Help me understand cartridge alignment
I have a Ortofon Bokrand AB309 arm and I'm using a Royal N cartridge set up using Baewald geometry using the Feickert protractor. It's sounds awesome. I also have an Ortofon SL15 and I put it a cartridge and weighted it so I can swap it out for the Royal N any time without adjustment. The thing is, I don't have the right headshell for the SL15 yet so it can only line up like 5MM short on the Feickert. It also sounds great. So why is this? It doesn't line up with Stevenson or Lofgren. It's just off the grid and yet it's fine. I don't understand.
Everyone here is right. But the most right are those with parallel trackers. @lewm This is the only condition in which there can be a linear relationship between cantilever/stylus correctly mounted in cantilever and groove. Beware. Many so-called high-end cartridges do not have accurately mounted stylii. They are often out by a few degrees, nulling all the efforts we make in set-up. |
Clearthinker, Your remark about parallel tracking tonearms is totally beside the point, but someone will always bring up parallel tracking tonearms in a discussion about alignment, so you cannot be blamed. But it doesn’t help us or the OP to understand why he is happy with his SQ despite being 5mm off in alignment. My point is that tracking angle error (TAE), while it is best minimized, does not so obviously manifest itself as "distortion" in the electrical sense. For my evidence, I give you underhung tonearms with zero headshell offset angle. Such underhung tonearms can only achieve a single null point on the surface of the LP, where also the skating force is zero, and deliver gobs of TAE at the extremes of the arc across the LP surface, much more TAE than almost any "properly aligned" overhung tonearm with an offset headshell. And yet, my experience with two different examples suggests their TAE is relatively harmless to SQ. I admit this is subjective evidence, and I have not made measurements. But neither have the alignment police. |
Wow, Audiophile blues, I am honestly glad some have good enough hearing to decern the fine differences here. I hope those who can truly appreciate how they are blessed. As one that has impaired hearing, I just wanted to say, you guys are fortunate. Sorry for the distraction, no I'm not jealous, just sayin, enjoy. |
