Tonearm alignment question


A question for all you tonearm experts ...

If the spindle to tonearm pivot point distance is off by 2 – 3mm, will this affect the sound quality. And if the tonearm alignment is adjusted with a 2 point alignment tool to fit this distance error, would this alignment be okay? Hope this makes sense …
taylor514
Taylor,

Nice tonearm! The Phantom is at least the equal of my TriPlanar (arguably better). It will reward the best setup you can do.

I hope you have the the newly redesigned Graham tool that adjusts for the height of the cartridge. The original tool didn't, which severely impaired its accuracy. The new one's an improvement but it still can't match the results obtainable with a fine arc protractor.

I own two TTB protractors and they don't even match each other. Even if they did, they're blunt instruments vs. the micro-surgical precision of the Mint.
Get the MintLP for your table Graham arm configuration. I can tell you from experience that the Graham jig has some error in it and cannot get anywhere near the alignment accuracy of the Mint LP arc protractor.
Great advice ... a Mint protractor it will be!

I think Peterayer makes a good point and that shifting the cartridge in the headshell to accomodate the S2P distance error will not be a good idea. If it were this simple, there would be no need for a correct S2P distance.
Well, shifting it to get eff. length and overhang right is better than NOT shifting it! ;)
OK, I am trying to undertand this thread. I got the Feickert protracter and measured the S2P distance on my table and the mount is 2mm short. Since the armboard has already been drilled, can't remount the arm. What would be the optimum alignment procedure at this point? Thanks.