitchell said:
It doesn't seem to affect the ability of the tonearm to maintain good tracking. I *have* rechecked tracking force (weight on the stylus) after a big adjustment and it didn't seem to change either.

That said, I haven't tried any badly warped records, because I try to get replacements for those soon after I find them.
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The effect is small but anyway and it is only during dynamic conditions, not static tracking force.
 
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