Alignment tool for SME V + Shelter

Dear Neil, I also admire J.Carr and you and he obviously admire SME V. We all are refering to some 'standard' that,as Carr stated, is not existant. His 'way out' regarding the SME 'hols': 'recalculate the arm geometry...'
The math was my worst subject at school but my best friend was an mathematical genius. He was not able to comprehend my 'weakness'. 'It is so easy' he was used to say.
No idea if Dertonarm was/is an mathematical genius but he
started this quest for the adjustment perfection and this seems to implicate 'thinking' in fractions of a millimetre.I got an reprimand from him because I stated that I hardly can see those 'little bastards'. Then Yip from the Mint LP come along with 'spindle deviations' and
well from 6,9 to 7,3 mm. To me all the spindles look exactly the same and I never thought about the subject because there was none. Or so I thought. I like Yip as well
as Dertonarm so I intend to keep my mouth shut. Those are
very sensitive guys regarding the mentioned 'fractions'and if you like that they like you,you should not 'mess' with
millimetre. You can always pretend that you obey all those
adjustments rules and even bay one Mint LP to look serious.
And if someone ask you:'are you listen to the music?' you
are supposed to say:'certainly not,I am still adjusting'.

Regards,

Nandric & All,
right, --- am I listening to music? Sir, YES Sir!

Let's just say that (most?) SME V users fall a bit outside the anal-retentive mould of "sub-micron aligners/adjusters" and as long as they know where they fit into this "aligner/adjuster window", most unnecessary arguments can be avoided.
Even in Audio, it's a free world after all --- just don't come asking for advice on inner / outer or what ever groove distortion if you are a SME V owner, and there shall be piece.

I like mine, and have NO intention to change round holes for slots. When I had distortion it turned out to be the cart rather then the arm this far. (I measured some of those bastard carts, made my point and send them back to the factory for replacement).
Let's hold thumbs it'll stay this way in future -- SME V arm + bad cart = groove distortion, KISS :-)
Greetings,

Axelwhal, believe it or not, there is a small coterie of SME V owners who are quite anal retentive. They're the ones who refuse to use the arm with the finger lift attached, and who remove the bridge across the main bearing.

With all audio refinements/improvements/adjustments, proof of concept is always going to be decided by the answer to two questions: "Can you hear a difference?" and "Do you like the Emperor's new clothes?"

No one who uses anything more sophisticated than a record changer will argue against careful setup - even those who haven't learned to do it themselves. The implication that certain arms/tools can provide 'tighter' setup tolerances is just baloney as I see it. I've been setting up arms and cartridges for 50 years, and I'm a stikler for precision in all things mechanical. The only changes I've witnessed in all that time vis a vis tonearm setup, are tools (such as Mint and Wally) that make the process easier -- especially for those who don't have a lot of practice and/or skill. What makes me laugh is the notion that one can do a better job using those tools. Maybe faster, but not better.

If anyone using a line contact (or micro-ridge) stylus equipped cartridge really wants to experience a revelation in cartridge performance I would refer them to the following thread: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1140840022&openmine&Nsgarch&4&5&st0 Boy! Do I wish someone would make a tool for doing that!!~
.

Nsgarch
y.s.:
>> ...the ones who refuse to use the arm with the finger lift attached, and who remove the bridge across the main bearing. <<<

No finger-lift, OK fine, I just put some heat-shrink over it so call me anal too. But removing the bridge is BS^2, call it crap, sorry. I have listened to it, it makes the sound in-coherent, period. (That arm was designed with the bridge and so was the sound or 'non-sound' it makes.)

As to that VTA tool, -- the longer I been fiddling with VTA, all the more I keep it with Roy Gandy's (REGA) take. It's important to find a good working level (and take some time to do it) but then get a rest and listen to music and don't keep on chasing 'sound'. Every cart has some sort of 'sweet-spot' but is not normally THAT small so we have to get anal about micro-degrees --- really it is not, and neither is all the rest from LP to LP. If it was, I'd been long, long back with this harmonically leached out CD music.
Greetings,
PS: taking care and practicing good set-up is one thing, getting 'retentive' quite another in my experience.
Enjoy a good weekend,

Axel, you clearly did not read my thread on SRA.

"VTA" isn't even a real world entity (or concept or whatever) and is absolutely useless. People who think VTA is real are indeed doomed to "keep on chasing 'sound'" because VTA doesn't exist (unless your cartridge just happens to match the cutterhead in all dimensions and angles -- yeah right!) So just forget about it!

As for SME mods, I just don't believe in guilding the lily (or removing petals from it ;-) The SME arm is all about RIGIDITY and ZERO FRICTION -- both to the max. So I have to assume the bridge is there for rigidity, or else, as Bette Midler would say, "Why botha?!" As for the finger lift, I hardly think the tiny axial torque it creates will affect those huge ABEC horizontal bearings in the slightest.
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