Adjusting VTA with spacers under the record

Like many of you vinyl lovers, I have been frustrated by the fact that my turntable/tone arm will not easily adjust VTA to account for different record thicknesses. I have a 16-year old Goldmund Studio with a Goldmund T3F arm (Grado Reference cartridge) that sounds great IMO. The T3F arm is a precision linear tracking arm that has saved my LPs from suffering damage from my fumble-fingered proclivities. It is possible to adjust the VTA on the T3F arm, but it is sufficiently complex and time-consuming that it is not practical to set for every record.

I have a pretty good system and love the way the image seems to "pop out" when the VTA is properly set on good vinyl. Unfortunately, I am also acutely aware when the VTA is not properly set (and I get either the dreaded flat wall of bright sound or equally dreaded muddy mess). I think the T3F's relatively short arm exaggerates the effect of record thickness on VTA. Many of you set VTA as a compromise between the correct settings for 180 or 200 gram records and "normal" approx. 120 gram records. I decided to see if I could do better.

Rather than moving the arm up and down, I've been experimenting with raising thinner LPs off the platter using removable spacers or shims to adjust VTA. The platter of the Goldmund Studio is hard plastic without a mat. I set the VTA for 180 or 200 gram records (there is actually little difference), and put spacers under the normal records. I started experimenting creating spacers from trimmed down plain paper or rice paper record sleeves. I was able to get excellent results from a combination of a single sheet of thin white paper sleeve material and a single sheet of really thin rice paper (each trimmed in a circle with a hole punched in the middle). My Goldmund record clamp eliminated slippage.

Yes, the use of paper and rice paper under the record was not ideal and seemed to slightly "soften" the sound, but this subtle effect was far outweighed by the fact that it accurately adjusted VTA. This was an ugly and not particularly durable solution, so I looked for something better.

Ringmat, an English company (www.ringmat.com), makes a selection of vinyl spacers to achieve proper VTA with one of its elaborate mat replacements. They sell the spacers separately; the spacers are priced in English pounds, but the US dollar equivalent is between $10 to $15 depending on thickness. I bought a selection and experimented some more. The slate colored spacer (0.125mm) seems to be the perfect spacer to bring a normal record to the thickness of a DCC 180 gram (which is what I set my VTA with). Because the spacer is vinyl, it does not seem to have any adverse audible effect on the normal records. Now, simply by taking a single vinyl spacer on or off the platter I can have the VTA set correctly for all of my records.

I hope that some of you vinyl addicts can benefit from this.

 

Goldmund trademark was something like "acoustic grounding priciple" if I remember correctly.
The platter/spindle material choice was from a particular combionations of materials that made sure that all noice and vibrations in the record would "leak" away into the turntable.

If this trademark was correct there should be a noticable difference between using vinyl spacers and other spacers.


(By the I guess the clearaudio/souther arms must be even more sensitive to the VTA problem ?)

 

Because the spacer is vinyl, it is very similar to the material from which the record itself is made. Therefore, the spacer should not have an audible effect if the record is well-clamped to it (I use a Goldmund clamp). The sound of the LPs with the vinyl spacer is very solid, and I cannot hear any adverse effect from the spacer. Ringmat designs the spacer with various cutouts that are supposed to reduce resonances. I can't attest to whether the cutouts do anything, but I am not hearing any ringing or other anomalies.

With the paper spacers, the sound was not as solid. There must have been some loss of coupling between the records and platter, which is one of the reasons I searched out the vinyl spacers.

 

Interesting idea, Hal. Thanks for the tip.

 

Ok, that basically confirms that the Goldmund principle has a positive influence on the sound quality