Curved and Straight Tonearms

May be flogging a dead horse here, there've already been many comments and much heat. I listen mostly to Classical; many orchestral works end in bombastic crescendi — alas, they are on the inner groove, the most difficult to track. Achieving the lowest distortion averaged over the entire record is not much use if the finale, the culmination of the musical message, utterly disintegrates. Using a linear-tracking vs pivoted arm illustrates the difference clearly — try the finale of Mahler 3.

People who don't listen to Classical may not experience this, other kinds of music have soft endings, so talk of IGD seems nonsensical — some even scoff at its existence, a view that defies Physics. I would much rather have slightly higher distortion in the earlier parts of the recording (where the music is easier to play and the distortions less audible) so that the climax holds together with all its majesty and power.

Yes it's a compromise, and many of the contributors here are absolutist in their views — my way or the highway — and become fierce when their views are questioned. I'm willing to try every approach and judge by the results as I hear them. I'll even try Stevenson, though Raul might politely call me a moron. Maybe I lack the "moral fiber" to "fight passionately" for my unalterable dogmas, and attack those who disagree with them — some of the language in this thread is quite fiery — but I have no dogmas, only questions, gray areas, and a few theories.

There's an old joke about Academia: "The reason the disputes are so vicious, is that the stakes are so small." The same could apply to Audiophilia, where the stakes are even smaller...

Dear @bimasta: The whole inner grooves " problem " ( if any ) depends on many parameters where perhaps the more critical to avoid the problem or to live with are: " zero tolerance " through the TT/tonearm/cartridge alignment set up, self cartridge tracking abilities, " perfect " match between cartridge/tonearm, tonearm damping levels and tonearm bearing design.

If any one of us takes enough care on those parameters you can be sure that that problem will stay at minimum and you will not aware of its existence.

Now, there are several classical compositions/recordings withpassages recorded at very high velocities in the middle of the LPs or before it where we can listen the same inner groove problem because those paremeters I metioned are not up to the task.

Stevenson A gives not real advantage over the other alignment types ( including the Stevenson B. ) and goes against the MUSIC experience but it's up to you if you can live with 20 minutes of higher distortions levels in favor of the last 1-2 minutes, fine. As I said is up to you.

Obviously that's not my target but stay as nearest I can fulfilling all those parameters I mentioned.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R. 

bimasta: I forgot other parameters that has influence on those inner groove " problems: one is how good is cleaned the LP, other the stylus tip condition/wear leavels and clean level ( this clean level of stylus tip is important because after the first 20 minutes on playing a LP side the tip has not the same clean level that when started that LP side and when arrives to the inner grooves there is a true problem of the accumulated dust at the tip in the inner grooves. ) and other is the room temperature/humidity levels.

Some f all those parameters we can think are not important but all of them has influence about and makes a difference.
Example: stylus tip dust has its own distortion levels per sé, it does not matters if the cartridge is playing at the middle or inner grooves LP side but after 20 minutes of accumalation of dust at that stylus tip the problem is not only the self distortion levels but that that accumulation of dust at the tip makes that the cartridge tracking abilities goes really lower than what we could think and this facts produce higher distortion levels and mistracking.

R.

One internet guru who refrains from posting here these days gave a qualified recommendation for Stevenson alignment, as follows: If your LPs are "vintage", meaning original pressings from the golden era of the late 50s and 60s, he saw a merit in using Stevenson based on the idea that those LPs have grooves nearly all the way to the label. Whereas he thought Stevenson might be avoided, if you are primarily listening to later production LPs, where there is on average a wider empty space between the innermost groove and the label. I don’t even know for sure that his assumption is correct, but there you are. For myself, I tend to use whatever alignment was in the mind of the person who designed that particular tonearm. So, for vintage Japanese tonearms that I own, I use Stevenson. Otherwise, not.

The obsession with tracking angle error causing inner groove distortion is interesting to me. Many of those who have listened to the few tonearms in production that are to be mounted such that the stylus underhangs the spindle and which have zero headshell offset angle are struck by the lack of such "distortion" (read reviews of the Viv Float or the RS Labs RS-A1), despite the fact that such tonearms generate very large tracking angle errors, especially out at the outer grooves and at the innermost grooves. Makes you think maybe tracking angle error is not the cause of the perceived (and/or measured) distortion.