VTA HELP

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ludwig00388

New Member
I have a fluance rt85 tt. I'm looking to change the ortofon 2m blue out with a audio technica VM540Ml. The otophon VTA is 20 mm and the audio technica is 23mm. My fluance has no VTA adjustability is there anyway to make the audio technica work. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
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20 degrees vs 23 degree VTA, you mean?

Get a mat that is 1mm taller than you have now, and it should be good enough. But maybe just try changing them out and listening to how it sounds; if you want a free way to adjust the VTA, put an old record between your mat and your LP.

Rega has been adamant that within tolerable ranges, or unless you have an easy, on-the-fly VTA adjuster on your arm, it really isn't worth bothering about that much (different record thicknesses already affect VTA about the same amount, I believe).
 
Agree. I'd install the AT cartridge, align it properly, set VTF and anti-skate and give it a whirl. As it plays, look to see whether the tonearm is roughly parallel/flat, not 'tail up' or 'tail down', and mostly listen to how it sounds. Many users install a wide range of cartridges on arms that have no VTF adjustment and outside of a few outliers they work and sound great.
 
I dont currently use a matt I just play the records on the acrylic platter so it looks like I need to buy a mat. Thanks everyone for all the help and input
 
The difference between the cartridge VTA's might result in a slightly (and perhaps unnoticeable) treble emphasis with the AT cartridge. That emphasis may be solely due to the difference in cartridge design alone. As others have recommended, mount the AT cart and listen. Could be all your worries are for naught.
 
Hi, The AT cartridge as I understand has a Micro Line stylus. This is what has to be aligned to 92 degrees. The VTA does not really come into it. But to see the 92 degree angle you need a USB microscope of at lead 5 Mp. This will be very difficult to achieve without some sort of height adjustment.

Cheers
 
I had a Kontrapunkt B with a measured VTA of 27°, so I would take Ortofon's published spec with a grain of salt. Of greater importance is the overall cartridge height which will bring about a level arm tube in both cases when swapping one for the other. The AT is a hair shorter so a shim would be useful if the the 2M is level already. Otherwise the difference is small enough it might not matter.
 
Errrrr, is it not the case that VTA is aligned by the manufacturer, providing the headshell sits parallel with the platter when playing records? If things are set up correctly for the Ortofon then you just look at the difference in cartridge heights between the two and adjust either tonearm height or mat height. To be totally precise you can buy a transparent block with perpendicular lines to check the headshell is parallel, and one of these (I've got one on the way right now) will also allow you to check azimuth (headshell alignment from the front).

Of course records come in varying thicknesses so you are never going to get this spot on without going crazy owning several mats and adjusting for every single time you play something, but it's my understanding that small differences don't matter so much. Differences in general matter more for more advanced stylus profiles though.
 
ludwig00388 said:
I have a fluance rt85 tt. I'm looking to change the ortofon 2m blue out with a audio technica VM540Ml. The otophon VTA is 20 mm and the audio technica is 23mm. My fluance has no VTA adjustability is there anyway to make the audio technica work. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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so the AT is taller, this means you need a "thinner" mat, as you're currently not using one you're kinda SOL, same goes for shims on the cartridge, these fixes only work if the cartridge is "shorter".

you could try and shim the "angle" of the cartridge to run parallel with the platter surface even if the arm is not, I would just run the cartridge as is and see if the SQ is to your satisfaction.
 
Grenadeslio said:
so the AT is taller, this means you need a "thinner" mat, as you're currently not using one you're kinda SOL, same goes for shims on the cartridge, these fixes only work if the cartridge is "shorter".

you could try and shim the "angle" of the cartridge to run parallel with the platter surface even if the arm is not, I would just run the cartridge as is and see if the SQ is to your satisfaction.
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It's possible that the Ortofon VTA is not correct with the headshell angled downwards, so the taller AT would be an improvement here (if the AT is taller, not sure here, the 2M series are tall carts, not sure those 20 and 23 figures relate to cartridge height since the OP is talking about VTA? Bit confused).

The tonearm height might be adjustable too.
 
TerryMarmite said:
It's possible that the Ortofon VTA is not correct with the headshell angled downwards, so the taller AT would be an improvement here (if the AT is taller, not sure here, the 2M series are tall carts, not sure those 20 and 23 figures relate to cartridge height since the OP is talking about VTA? Bit confused).

The tonearm height might be adjustable too.
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I would believe cartridge height only because he mentioned mm not degrees:dunno:

does seem rather tall if height, so I just checked the Ortofon and it's recommended tracking angle is 20 degrees so ya the OP meant tracking angle just used the wrong terminology.

OP states his arm does not provide VTA adjustment, it's close, but the microline profile is more sensitive to proper SRA.
 
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Yeah the Ortofon's height is 18mm. The AT is 17.3mm. The difference is not much so I wouldn't worry too much if the Ortofon is set up correctly as the whole Fluance package should have been out of the box. Different records will alter that height more than 0.7mm I think. If in doubt measure headshell height at the front and at the back to see if it matches up with a medium-thickness record. I don't know if a 0.7mm mat exists, maybe a flimsy felt number but that's still very thin. One could be cut from appropriate thin material.
 
''It appears the Worry over the VTA was for nothing''
No what it means is you where lucky, some things can just by chance work out right. Go buy a lotto ticket & enjoy your music.

Cheers
 
I would say that it might still be worth the effort to try adding a 1mm or 1.5mm mat just to hear for yourself what the difference is.

I have an AT LP1240 that I've tried a few cartridges on including a 2M Blue and a VM95 ML. In terms of refinement and picking up less noise, very slighting adjusting the VTA does make a difference. Not a night and day difference but worth the $10 or $20 it would cost to try adding a mat.

Congrats on the new cart!
 
Tip for anyone who uses a belt-driven record player. If your tracking arm has a fwd lean when playing a record,
put a (thin) velvety roundel between belt-driven wheel and the platter. It also isolates extra against vibration.
I used the thin rubber surround that's used between woofer mount and speaker wall.
 
cratz2 said:
I would say that it might still be worth the effort to try adding a 1mm or 1.5mm mat just to hear for yourself what the difference is.

I have an AT LP1240 that I've tried a few cartridges on including a 2M Blue and a VM95 ML. In terms of refinement and picking up less noise, very slighting adjusting the VTA does make a difference. Not a night and day difference but worth the $10 or $20 it would cost to try adding a mat.

Congrats on the new cart!
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When the above post references "picking up less noise", I believe they are referring to dirty, damaged or worn record groove. Correct?

Or is "noise" created from an improperly aligned stylus?
 
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