So after much enjoyment out of my RP6 with Ania Pro a question crossed my path yesterday.
When I initially got it I did much reading about VTF and kinda got to a consensus online of folks going for somewhere towards the middle of the 1.75 - 2.00 grams of VTF for the Ania Pro.
Saying that it sounds more detailed than the more basey 2 gram setting.
Then yesterday I stumbled on this in the RP6 manual:
Just suddenly confused me that they would say always go for the top after recommending the range themselves. Was enough to make my nit picky mind wonder.
To be accurate, the issue is not really specific to Rega at all. The VTF is an aspect of the force applied on the cantelever to the surface of the vinyl. Well, regardless of whether the deck is Rega or not, you could be using any cartridge on any record.
So it really comes down to applying the force anywhere within the stated range for the cartridge that sounds best to you.
It sounds more like this their personal generalised opinion of what is correct rather than a Rega deck thing. Rega can be a bit funny like that. For example, their insistence that VTA makes no difference.
Thank you. The way you state it is how I understand it. But was suddenly thrown by the text in the manual. Now, thinking about it, it is quite a statement about all possible cartridges.
Adjust and listen.
As you change VTF you also change the rake angle of the stylus as the suspension compresses and also the position of the coils in the magnetic field. Both of these things will have an optimum and they might not coincide depending on arm height. That’s fixed on a Rega and they built the cartridge to fit their decks so there’s a chance they will and that you’ll hear it in the dynamic performance when you land on them.
I’d be wary of Rega’s calibration of their antiskate dial though, it was way out on the RB300 I used to use and I ended up with a skewed cantilever on my 17D2, setting about half the tracking force was more like it but they may have improved over the last 25 years.
Rega arm bias is best set by the dial for an “approximation” and then fine tuned by eye and by ear. Depending on the arm you may be surprised by how much adjustment or not is required one way or other!
Hi Richard
That’s really interesting, I get fine tuning by ear, I have an old HFS 75 test record that gives a good indication of mistracking. Not sure how to check visually though
As the force will differ per record (or even track) depending on the groove spacing and even modulation, do you have a standard (average?) record and track for setting up like that?
Not really. I used to use a blank unmodulated LP that was designed for setting bias. It made things simple, just set it so that the arm would stay still wherever you placed it on the LP. However, as soon as the stylus actually rode the groove of a proper LP then things would change and so some adjustment would normally be necessary. These days I don’t bother with the unmodulated LP.
