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I've been sorting through my record collection trying to get the size down to about the 300 album mark, probably more, though, from 500 or so. It's a brutal process, but someone has to do it!
I'm going mostly on whether I think the album sounds good and I enjoy it, which is probably a very risky method as I can let go of some very good albums IMO without even realizing it.
So, I do notice that I have two mats (actually three, the third one even thinner by another 10 mils and a radically different composition that is not so beneficial to most of my albums AFAIK) that I interchange and definitely some albums prefer one mat and other albums sounds better with the other.
On mat is the Rega original mat on a Regar Planar 3. The other mat is a mat I did see on a website, a gray generic mat, and their thickness are different by about 10 mils (thousands of an inch), the gray mat being slightly thinner. I definitely notice a difference and I don't attribute it to the mat composition (my opinion, or guess. basically), but to the mat's thickness. I'm using a Benz Ace which I believe has a line contact stylus.
I have no problem with this method of switching mats as appropriate, but just the thought that there are albums I would not appreciate if I hadn't had this method already and how many albums I didn't care for that maybe required a different mat thickness that I don't have?
I'm just putting this out there for some discussion.
Follow Ups:
If you are listening to the albums to determine what you are going to keep, why not get an adc and digitize them. After you have decided what you are getting rid of, then edit those, and if storage space is an issue delete the LPs that you are keeping.
I'm using the HRT LineStreamer+ and I have been getting excellent results with Vinyl Studio.
It would mean you wouldn't have to worry about getting rid of music you will later miss.
As to VTA and SRA, I have never quite understood how you can set one without affecting the other. What Par posted was helpful.
I am not going to fret about what I gave away. Someone else will enjoy them anyway.
If my theory about VTA is correct, then I cannot cope with more than two mats anyway. Even if it IS the mat themselves, still two is enough.
As 70% of albums prefer one mat and 25% prefer another, I am fine with letting go of the 5%.
Just having a collection I can get a handle on, I have a better chance of becoming familiar with the music. A lot of classical is new to me and a lot of the jazz which I already have a good idea of what they should sound like.
Big problem with archiving is that you really should have a good chance of capturing the albums at their best IMO. Otherwise, you can't get rid of the albums IMO.
People have passionately argued this for a long time. Its no less debated that the type of turntable drive system or LOMC vs MI vs MM cartridges or stepup transformers vs pre-preamps for LOMC cartridges.
All of the debate is entertainment as long as you observe from the nose-bleed seats. If you get too close you can get dragged into the debate, start drawing lines in the sand and choosing weapons.
All of that useless stuff said, I find adjustable VTA/SRA very handy. As long as you do not over use the adjustment it is very handy to account for vinyl thickness and for various label's pressings.
I don't have anything very fancy. I bought the Riggle VTAF for the RB-300 tonearm and it has been excellent. After owning this for a few years, I will not consider a tonearm unless it has VTA on the fly.
This is not said from opinion, or from stating some supposed authoritative mathematical works. Its from living with VTA on the fly and from listening to the difference it can make.
Ed
PS. I do find it interesting that people will argue how VTA on the fly is not needed but will agonize over the SRA adjustment when aligning their cartridge. Very interesting...
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
All of that useless stuff said, I find adjustable VTA/SRA very handy. As long as you do not over use the adjustment it is very handy to account for vinyl thickness and for various label's pressings.
I agree with the value of easily adjustable VTA and have heard drastic differences (microline tip) with minor adjustments. When the math perspective is thrown into it like Par does in the quote below it really gets interesting.
A record mat thickness variation of the order you refer to will not alter the replay SRA significantly. To put it in perspective, with a 9 inch arm a variation of 4mm at the pivot end will change SRA by 1 degree.
Obviously 4mm of VTA change is huge and to only effect a 1° change in SRA it makes me look for a better explanation than just record thickness.
Just because the math suggests that it is implausible that the SRA change of 1mm from 120g to 180g vinyl doesn't mean that differences are not heard. Maybe a 1° change in SRA is huge and something along the lines of 0.1° is audible with the more precise profiles and then suddenly everything makes sense again.
I go as far as avoiding the extreme profiles and prefer a line contact and am willing to leave say 10% of the music in the groove for not needed to adjust the VTA for every side. It is also important to understand that nothing states that two different 180 gram albums are cut with the same SRA so ultimately the concept of setting it for 92° can only get you close and the rest is up to your ears on a case by case situation.
dave
It isn't really VTA that is important in achieving the best sound ( i.e. lowest distortion) but the related Stylus Rake Angle. This is the vertical angle of the stylus sitting in the groove. This ideally has to replicate the angle of the cutting stylus in order to minimise distortion. The cutting stylus does not cut the groove at 90 degrees to horizontal as it is at a slight angle to assist in the clearance of swarf created during cutting.
The average SRA used in cutting discs is 92 degrees ( according to research from Wally Malewitz). A record mat thickness variation of the order you refer to will not alter the replay SRA significantly. To put it in perspective, with a 9 inch arm a variation of 4mm at the pivot end will change SRA by 1 degree.
So I think that the changes to sound that you hear are caused by the mat's composition, not by the very tiny amount of additional mat thickness.
There are people (I'm thinking of the late, great Allen Wrights) who said that - once they got near the optimum point (92 deg or whatever) - they could hear the effect of a pivot height change of less than 0.1mm.
Andy
I am normally of the opinion that if someone heard something then they heard it. But hearing a change in SRA angle of 0.025 degrees (a 0.1mm change in arm pillar height assuming a 9 inch arm - I think I have done the sums correctly) stretches my imagination a bit too far. Particularly as in changing the height other audible factors come into play. Like any change to the comparative tightness of the screw or other mechanism that holds the arm pillar height in place. Unless, of course, Mr. Wrights used some kind of tool where torque could be set so that before and after settings of the screw were identical. However I have never heard of anyone doing this when setting arm height.
Yeah, I agree it is pretty amazing! :-))
I most certainly am not that acute - I merely offer it up as something put forward by a number of people (Allen is not the only one).
Regards,
Andy
Yes but my point is that they may be mistakenly attributing the change that they hear to the action that they have consciously made without eliminating the effect of other changes that they unconsciously made at the same time.
For example they made a tiny, tiny change to arm height whilst not appreciating that they may have also made a comparatively large change to the rigidity of the arm pillar within its mount at the same time. The change to the sound caused by the latter was,say, very audible but they think it was due to the change to height as that is what they were thinking about.
I knew there was a reason that I got a torque screw driver. Just one more thing to drive myself crazy.
Enjoy the crazy ride
Tom
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