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Feel Silly Asking This Question Alignment Parameters

I feel silly asking this question, but here it goes. Most of the arms I have owned over the years have came with proprietary protractors, and certain ones like the SME are really just overhang gauges. For other ones I have bought custom generated arc protractors for the specific arm. I will probably do so again with this Origin Live arm. However in the mean time i decided to set up using their provided protractor. 

When I went to install a cartridge on the table, I found I was not wild about using their protractor, so I decided to generate a Conrad H arc protractor till I made an order for an Accutrak one. What I found odd is that Lofgren A had the longest overhang at 16.8 mm and  Lofgren B at 16.3mm. The Origin Live shows 17.5 mm. Is the Rega type alignment that much different than Lofgren or Stevenson? I also noticed with the OL alignment that cartridge offset in the headshell was noticeably greater. 

What is also noticeable is the sonics of each alignment is different. To be honest, I like the overall sound of the OL alignment, but I also have this nagging feeling that it does not track as well. 

 

I always felt at this stage of my audio journey I knew how to align a cartridge. I have been doing it since I was in my 20's! Now I have a large degree of uncertainty of which alignment to choose, and what the implications are if i choose wrong. This arm is a long term keeper for me, so its a matter of wanting to get this set up optimized. 

 

Any insights you might pass along is greatly appreciated. Do have a good chuckle at my expense as it seems that I get into these moments of self doubt, and trying to find the way out of the forest of audio can be quite comical. 

neonknight
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rauliruegas
13,114 posts
 

Dear @lewm @wrm57 : MINT LP disapeaed of the market and was one of the first protractor with dedicated turntable/arm, specific . Was really inexpensive.

The dedicated, one only, alignment hasd a way high limtations for the owner and for the cartridge against universal pro-tractors as the Feickert protractor.

If I will live for ever with that tonearm/TT alignment maybe no problem ( just maybe ) but it does not gives any single advantage over the universal protractors that gaves us to achieve the best quality level performance for any cartridges and tonearms combinations and or different kind of aligments. Ar the end we have try that the cartridge can shows at its best and a dedicated protractor can’s do it, probably at random but who knows.

 

Newcomers must know that could be a big mistage to get married with that kind of protractors and that the best " road " is a Universal alignment protractors. In the other side the OP posted that he wanted to optimize about and maybe he does not achieve it.

R.

wrm57
1,066 posts
 

@rauliruegas : Good advice, for sure, to get a universal alignment protractor if you’ll be changing out arms. Just moments ago, in fact, I took delivery of a new SmartTractor. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve always had a preference for dedicated arc protractors, dating back to my first WallyTractor in 2000, and have them for all my arms. But the eyes are not what they were and won’t be getting better. I think the one-point process should be easier.

BTW, Wally preceded Yip at MintLP in bringing dedicated arcs to market, if I’m not mistaken--at least in my awareness. Mints are excellent and missed. JR now offers the generously-named Universal WallyTractor, which has many curves but not all, although he will still do a dedicated protractor at a very high price. I’ve never used or even seen a Feikert but it has a big following.

wrm57
1,066 posts
 

FWIW, I just now cross-checked the SmartTractor on a cartridge I recently installed with a WallyTractor and the Lofgren B alignments were identical. No change needed. This is extremely enheartening, given the SmartTractor’s superior ease of use. What a nifty piece of engineering. @mijostyn you were so right!

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@wrm57 I have the same old eyes you have and as you found out the SmarTractor is a really nifty device. Many people have a hard time getting over the price, but for any vinyl head who is the least bit fastidious it is well worth every cent. I can say the same about the WallySkator. If someone tells me I set the VTF to 2 grams and antiskating at 11% I know exactly what that means. Every other way of trying to describe antiskating is virtually meaningless. 

wrm57
1,066 posts
 

@mijostyn : agreed on the WallySkator. A must-have device.

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