Phono Protractor. Recommendations?

Second the MoFi Geo-Disc. Of course if you want to overthink and work and sweat for it and have a thing for expensive Rube Goldberg contraptions you could do a lot better. But if you just want to know your cartridge is precisely aligned and get it over with as painlessly as possible the Geo-Disc is the way to go.

And yes as tablejockey so helpfully notes above the consensus among those with experience is alignment is nice but just nowhere near as essential as the people with the contraptions would have you believe. In other words pretty damn close is more than good enough. The Geo-Disc gets you pretty damn close about as easy and fast as possible.

lewm6,705 posts+1

The absolute cost no object best is the SMARTractor. The next best and much easier to use and cheaper is the Feickert. For one tonearm only, the Mint.

-2
Commentary from a person who knows little about turntables

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/vinyl-heresy-overhang-induced-distortion-is-not-that-importan...

Exactly what Lew said: "The absolute cost no object best is the SMARTractor. The next best and much easier to use and cheaper is the Feickert. For one tonearm only, the Mint." 

The SMARTractor is more precise than the Feickert and easier to get exact. It just costs an arm and a leg. Borrow one if you are lucky to know an owner. 
The Mint is close in accuracy, but limited to being made for each combo of arm and cartridge. 
The Feickert is a great compromise option with simplicity and good results, but it's not the be-all-end-all. Without a mirrored surface, it can't be because with many cartridges you can't see the stylus from the front and are forced to align to the body. As much as we'd love to believe that cantilevers are perfectly mounted, it's just not a reliable assumption. You've got to align the stylus, not the body. Cheers,
Spencer

I have the Mint, the Geo disc, The Feickert and the paper ones from Vinyl Engine.
https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge-alignment-protractors.shtml
The Mint is the most exacting for overhang if your Pivot to Spindle is spot on but useless for alignment if P2S is off even a little. The Geo disc is more prone to user error for me because 1) I may not be able to see the pivot point I need for a reference and 2) I can’t continuously focus down the alignment rail to the pivot without peering over and then through my specs. The Feickert is nicer with some arms than others because of the ease/work of pivot locating. The paper protractors work well if I’m careful about punching the spindle hole.
Two possible caveats are 1) is the stylus mounted to the cantilever exactly right and 2) is the stylus tip cut exactly right in relation to the shank. In other words, any protractor is only as good as the cartridge build and your eyes and your ears. Listening is the final step. If the protractor says it’s aligned right but it doesn’t sound good, or just ho-hum, I try again. And it always gets better. I find "Good enough" rarely is good enough in high end cartridges.

Here’s just one example that will highlight not only the futility but in fact how misguided even the most well-intentioned advice turns out to be.

You must align the stylus not the cantilever.

Nope. Not even.

Here’s why:

While this seems to make a lot of sense- all that sophisticated stylus geometry is wasted if the darn thing is out of whack in the groove- its blinkered down to just one small part of the picture.

At the other end of the cantilever is the coil (or magnet) that generates the audio signal. The electric signal is supposed to be an analog of the groove modulation. So think this one through, stylus alingment people: how is it gonna be if you rotate the whole thing relative to the grooves?

Can’t be. So yeah sure you can have the satisfaction of having done what few others have ever been bothered to do. But only at the cost of having messed up something else.

Its like this with everything. You can spend a fortune getting everything to electron microscope precision. Until you actually try and play a record and hear... nothing. Which is why the clear consensus among the people with ears (see the above vinyl heresy thread) is beyond a certain very quickly and easily reached point its all a colossal waste of time.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. Go listen to Mikey Fremer’s setup videos where he very frankly and accurately admits its all just one big tradeoff after another.