Time to choose: Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson ?

Dear @sampsa55 :  """   I align the cartridges based on the alignment the tonearm was designed for. Since most of my tonearms use removable head shells and were designed for a 52mm distance from the head shell connection to the stylus... """

that's true only if those tonearms has the same effective length.

Remember that the Löfgren calculations ( he was the first to do it and all the other kind of alignments starts by his equations. ) begin with the input know parameters:
tonearm effective length, inner most groove radius and outer most groove radius. This is the foundation of the alignments that must be untouched for the calculations.

From those 3 input parameters we calculate: offset angle, overhang, both null points and distance from the center of tonearm pivot to the center of TT spindle. If we move the overhang we need to move the tonearm mount distance in order to mantain distortions at minimum for the choosed alignment calculations.

Understanding all those we can have a " personal " alignments changing the effective length or any or both radius.

As I posted here in the tonearm/cartridge set up the name of the game with the choosed alignment is: accuracy on that set up.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Dear @sampsa55 : """ I align the cartridges based on the alignment the tonearm was designed for. Since most of my tonearms use removable head shells and were designed for a 52mm distance from the head shell connection to the stylus... """

that’s true only if those tonearms has the same effective length.

Ah, no. The effective length of the tonearm has nothing to do with this. You can have tonearms of very different length that are still designed to have the same 52mm distance from stylus to tonearm connection or tonearms with the exact same length that are designed for a different distance (e.g., 50mm) from stylus to tonearm connection.

Again, think about the SPU: it can be used in short and long tonearms. 

Dear @sampsa55 : I think that you have a misunderstood on the input data for the whole calculations through diferent tonearm/cartridge alignments.  

Around tonearm effective length are made alignment calculations along inner most groove  and outer most groove radius. This is a fact that no one can change that comes from the original Löfgren papers.

Please read these links:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1307611#1307611

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1306735#1306735

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1305440#1305440

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1305917#1305917

We can manipulate original equations for new calculations. Exist several internet calculator where we can choose diferent kind of alignmwents preserving a fixed overhang or fixed >P2S or fixed offset angle. One of them is at VE but this is not what I'm talking about.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul, I think you're missing my point and talking about something different. I’m not talking about Baerwald, Loefgren, or Stevenson, but whatever the alignment was that the tonearm in question was designed for and the resulting position of the stylus in the headshell.

If the cartridge is aligned as designed by manufacturer, then the cartridge is straight in the headshell. Now move it another tonearm and align it according to that tonearm’s design: it will again be straight in the headshell. To the extent that the tonearms are designed to have different offset angles, those are manifest in the arm tube. So the only thing that could change then is how far in the headshell the cartridge is. But if both tonearms are designed to have the stylus 52mm from the tonearm connection, that doesn’t change either.

If you have difficulty visualizing this, then visualize moving an SPU from one tonearm to another. This is just replicating that with a normal cartridge & headshell.

This makes perfect sense, now that I'm awake, Sampsa55, with (of course) the key element being the offset angle being built into the "bent" portion of the arm wand.

I haven't thought too much about vintage tonearms in the last year, and frankly, I lost track of the 52mm standard, forward offset which is the other key element which allows this to work.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design