VTA- it got me thinking

[gbhsi1]

Should the tonearm be horizontal to the record? The reason why I ask is because some members on the forum did not experience any sibilance whilst using the 2M red cartridge but I did, and I have been told that I should not have had any sibilance in the first place if the VTA was correct. I do have it horizontal (used the human eye)to the record when lowered so is it wrong? or is there a sure fire way of getting it 100%? I have the 2m blue so want to make sure I am getting it right

 

[Frank Harvey]

The arm should be horizontal to the record (not the deck) when the arm is lowered onto it.

 

[gbhsi1]

FrankHarveyHiFi:The arm should be horizontal to the record (not the deck) when the arm is lowered onto it.Thank you- then it is correct 🙂

 

[Sabby]

I found that the VTA does have quite an influence on the sound. If the angle is too steep, i.e. if the arm is slightly higher at the base, then the sound tends to be brighter and sibilance will be exaggerated. If the arm goes the other way, i.e. lower at the base, then high frequencies tend to roll off and bass seems to be more prominent. This is from my experience and I am not sure if this applies to all arms and cartridges. Also remember that some vinyl recordings do tend to be more sibilant because that's the way they were recorded and no amount of VTA adjustment will change that.

 

[gbhsi1]

Sabby:I found that the VTA does have quite an influence on the sound. If the angle is too steep, i.e. if the arm is slightly higher at the base, then the sound tends to be brighter and sibilance will be exaggerated. If the arm goes the other way, i.e. lower at the base, then high frequencies tend to roll off and bass seems to be more prominent. This is from my experience and I am not sure if this applies to all arms and cartridges. Also remember that some vinyl recordings do tend to be more sibilant because that's the way they were recorded and no amount of VTA adjustment will change that.
I definitely agree with the last bit as some records are just recorded that way..as I only experienced it with a few records, which is a shame! If only everyone cared about the quality of their recordings 🙂