Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA)

By Gary M

Perhaps the most misunderstood and misused term is VTA. Most people, dealers included, think that this term means the angle of the cantilever to the record surface. They’re only partially correct. It actually refers to the plane of motion (or more correctly arc) of the stylus in the vertical plane (see figure 3). The VTA is in and of itself not a critical factor, but is tied to the factor that is far more critical, the SRA, which will be discussed next. While industry standard for cutting head VTA is 20 degrees, +/- 5 degrees, each cartridge is designed to function at or close to a particular VTA, most commonly 20 degrees. This is because VTA and SRA are not separable, and as you'll see in the following section, it is very important with line contact and eliptical styli to match as closely as possible to the SRA of the cutting head.

Figure 3

Figure 1. Side view of cartridge and tonearm tube. Note the arc denotes the "VTA" or plane of vertical motion.>