Mint Tractor

Yikes!
Then I imagine one should remember to excersize extreme care when installing, and removing the mintlp protractor on Spindle?

No lifting by the edges, no bending-flexing, remembering to lift the entire protractor straight up.

I informed Yip my VPI HW-19 MK-IV Spindle was exactly .282" diameter. Hope it fits correctly, otherwise, crrrrrraack, and you can then chuck it in the garbage can! Hopefully it will fit, and I won't have to resort to some sort of sandpaper to ream the Spindle Hole.

I'm glad Stanley that your Benz LP is really singing now for you. I reckon you were worried, and pulled your hair out for awhile there, trying to hit that nirvana sweet spot with it. We were all stymied there for awhile.

I'm waiting to see what improvements might be had with my relatively low hour ZYX Airy3X. It's sounding pretty darn fine already, and gets better, and better each time I play it. Mark

Doug, good write up on the effect the Mint had on your system.

Stringreen glad you started this thread, as we found out, precise cartridge set up IS absolutely critical.

I sent Yip's web info to the VPI dealer I heard the HRX and my Raven at.
Also I apologize to you and other VPI owners for my offencive drunken rant.

On a lighter note regarding the use of the Mint tractor.

I borrowed a high quality 10x loupe with a 40mm barrel from a collector of ancient coins.
I positioned the loupe on the platter with the bottom of the barrel about 3 mm or so from the stylus.

I then carefully ramped the loupe up on a angle so I could comfortably view the cantilever and stylus position on the tractor.
This worked very well and with the exceptional clarity of the optics this was a tremendous help opposed to using inexpensive plastic lenses.

I found these 10 and $20. 8,10,and 12x loupes a real source of aggravation, poor optics and too small to handle in such a fragile area.

Spending a little extra for a high quality loupe you could also use it to view your stylus for stuck on vinyl deposits on occasion.

Hi All, i placed an order with Yip as well. I figured might as well jump in both feet in like you guys. However, Yip returns an email asking for spindle diameter. No problem there as i have a micrometer to measure.

He also asks to look at the tonearm spec sheet for: effective lenght and spindle to pivot distance. OK for the effective lenght but the PTSD don't you have to physically measure this with a ruler. I do not think that PTSD would be stated in the owner's manual (spec sheet).
Tonearm is a Phantom II.
Clarification welcomed......

No lifting by the edges, no bending-flexing, remembering to lift the entire protractor straight up.

Bending and flexing aren't possible. It's a sturdy sheet of glass. Lifting straight up? It's such a snug fit on the spindle there's no other choice. Swinging it back and forth while nudging upward/downward near the spindle works best.

CAUTION: Take care to not move the protractor or tonearm when the stylus is down on the plastic sheet. The tip can hold on and that would stess the cantilever and/or damage the sheet.

TIP: If your tonearm has VTA adjustment, remember to raise it to compensate for the thickness. You want to align with the cartridge at a normal playing angle.

This valuable thread (agreeing with Stiltskin) has also proved what we all knew, that a tangential tracking arm has the potential to be superior to any pivoting arm. Even with "perfect" alignment all we've done is managed tracking angle error. We've not eliminated it. Users of top end tangential arms are smiling while sharing knowing winks. ;-)

Further Minty observations:
Paul reports speaker integration for the first time. His favorite chair is way off center so he never listens for imaging. From that position we've always heard two distinct speakers, no center image. After Minting there's some center image integration happening for the first time.

After 2-3 sides my ears told me I could reduce anti-skating. I went from 3 little O-rings on the A/S dogleg to 2 and had the impression I still had a hair too much. Last night I reduced to 1 O-ring and even very dynamic LP's tracked perfectly. Another benefit of the Mint, since reducing A/S always improves cartridge performance. :-)

Hi Doug,

We can most certainly thank Palasr for getting us up off our collective butts to try going arc-style. My relatively imprecise card-stock protractors (compared with Yip's MintLP's) immediately caught my attention, and while not perfect, they result in a far superior setup to anything I've achieved with ANY two point protractor.

It's to this point that I provide every new owner of a Schroeder, Triplanar, and Artisan tonearm one of these card-stock protractors - not as a final solution, but rather to provide sufficient evidence and motivation to point them to MintLP.

The biggest effect this order of magnitude level of alignment improvement has is that it takes you out of audiophile mode and into music appreciation mode.

Along these lines, I'm going to make a prediction about what you'll notice in the coming days - that you'll get less finicky about making VTA changes for individual records. Now, this has always been a dragon you've sought to slay, but my prediction is that it will become quite a bit smaller and will breath quite a bit less fire than before.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier