Who said that arm height isn’t important, of course it is! You’re drawing totally the wrong conclusion here Peter, IME there’s one optimized VTA position where almost every lp will fall in and the only reason to change for each and every lp is because you haven’t nailed it the first time. I didn’t go back & forth 12 times to fine tune the VTA after setting it, that’s the number of times it took listening to the same track to nail it. You think that’s a lot setting up vta in a totally alien system that still had to be optimized? It’s a one time thing set it correctly and forget it!
david
I may not have been clear in my post, David. What I mean is that the owners of the 3012R arm don't think adjusting the arm height after the initial set up is important. I obviously did not mean to imply that one should not be careful with adjusting and setting arm height during the set up proceedure. The SME manual is very clear and well written. One should follow its instructions and know what to listen for. I was taught this too by my SME dealer. When my first SME dealer was setting up my Model 10A with 309 arm, he taught me, like you taught Tango, what to listen for when setting up the SME arm. He played one LP (Johnny Hartman, "Once in Every Life") over and over again until he got just the right balance between the sounds of the instruments, the timbre, dynamics, presence, etc. He pointed out particular piano notes, siblance, bass tone, etc. He told me that this LP always seems to work for the job because he discovered that it represented the best compromise setting for the rest of his LP collection. All LPs sound good when set up using that particular LP. He set it and forgot it and declared the job done. It sounded great and I enjoyed my music. I followed this same technique for years.
I understood what Tang first wrote, that you went back and forth 12 times while doing the initial set up and listening to the same music. He made it sound like a lot, but I know this is at least a minimum of what it takes. This was fine tuning the VTA until you nailed it. Once nailed, you left it alone. That is clear to me. I do the same thing, though you obviously have much more experience than I do, and with a variety of arms and systems. I just have my system and don't advise others.
I happen to do this same exercise to adjust VTA for each of my LPs and record the setting. Back and forth until I nail the sound for that LP. Then, that setting is left alone. The difference is that I can hear that that same setting I spend a while locating for a particular LP is not optimal for all of my other LPs. It is optimal for about 1/4 of them. I presume it is because this 1/4 have the same combination of cutting angle and vinyl thickness. It is "good" for all of my LPs, but it is not the optimal setting. For optimal results, I have about five different settings, in tiny 0.5mm increments, which cover my collection. Three settings cover 80% of the collection and then there are some outliers..
Perhaps my ears are deceiving me. Perhaps my audio friends are lying to me, and perhaps I don't know what I am doing. All of that may be true, but I am happy in my delusion and obsession. I think I understand your process for setting up the SME arms. I don't think going back and forth 12 times is a lot for a totally alien system. That sounds extremely fast from what I can tell. You have a lot of experience and I'm sure that it would have take me much longer and with far less good results. Tang is lucky to have had you come and set up his system for him. I guess his former local experts got it close. Deitrich must have gotten it closer with his own Axiom arm. From what Tang writes, you transformed his system and he now experiences much more emotional and musical involvement as a result. You corrected his system, and it was not just the addition of the 3012R and the AS2000. You improved the system and increased it's resolution and sense of "natural" sound independent of the new gear you brought over. Your 3012R and AS200 just took it to the next level beyond. It's all good.
