Triplanar Problem

Doug, you wrote, "2.a. that adjustment beneath the VTA tower was mis-set by the manufacturer or altered by somebody. This is a job for Tri-Mai unless you're feeling brave. There's only one correct position and it's unclear to me (doing this from memory) how to measure or describe it. Even rotating to the correct spindle-to-pivot dimension might be wrong, if 2.b were also off."

I agree that there is only one correct position, but the qualification is that there is only one correct position for a given set of three mounting screw holes. Swinging the arm pivot with respect to the VTA tower could be corrected for by drilling a new set of mounting screw holes. I almost had to mess with that screw under the tower myself, because the lucite jig that Tri sold me was slightly inaccurate. (As you say, Tri told me NOT to do it.) I found that my older metal jig, that locates the tonearm by fixing the location of the pivot point, was more accurate. Anyway, I don't see why or how one could ruin the tonearm by rotating the VTA tower, but it's not for the faint of heart to do that. By the way, measuring twice with an inaccurate mounting jig will not help much.

Hi Lew,

We made the same qualification, just in different words. I said that 2.a (rotational position) is dependent on the correctness of 2.b (the jig and its use). You said it's dependent on the position of the mounting holes. Same idea.

I don't see why or how one could ruin the tonearm by rotating the VTA tower, but it's not for the faint of heart to do that.

Agreed.

By the way, measuring twice with an inaccurate mounting jig will not help much.

It will confirm whether the jig was used correctly, which is one possible error that would cause his problem. I agree it won't reveal whether the jig was made correctly.

Both of us have warned about inaccurate jigs, so if his armrest appears correct and his jig was used correctly, the next step would be to get his hands on another jig that's known to be accurate. His dealer or Tri Mai should be able to supply if there are no other TriPlanar owners near.

A known-to-be-accurate jig will reveal whether his mounting holes are correct.

- if they are then the rotational adjustment must be off. Contact dealer/Tri Mai.

- if they're incorrect then he should position the arm at the correct mounting position and recheck spindle-to-pivot.

--- if s-to-p is correct, he can resolve his problem by drilling new holes using the known-to-be-accurate jig.

--- if s-to-p is still off, then he needs to redrill new holes AND deal with the rotational adjustment.

Easier to show with a flow chart than to write.

I think there may be too much play in the lucite jig, especially when the tonearm mounting platform is significantly below the plane of the platter/spindle. Anyway, that seemed to be the source of the inaccuracy of my jig. Sorry if I was redundant; I do see your point.

The plastic jig that Triplanar provides is not accurate. It is off by a significant amount. If you drill your holes based on the jig, you will not get the specified pivot to spindle distance.

Thankfully, Tri can still supply the metal one, originally designed and supplied by Herb Papier, which locates the tonearm via the spindle to pivot distance directly (at least Tri was able to send me one, after I lost mine). That's probably the one to use.