Turntable VTA adjustment and 180/200 gram vinyl

I have had some really bad 180/200gm records. It's really the quality of the recording and the pressing that will give you great sound. Roy Gandy at Rega feels that VTA is of very little significance. To be quite honest I've never adjusted the VTA according to weight of the album. If you want great sound make sure your speed is accurate, and the cart is a proper match for your tonearm.

The THICKNESS of the record is what changes the VTA.

Some people make the mistake of setting the tracking force too light.

More records are damaged, IMO, by the mistracking caused by setting the tracking force TOO LIGHT than by any other thing.

When in doubt, always use a little more tracking force than you have if you hear distortion. You would have to at least double the tracking force to damage the record, but too light is a real problem.

I set up my Scout with a 120 gram record because that's mostly what I play on it. Some reset VTA for every weight record but that's just too fiddly for me. I also agree that too little VTF is worse than too much. A correctly adjusted azimuth is very important for balanced channel levels.
Regards, Sam

Excellent Idea !!!
Set it up for the record weight you play the most and quit worrying about it. Just spin 'em and enjoy your music. If you want perfect VTA for each record you'll spend all of your time fiddling instead of listening. When you change VTA it also changes overhang and VTF along with it, and it does the same thing when you change thicknesses of records. It's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. As you can see, there's more to it than changing tonearm height (VTA) for every record. IMHO it's better to set up with a medium weight record and leave it be. There is an audible difference in playback with different weights but it's slight and a lot of hassle to adjust for it. Yes, you can play 180 and 200 gram LP's with excellent results but as Class A previously posted there are some really crappy, noisy, expensive 180 and 200 gram reissues out there that don't come close to nice, used originals. I've got a highly rated Speakers Corner reissue of the Alan Parsons Project's "Eye in the Sky" that sounds terrible vs my original I bought back in the eighties. The Speakers Corner version has so much noise in the grooves it's unlistenable. The thing sounds like a popcorn machine and cost $35 bucks less shipping. The original, while not having quite the fidelity of the Speakers Corner, is quiet as a church and it's over thirty years old. Go figure.
Best Regards, Sam
Edited by slovell1 - 3/1/13 at 1:28pm

I did some research and, unfortunately, you're correct. VTA can't be adjusted on your table, it's preset for the cart that came with it. Bummer!
Sam