Phono Stage upgrade to complement Dohmann Helix One Mk 2

@sksos , my mistake. You really need to take a look at the Channel D Seta L 20. It is the quietest phono stage made, is battery powered, will do both voltage and current modes ( your MSL will really sing) and has a flat output just in case you want to try digital RIAA correction and recording your friend's rare records.
@drbond , I also use a SmarTracter. The alignment to use is Lofgren B. It has the lowest distortion across the record accept at the very inner groove area. Modern engineers stay away from that area and even in the old days most records were not cut that far in.

Aligning a cartridge on the Sota can be a bouncy situation, I can't imagine doing it on the Dohmann which is even more sensitive and the entire plinth is suspended whereas with the Sota the suspended sub chassis is internal. Is there a way to lock out the suspension on the Dohmann?

@mijostyn I've been using the SmarTracter for the last 18 months (prior I used the  feickert protractor). As you know the SmarTracter has 5 different setting you can use to align a cartridge. When I first received it I went back and forth listening to all 5 settings and came away with Lofgren B as the best sounding "to my ears". It's nice to know I picked the one with the lowest distortion.  😎

Dear @mijostyn  : For years I used the B alignment and today I use the A alignment.

In numbers the B alignment gives you 0.04% on average RMS distortion lower than the A alignment but in the other side both kind of alignments are almost the same and its difference is that the B one overhang is 0.46 mm longer than the A alignment.

My common sense says that you or me in reality can't be absolute sure which is the alignment we are using or maybe we are in between or near A or near B.

In anyway the distortion numbers are so close and the change groove after groove is no higher than 0.001% that not even a bat can discern about.

Now, make an unbiased test with same tonearm, same cartridge and same everything: unmount thecartridge and then mount it as if will be the first time and make that excersice at least twice and you can be sure that both tests exist tiny very tiny differences.

Btw, unidin is not a standard alignment and ceratinly has not new equations alignmwent but only a manipulation of Löfgren parameters. Any one can has its own alignment if knows how manipulate those parameters. VPI tonearms have its own alignment. Through Analog Planet site M.Fremer with the help of his mentor ( Wally that pass away. ) made the comparison between all the standard alignments and the unidin one looking for the distortion levels where was clear that Löfgren was better.  Unidin is only marketing and nothing more than that. As I said number manipulation and it's really easy to know that manipulation.

For me always is better to go with the Standard Löfgren A/B.

R.

@holmz

Thanks for sharing your experience with Dohmann, and the details about cartridges that you discussed together! I’ll have to look into that WAM zenith disc, but I’ve been using the AnalogMagik software with decent results, and there is one aspect of that software, while not perfect, I’ve read can be used to help with zenith: apparently somehow the VTA measurement may actually do a better job at measuring zenith. The azimuth adjustment with the AnalogMagik software seems to do a good job, getting the crosstalk to match between channels, but there’s no way to meaure that SRA, so I’ll have to watch that video one weekend, and see if it’s worth it. Presently, I just use electonic level in my phone camera, and use that to verify that the tonearm is level (0 degrees) when playing.

I guess I should try the Baerwald alignment now that I’ve been listening to the UNIDIN for a few months. . .

I think that the turntable sounds phenomenal! One aspect that I think stands out is the balance of the presentation: the music is just balanced, so that the instruments are distinct, clear, and yet communicative and musical. There isn’t one range that overwhelms another.

I have two Schroder CB 11 tonearms installed, and I’ve used four cartridges thus far: the Lyra Atlas, Koetsu Urushi Black, My Sonic Lab Ultimate Platinum, and Lyra Etna Lambda SL. Presently, the latter two are installed.

If you’re ever visiting central Florida and want to listen, send me a message.

@mijostyn @sksos

Well, I’ll have to try the Loefgren B then!

Yes, there is a little post that you can lift to support the turntable while adjusting things. Once, I forgot to lower it after an adjustment, and left the post up, and the interference that I noted was remarkable, so that minus K really works!

@rauliruegas 

Thanks for sharing your experience with the alignments!

@rauliruegas , I think unidin is a joke. As whether or not I can hear the difference between Lofgren A or B, I seriously doubt it. But, it make me feel better that I am using the alignment with the lowest distortion across most of the record. When aligning a cartridge I take the utmost care to get it exactly right using all the tools at my disposal. You are right in that it is a very small world and it is not easy to get it exactly right given the number of pitfalls. I am a furniture maker. I make furniture with hand cut joints that have to fit exactly right, no gaps. It takes a very fastidious mind to do that, unfortunately a mind that sees errors in everything it observes. 

@drbond , darn right the MinusK works. The benefits of good isolation are legion. I would never own a turntable that was not properly suspended. The outside world is loaded with noise and rumble, vibration of all sorts. The cartridge is a very sensitive vibration measuring device and it has no way of knowing where the vibration comes from. For fun get a seismograph app on your phone and put it on a granite countertop. Watch what happens when the wife walks around or the AC starts up. Open the garage door, sneeze. Anyone who thinks mass is enough isolation needs to perform this experiment.   Lastly, put your seismograph phone on the Dohmann's platter, dead quiet. Darn right it works.