EasyVTA height adjuster for Rega arms
One of the things which many vinyl enthusiasts have found very frustrating is the inability to adjust the pillar height on a tonearm with any degree of certainty or repeatability, especially where those adjustments are by means of inserting shims either in the headshell or between the arm base and the turntable arm board. The higher you go up the hierarchy of turntable and arm/cartridge design, the greater the potential impact of the resulting VTA (vertical tracking angle) can be. With the more exotic stylus shapes that’s often even more the case.
The other factor which many overlook is that as tracking force is increased there is a tendency for the cantilever’s suspension to sag slightly under the downforce, and as a result the stylus rake or angle can be upset with the stylus ‘leaning backwards’ towards the pivot. Reducing the downforce has the opposite effect, leading to the top of the stylus leaning away from the pivot which can lead to unhappy tracking, especially with the higher frequency content in the vinyl microgroove.
You may remember a while ago I reviewed the rather marvellous EasyVTA. Well, Antonio, the nice guy behind that piece of kit (which fits many-a tonearm) has refined the design even further and now has a bespoke version specifically to give the same functionality to the Rega arms. Rega’s argument about the problem of VTA (though in reality with their own cartridges it’s generally not an issue) is that there’s no consistency between manufacturers regarding the height (from the tip of the stylus to the mounting surface) of cartridges. Some are very shallow, others quite tall. This presents something of a dilemma in a Rega arm, and even by fitting either angled or parallel-sided shims at the headshell, or under the arm base, there’s no sure-fire way of achieving the result you want. Add to that the vagaries of the change in stylus rake that increasing tracking force can bring (especially if you’re in a colder room, and need a little more downforce because the suspension has become stiffer) the whole set-up transforms from just being a carefully-orchestrated procedure to a nightmare of indefinable proportions.
The EasyVTA (Rega version) costs £155 and bolts securely to the underside of the arm pillar and the turntable arm board and enables you, with micrometer precision, to ease the arm up and down to achieve exactly the result you want. As the micrometer is carefully marked with repeatable settings you can ‘have a play’, easing the pillar up, and down again until you find the sweet spot for your particular cartridge. As most Rega arms also have markings for tracking weight, again you can try a number of different settings at different weights and as long as you make a note of the results you can go back to any of them – repeatability here is key. You no longer have to rely on your brain and memory to work out ‘what happened at that setting?’ You can simply dial it in, and away you go.
How does this translate?
Well, the effect/benefit of the Easy VTA with a spherical stylus, even in an arm as good as a Rega (whichever variant) is going to be limited. However, once you get into the realm of the more exotic stylus shapes there are marked differences. Lifting up the back end certainly makes a noticeable difference to how the treble come across. The bottom end tends to lighten a bit in weight (not necessarily a universal truth) and duller recordings can enjoy a slightly less muddy presentation. Lift the arm pillar too much though and everything becomes decidedly blurred, and the bass becomes horribly indistinct. Beware though: increasing the tracking weight to ‘compensate’ and restore the stylus rake will produce a lugubrious heaviness to the output which really isn’t pleasant at all.
As you might expect, going the other way, and dropping the arm pillar can add a little to the bass output, but before long the treble definition really suffers leading to quite a woolley veil over the whole affair. As always, the starting point must be the cartridge manufacturer’s set-up parameters. Always choose the mid-point for downforce, and use a mirror to get the stylus rake correct (the facet towards the arm pillar should be absolutely vertical, NOT the shank, but the angled bit of the point) and as you will notice, this will vary with downforce. The two are definitely inter-related. Change one, and the other changes too. Then it’s simply a case of making very, very small changes using that ‘benchmark starting point’ as your reference.
My son has a Rega on his turntable, but a non-Rega cartridge. He had thought you ‘just fit it and forget it’. Having fitted the EasyVTA Rega version we went back to basics, then gently and slowly tweaked the settings. The reality was that his particular cartridge worked best when slightly ‘sat down at the back’ arm pillar, but the difference in what you could now hear was quite the revelation. He’s definitely a convert and has realised that set-up really is a key element in getting the most out of vinyl replay.
The EasyVTA is a wonderful product and should be sold with every Rega arm. It’s amazing what a tremendous difference really quite small adjustments produce. Very highly recommended.
EasyVTA
www.easyvta.net