Feel Silly Asking This Question Alignment Parameters


I feel silly asking this question, but here it goes. Most of the arms I have owned over the years have came with proprietary protractors, and certain ones like the SME are really just overhang gauges. For other ones I have bought custom generated arc protractors for the specific arm. I will probably do so again with this Origin Live arm. However in the mean time i decided to set up using their provided protractor. 

When I went to install a cartridge on the table, I found I was not wild about using their protractor, so I decided to generate a Conrad H arc protractor till I made an order for an Accutrak one. What I found odd is that Lofgren A had the longest overhang at 16.8 mm and  Lofgren B at 16.3mm. The Origin Live shows 17.5 mm. Is the Rega type alignment that much different than Lofgren or Stevenson? I also noticed with the OL alignment that cartridge offset in the headshell was noticeably greater. 

What is also noticeable is the sonics of each alignment is different. To be honest, I like the overall sound of the OL alignment, but I also have this nagging feeling that it does not track as well. 

 

I always felt at this stage of my audio journey I knew how to align a cartridge. I have been doing it since I was in my 20's! Now I have a large degree of uncertainty of which alignment to choose, and what the implications are if i choose wrong. This arm is a long term keeper for me, so its a matter of wanting to get this set up optimized. 

 

Any insights you might pass along is greatly appreciated. Do have a good chuckle at my expense as it seems that I get into these moments of self doubt, and trying to find the way out of the forest of audio can be quite comical. 

neonknight

I prefer Lofgren B. Lofgren B generates less distortion across the bulk of the record than any other alignment accepting at the very innermost area where distortion rises sharply. Modern records avoid the innermost area of the record. You might see some old classical records with only a centimeter runout area, but that is about it.

It is not easy to align a cartridge perfectly. Most people are only ball parking it. The most accurate and versatile alignment protractor is the SmarTractor. Its etched mirrored surface and very effective magnifier makes it much easier to get that cantilever perfectly parallel to the lines. The stylus actually fits right into a small pit in the surface. The SmarTractor does Lofgren A and B plus a few others. It is pricey but you have spent enough money on your rig to validate it's purchase. GET ONE, I promise you will never regret it.

@neonknight If you can actually hear and remember the difference between the various alignments I think you might have a lucrative second career in turntable and room set up.  You would fall into an elite group of super listeners.  I'm not suggesting that you can't/aren't hearing those differences just that the overwhelming number of audiophiles can't and only imagine that they can.  It is much more likely that, even if you are hearing and remembering differences between alignments, the cause is more likely to be inadvertent changes in zenith, azimuth, and VTF than the geometry used.

I like the arc protractors this site generates.  https://alignmentprotractor.com/arc-protractor-generator.  They generate a useful chart that you can use to see what the distortion is across the surface of the record.  I believe that Baerwald is the same as Lofgren A.  All you need to know is the pivot to spindle distance and choose the alignment you want it to generate.  It is totally free and very accurate although the protractors you generate obviously don't have the mirrored surface the expensive protractors use.  Do make sure you put smooth glossy tape over the paper to prevent the needle from sticking and the cantilever possibly breaking if you accidentally move the paper back.

Personally, I like AlignmentProtractor.com's argument for their proprietary alignment and I use that but I would never suggest that I hear any difference.

The overhang difference between 16.8 mm and 16.3 mm is inconsequential. Even 17.5 mm is not critical. I doubt you can hear the difference from any of these.