Feickert analogue protractor....Owners impressions

I traded in the Freickert for a Shunyata power chord in Singapore at the Adelphi last week. Got a pretty good deal loosing only 30% over a month or so. This was possible coz the MintLP arrived, again via Singapore, last week.Aligning my Rega RB 1000 with the MintLP was a two stage process. On day one got the overhang right(this is the easier bit). On day two adjusted the offset( or rather the lack of it) spot on. Yip supplied a 5X magnifying glass along with the 10X loupe.Its a pretty ingenious device coz you use parallax to get the alignment of the cantilever spot on.I was not too comfortable with the loupe and used the magnifying glass that comes with a tiny light bulb.
Did it sound better? Definitely. Using my standard reference demo lp - Amanda McBroom "Dreaming" achieved an all round smoothness( not sure if thats an appropriate audiophile term but it best describes what I felt)that I have not come anywhere close to achieving with my vinyl rig and its pretty close to what I think the vinyl magic is all about.
I can only strongly endorse and echo what Stiltskin and others have said on this thread about the MintLP : its an outstanding product. Apart from obvious and significant sonic benefits its a great feeling to know that your cartridge is set up just right.
Out of curiosity compared the alignment with the cardboard protractor supplied by Rega. Now this is the interesting bit : the alignment was identical!!

Sunny,

Interesting note regarding the stock Rega cardboard protractor vs the MintLP. I'm curious if Yip designs his Rega protractors with Stephenson alignment nulls (like the stock Rega protractor). Anyone who's ever tried to align a cart on a Rega using Baerwald knows there's barely enough room to get the overhang correct - you simply run out of headshell slot and end up with the cart all the way forward in the headshell (depending on the cart of course). While I've never played around with an RB1000, I know this to be the case on an RB300. Interesting...

-Richard

Palasr
My experience with the protractors I downloaded from Vinyl engine is identical. The Baerwald and Lofgren were virtually un doable as I ran out of room to nudge the Cartridge(Lyra Helikon/Skala)foward. The best fit was with the Stevenson.Actually if you think about it its no surprise that the MintLP and the Rega supplied protractor yield the same result. Theoretically, there can only be one perfect alignment.The Mint LP allows you to achieve this with a degree of precision and certainty thats not possible with a cardboard or even the Freickert IMHO. In fairness to Yip, I should point out that its all to easy to compare the final alignment between the MintLP and the supplied Rega protractor.Could I have achieved the same quality of alignment using ONLY the Rega supplied protractor ? The answer is NO.

Yes, I received my Mint Lp protractor late last week.

I guess my assessment is not as glowing as others who have posted. First up, it works and works well so no issues there.

I am not sure about the others but my protractor has drops and marks ( under the surface between the stuck on plastic and the mirror) which made the protractor look dirty and s/h. Yip assured me this was normal as the top of the surface was clean and smooth - which it was.

I find the Wally tractor is better made, has both baerwald and Loefgren alignment choices. Mint only has Baerwald as he says it sounds better. Wally gives you the choice of aligning to either and you choose which one you prefer.

The arc and null points on the Mint are on the plastic sheet with pen or similar, whereas the Wally tractor has a laser etching on the mirror for the arc, baearwald, loefgren and null points. This actually makes it a little easier as your stylus will sit in the etched groove ( it is not deep enough to damage the stylus) as a small nudge will move it off the etched line.
With the Mint, you need to rely purely on sight of the tip of the stylus touching the arc or null point. Easy with my Dyna XV-1, maybe not so easy with my Koetsu. So alignment I believe is easier with the Wally.
Both use parallax to get the alignment of the cantilever perfect.
The 10X Lupe was a waste of money, however the 5x magnifier with light that came with the Mint was excellent.

Customer service - no doubt Yip is a lot better than Wally in this regard. Yip followed up with prompt emails so No1 as far as customer service goes. Wally OTOH is very SLOW with emails, even thou he is a very nice guy to talk to if you can catch him on the phone.

Mint vs the Graham jig. Both end up with a similar result, except the Mint gets you to a more precise alignment due to the fact that the Mint or Wally has a point and parallax to align the stylus tip and cantilever, whereas the Graham does not have an exact point to align the stylus tip so you are unsure where to rest the stylus point.

Would I buy another Mint protractor for the new price of $110 vs $149 for the wally tractor, or the new Wally universal tractor that has 13 seperate alignments on it.

I would buy the Wally, however I might change my mind if his customer service is still bad.

Hope this helps

cheers

First up, it works and works well so no issues there.

What else does it need to do? ;-)