Origin Live Rega Modification Kits - Manual (Page 15)

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balanced, lock it in its cradle and, using the calibrated counterweight, set the tracking force according to your
cartridge’s recommended weight.
T A N G E N C Y A L I G N M E N T ( L A T E R A L T R A C K I N G A N G L E )
Follow the manufacturer's literature and the dictates of your alignment gauge — different gauges use slightly different
methods. As you square up the hi-fi cartridge body with the gauge’s markings, be sure that the cartridge sides are
square or your alignment will be wrong. When all adjustments are correct, carefully tighten down the hi-fi cartridge
mounting screws. Keeping a firm grip on hi-fi cartridge and headshell together so nothing shifts, delicately tighten
each screw down a turn or so, then repeat until tight. Tightening down one screw all the way before tightening the
others is almost certain to twist the cartridge out of alignment. However careful you’ve been, always check the
alignment again after tightening.
V E R T I C A L T R A C K I N G A N G L E ( V T A )
Unless your tonearm has a special VTA adjuster, adjusting arm height is usually carried out with the use of spacing
washers (as with Rega arms). In arms with a pillar / collar type vta adjuster it helps to put pencil or pen marks on the
pillar to keep track of various heights. See your tonearm manual for its recommendations on adjusting arm pillar
height. The best approach is to tune-in VTA gradually by listening to music. You know the arm needs to be lowered
at the arm pillar when the overall sound is hard and bright, with thin bass or no deep bass, edgy highs, and harsh
midrange (of course, this could also be tracking force which is too light). Distortion obscures low level details between
the musical; notes so dynamic range is reduced. Transient attacks may be too sharp. Raise the arm when the sound is
dull and damped, the highs rolled off, the lows muddy and lacking definition, and transient attacks are dull. Mind you,
this sounds an awful lot like the effects of changes in tracking force (too light is edgy, too heavy is heavy and dull).
They are different sounding but hard to explain. Start with the arm a little low and very gradually raise it, first to where
it is parallel to the record, and then so the back of the cartridge is tilting up. Keep track of your settings so you can
return to the one you like best where everything snaps into focus. The range of adjustments can be quite broad, as
much as 3/4" or even more (at the arm pivot). Play with the full range so you know what it sounds like and don’t be
diffident.
A N T I S K A T E F O R C E ( P I V O T I N G A R M S O N L Y )
This applies an opposing, balancing force to the natural inward drag of a pivoting arm while playing. Left
uncontrolled, the stylus would push up against the inner groove wall, causing distortion both from mistracking and a
cantilever skewed in relation to the cartridge generator. To set, lower the stylus down near the label of a record with a
wide run-out to it. Increase antiskate until the arm starts to slowly drift inwards, towards the label. Again, this should
be finalized by ear as you listen to music. If image placement is a little off-center, or if things don’t seem to be locked
in solidly, experiment with antiskate. Also, watch the stylus when you set it into a groove. Does it move to the right or
left relative to the cartridge body? This indicates too much or too little antiskating.
F I N E T U N I N G
You now have three adjustments approximated. Tracking force, VTA, and azimuth. It’s a matter of reiteration to
optimize the sound. The change in sound with each of these individual adjustments can be similar. It’s therefore
necessary, in optimizing all three, to experimentally move from one type of adjustments to the next, then to the next,
in order to balance the optimization for all three. It's helpfull to listen to female vocals as you proceed. Firstly try
deviating from the cartridge’s recommended tracking force by small increments - about 0.2 of a gram deviation above
and below the manufacturer’s basic recommendations. Don’t worry about record damage from heavy tracking as
most record damage is actually caused by mistracking in the middle-to-high frequencies with too little tracking force
rather than with too heavy. If you’re getting mistracking at the low (lightest) end of the range and yet the low range is
generally sounding the best (and on moderate signals, not heavy passages), then chances are you have either a dirty
stylus, a bad record, an accumulation of crud in your cartridge, or a cartridge that’s getting old. Changes in tracking
force can change how you want VTA and azimuth adjusted. If azimuth was initially adjusted by ear, experiment with
it.