SME IV Tonearm and Warped Records

I stick to real companies who have been in business manufacturing cartridges for a long time (i.e. Audio Technica, Ortofon, Nagaoka, etc.) and have never had any problems whatsoever. If a problem is suspected, then it should be checked by the manufacturer and all of the good companies are willing to do that no questions asked.

I question the ability of an end user to measure anything cartridge related properly. Audiophile ninjas armed with junk Chinese $12.99 USB microscopes make me laugh. Many times I've seen people take 10 measurements and get 10 wildly different SRAs. 

You guys honestly think that you can accurately measure stylus and cantilever geometries? Maybe a few, sure. Cartridge manufacturers use hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of dollars worth of sensitive calibrated tools. And they have technicians with decades worth of experience assembling and testing each cartridge.

All these stories of angles not matching up, or styluses mounted improperly are 99.9999999 end user error. 

The only thing that anyone can and should be measuring is that the top of the cartridge or the tonearm wand is parallel to the record's surface, the rest should be left and assumed that the experienced manufacturer got right.

If in the extreme rare instance there is a defect, the good companies will take care of you. If they don't, buy from better companies. And stay away from used cartridges. 

invictus005

All cartridges should have their tops parallel to the record’s surface and all of those angles you speak of will be correct if the manufacturer didn’t muck something up during assembly. If the cartridge is out of spec, get a new one. Simple as that.

It’s not even remotely that simple, which is why tools like the WallyTractor and Fozgometer exist. Your oversimplification also completely ignores tangency, which is a critical aspect of proper phono cartridge alignment.

It’s fine to subscribe to the "close enough" school of turntable setup, but just silly to insist it’s sufficient for all, and even sillier to dismiss Fremer’s approach as "ridiculous."

You guys honestly think that you can accurately measure stylus and cantilever geometries?

Certainly, and many think it’s worth the effort. You can also use test records to measure the result.

@snackeyp,

I agree with vusi-khumalo. Adding a spacer isn’t an ideal solution, if you like your cartridge/arm it is an easy inexpensive fix. I made one out of carbon fiber for my ET 2.5 arm when I bought an Acutex 420 STR as the cartridge pins are at such an angle that I could not attach the leads.

@invictus005,

The top of the cartridge/parallel approach is just a good starting point. The magic happens when you spend some time further dialing it in.

I use a heavy outer ring and a center record weight. They flatten all my moderately warped records very well.

@cjaronica Why not just throw the warped records away and get flat ones?