Time to choose: Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson ?


I’ve managed Dr.Feickert Analog Protractor for a decent price (build quality is superb, such a great tool).

Time to play with Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson alignments on my Luxman PD444.
Need advice from experienced used of the following arms:
Lustre GST 801
Victor UA-7045
Luxman TA-1
Reed 3P "12
Schick "12

Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson ? What do you like the most for these arms?
Manufacturers recommend Baerwald mostly. 

Dedicated "7 inch vinyl playback deserve Stevenson alternative, maybe?
Since it's a smaller format than normal "12 or "10 inch vinyl, it's like playin the last track's according to position of grooves on '7 inch (45 rpm) singles. RCA invented this format, i wonder which alignment did they used for radio broadcast studios.   

Thanks

chakster
@lewm 

Chakster, You might consider listening to the Victor tonearm in Lofgren for several weeks. Then re-align for Stevenson (only assuming that the Victor UA7045 is designed for Stevenson), and listen for another few weeks. Then decide which you prefer. A few hours of listening to one alignment is not going to provide sufficient information, in my opinion.

That's what i'm gonna do. I think i'm very well prepared for a long winter, it's start snowing and getting below zero degree. I will spend more time listening good music in the late evenings (using different carts and arms). That's the the plan. 
What is truly amazing with Victor X1 is my new 100k ohm resistors that completely change the sound of this cartridge. Hard to believe i’m listening to the same phono stage and the same cart i used before at 47k ohms.

Hi Chakster,

Subtle differences in damping; whether mechanical (from varying tracking force, anti-skate or application of damping fluid) or electrical (loading) can have a profound effect. Loading is about more than tuning the response peak although this is definitely important and dependent on your phono stage.

Hi Lew -

One reason I’m not inclined to take others’ experimental results at face value is because of small variances like what Chakster observed which tend to be overlooked. I’ve been guilty of this in the past as well.

Setup parameters are another point of vulnerability.

Since I’m in turntable development at the moment, one of my rigs goes unplayed for 2-3 weeks at a time. I find that when I fire it up, some fine tuning of the setup is necessary - specifically, parameters prone to be affected by suspension changes: azimuth, VTA and to a lesser extent, tracking force. Note that I don’t do anything until the cartridge has run for a few hours. IOW, this isn’t a result of the cartridge being "cold".  Cartridges with line contact styli are more variable in this regard, although conicals are not exempt.

I still want to ween you off that Feickert protractor ;-) It’s a good tool, but I don’t think you can achieve results repeatable enough to base your conclusions on. His software is great, but nothing in my experience has produced the precision and repeatability of an arc protractor and without this, I don’t think one can draw any meaningful conclusions.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design
Thom, I haven't made any meaningful conclusions in years.  Most of my conclusions are inconclusive.  However, I do think that if we think we can set up a tonearm within less than an +/-0.5mm margin of error, we are kidding ourselves.  By the way also, where did I say that I have any particular allegiance to the Feickert protractor?  I also own a UNItractor from you know who in Germany.  It's capable of a higher level of accuracy, but it's quite fussy to use.  Thus I sometimes use the Feickert when push is coming to shove.  I've got no beef with an arc protractor either.  

Seems to me that a very slight error in implementing Lofgren A/B or Baerwald, or Stevenson, one that still results in two null points on the surface of the LP, is not going to make a huge difference in one's experience of the sound thus derived.  I would be receptive to a contrary argument that is based on science.

Chakster mentioned Feickert in OP.  Great device based on the Dennison Soundtractor, gets excellent results as long as it's used properly. 

One thing often overlooked - an arc protractor is only accurate if your mounting distance is perfect (factory).  If the factory is mounting an arm they didn't make, you might want to check it with a conventional protractor. 

**Seems to me that a very slight error in implementing Lofgren A/B or Baerwald, or Stevenson, one that still results in two null points on the surface of the LP, is not going to make a huge difference in one's experience of the sound thus derived.**

+1  Although it depends on resultant nulls.

Chakster,

I bet you'll wind up with Loefgren alignment.  Both nulls are within the recorded part of a 7".  Error will be much less through most of song.  Stevenson will be better at the end, but much worse up until there.

fleib

Chakster mentioned Feickert in OP. Great device based on the Dennison Soundtractor, gets excellent results as long as it's used properly.

Both of those protractors are flawed because they assume the cantilever is perfectly aligned within the cartridge, which is quite often not the case. That's why I prefer a mirrored protractor that actually aligns the cantilever.