The observation was made while playing an LP or during installation? If the former, check and adjust antiskate. If the latter, and because it sounds fine, ignore it. We all prefer to see a cantilever perfectly aligned with the long axis of the cartridge body, but slight deviations don’t usually affect SQ in my experience.
Anxiety help needed. New instal of Hana ML
Good morning everyone. Last evening I finally got around to installing my brand new Hana ML. I installed it on my MOFI Ultra deck using the Dr. F protractor. All went well despite my coffee fueled sausage fingers. I really took my time to get the alignment right, checking and re-checking. I left the stylus guard on while installing onto the head shell and wiring. Took it off obviously to use the protractor.
I hooked up the TT to my Parasound JC3 jr. and fired things up for a quick listen. I was completely blown away to say the least. Put on John Lee Hooker "The Healer" and it knocked my jaw clean off.
What gave me some restless sleep? The fact that the cantilever just looks like it’s ever so slightly oriented to the left as you view the front of the cart. I mean maybe a couple red hairs.. I didn’t notice any sound difference left or right, no increase or decrease, no hint of distortion either.
Please tell me to just take my Lexapro and drink my coffee and relax. That’s all I’m asking.
Thank you,
Dumb Doug
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you want it ’right’ not only for sound, but for proper contact down in/with the groove walls, reducing wear to the grooves and the stylus. buy yourself one of these mirrors which is the thickness of an lp https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T31MRZ9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 now, for azimuth, simply carefully lower the arm/cartridge down onto the Mirror. View from the front, ANY deviation from straight will be shown/doubled in the mirror. adjust for straight reflection, tighten. tighten what? various solutions: either the stylus is straight to the cartridge body, then you can view/use both the cartridge body and stylus. or, stylus is slightly deviated from the cartridge body, in which case you view only the cantilever and stylus. fixed headshells in fixed arms may need a shim above the cartridge top on one side to adjust the cartridge for proper azimuth. PITA. some fixed cartridges in arms, the arm itself can be loosened, rotated, tightened. tedious, but easier than shims. mine, but they put the allen set screw in a difficult to reach location, tedious, PITA. does your arm have a removable headshell? is there a bit of play/rotation in the fitting you can use to rotate left or right a bit before you tighten the headshell in the socket? some arms like micro-seiki have adjustable fittings in the arm end, loosen, rotate fitting, tighten. some have a small screw in the bottom of the fitting, loosen, rotate, tighten some headshells allow azimuth adjustment: you rotate the front body of the headshell relative to it’s own fitting, loosen, rotate front headshell portion, tighten.
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Elliot, the OP has a slightly deviated cantilever. We know nothing about zenith or azimuth. True, the very slight deviation in cantilever can be compensated for during alignment using the grids provided on the Doctor F and most other protractors. I find that difficult to do with all but the Smartractor. |
- 23 posts total