LP12 set-up: part 2: balancing the tonearm

[yours in music]

Some analog experts suggest that the industry standard of balancing the tonearm by having it parallel to the record is wrong and advocate a
tonearm sloping slightly down towards the back (i.e. towards the pivot).

For example, Ringmat development writes (the guy who plays with cork...):

"If there is height adjustment to the tonearm, make such adjustments as are necessary to ensure that the tonearm and cartridge are aligned to the surface of the record as is appropriate for the design of the cartridge." Most instructions for aligning the tonearm and cartridge suggest that these should lie parallel to the surface of the record. Following the pioneering work of Russ Andrews and others, further research has shown that the 'parallel' concept (virtually an industry standard) is not usually the best approach for most cartridges.

The aforementioned research has confirmed that a far more accurate signal, with much less distortion, can usually be obtained by having the tonearm sloping slightly down towards the back (i.e. towards the pivot). It was also found that when the stylus pressure of the cartridge was set at a point that was more suitable to the room conditions (see following paragraph) the pivot end of the tonearm needed to be between 2mm and 2.5mm lower than the headshell end. The reason for the range of 0.5mm is that the optimum setting varies from cartridge to cartridge (the foregoing seems to be good for most cartridges, typically with a nominal tracking angle of 20° - 23° ) and also from record to record, according to the thickness of the vinyl and the angle at which the record was cut; indeed, the actual variation to achieve an optimum stylus rake angle for any record is around 1mm or more, but the suggested range is typical of many records.

Anybody volunteering to try this? Return of experience, comments...

[lejonklou]

When I tune LP12's, I adjust the VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle, altered by adjusting the height of the tonearm) by ear, using the Tune Method. Usually this will result in the arm being roughly parallel to the record while playing, but not quite.

In reality, this is still a compromise, because the optimal arm height will vary slightly between different records.