Tranfiguration Orpheus description

Andrew,

Cello and I each own a 25% share in a Wally Analog Shop. It works, and using it taught me two things (which Dan has already mentioned):

1. extremely small adjustments matter and,

2. I can set azimuth about as well by ear as by measuring (and with far less fuss).

4yanx also owned a share of our Wally at one time. He sold it after making the same discovery. Wanna buy my share? ;-)

As Tim said, cartridges are rarely if ever so flawless that stylus, cantilever, coils, suspension and magnets all align perfectly. It just doesn't happen in real manufacturing.

I set the stylus close to vertical to prevent vinyl damage or uneven wear. I don't find magnification helpful for this either. After that, fine adjustments to minimize crosstalk yield the best sound.

A good mono record works, but so does a good stereo one if there are well recorded instruments or vocalists in the center. Getting images tightly focused with maximum air is the goal.

Doug

Doug,

That's interesting. Let me think about buying your share:)

One thing I do that is helpful in identifying "close" to vertical alignment is putting a small level on the headshell while the arm is in it's resting position an varying azimuth till the side to side level is the same as the TT platter. Of course this could only be true level if the cartridge base to stylus alignment is true.

Maybe I should get a mono recording or one with clear certain center image to assist in varying from this point by ear. In your experience, what range of azimuth changes resulted in optimization. 1/8 turn? 1/4 turn? Or less? Also, did your setting through listening equal the setting you obtained using the Wally instrument? Finally, did you have to connect your speaker cables to the Wally device or can you just insert tonearm out puts or preamp outputs?

Thanks Doug as always.

Andrew

doug, I forgot you and Larry were in that group.

Andrew, it's not that the headshell has to be level. The important thing is that the headshell is in the same plane as the record/platter surface. Of course, this is assuming the stylus is at least close to perpendicular at this point. Just a place to start. If you go this route it won't matter what the bubble on the headshell says. If you try to level the platter and then level the headshell it comes down to how closely you can read the bubble. Kind of nit-picky, but it is simpler. Use the little block that came with the Triplanar to level the headshell with the platter surface.

The amount of change that I saw Thom make were in the very fine tweaky range. He used an Allen key and watched the amount of movement with the end of the key to judge how much movement he go. We're talking just nudging things on the threads.

The teeny tiny changes needed to get azimuth right are a reality. I use the cheaper version of Wally's Analog Shop - bought it a few years ago before the price leaped up. Took me several hours of patient patience to move my SME's adjustable headshell just so. We're talking a movement distance of less than or equal to the thickness of a line on a ruler, less than the thickness of a line drawn with a thin-tip ballpoint pen. You cannot breath out while you do this!

The reason I give priority to the Wally instead of my ears is assurance of repeatability from one day to the next, and being able to get the crosstalk lower. Do your best with your ears, then measure with the Wally. My ears got me inside 4dB, Wally got me under 1dB. An expensive cure for audiophilia nervosa but I'm happy to have the device.

Tim

Dan,

I think we were trying to say the same thing. By using a bubble level you can get the headshell to be in the same plane as the platter. I'm only looking in the x-direction of the level. Not the z-direction. This assumes everything else is level. If the platter and headshels are both level (or a better way of saying it is at the same bubble in the x-direction) ,shouldn't the headshell and platter be in the same plan. Of course as you mention this assumes one is able to duplicate the bubble level exaclty. The only way I can see this not physically true is if the headshell does not have the same thickness.

By the way, I think the strip that came with the Triplanar is not perfectly flat on it's edge becasue you can see light through the middle even though the edges may be flat up against the edges of the bottom of the headshell. I'm thinking of getting a machine shop to make a "perfectly" flat block to use instead. I would agree that that would then be a better method than the bubble level.

Andrew