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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
bill_k
911 posts
 

@lewm - Notifications when you're mentioned in the forums is I believe controlled by a setting in your AG profile. For the record (no pun intended) the only issue I raised from your earlier post was the claim that "AS is constant in magnitude". I'm also in agreement that the use of AS is an approximation and not an exact science.

lewm
12,994 posts
 

Thanks for making me think about that statement.

audio_rd_uk
35 posts
 

@neonknight Apologies if you’ve go your answer or if this has already been said.

I am only really chiming in because you’d noted the tracking issue with the OL protractor and what I latterly did using Baerwald improved my Agile set-up that I had already been very pleased with.

On the suggestion of James Henriot of Whest Audio (Designer and manufacturer of fantastic Phono stages, designer of cartridges and a long time studio engineer) I ordered a Dr Feickert Cartridge alignment protractor when I knew I was getting the Voyager / Renown. So £240, but this was also because I was intending to do the experimentation on arms and cartridges I have noted elsewhere.

I had previously used the OL protractor on my Sovereign/Agile set up and it had been good, but I got this along with a USB microscope for initial VTA (about which we discussed!).

The Dr F, showed quite a difference on both Lofgren and Baerwald to the setup the OL guys had done using their protractor, I think you saw this too from your use. I had tried an "Ultimate Analogue test LP" on the tracking / and anti skate track with the OL setting and it was pretty good but did break-up/distort a little earlier on one side and alignment (which looked ’out’ already wasn’t getting me to the end of the track without distortion or it occurring evenly each side. On the Lofgren it was closer to achieving the end of the track but not quite there. The overhang altered from the OL I also adjusted the anti-skate slightly for the "not quite" to be even L/R.
On the Baerwald it achieved the end of the track without distortion on either channel, but actually the AS went back to the original position and the proof on listening tests was clear. So I didn’t try the Stevenson setting which is quite a difference from the other two and felt this would be too much the other way when the Baerwald seems to achieve ’spot on’. I do note this is with an MC Anna Diamond and then an MC Diamond so quite heavy cartridges, when I have tried the same test with others I can get them ’even’, but they do not reach the most difficult sections without distortion. I note the above comment on Stevenson for Classical which has less consumption on my systems, but I will try it for some Classical next time I am needing to adjust, thanks @viridian 

Of interest to you I then set the Agile on the Sovereign-S and similarly it was improved with Baerwald and the distortion on the Sovereign hit evenly and only in the last 1.5 seconds of the track.

In all honesty, though I found it good I am not saying you need a Dr Feickert, but might be worth doing a print out of a Baerwald to see how far your setting is in comparison.

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