Mint Tractor

Sonofjim,

Once I attempted to clean my platter surface with a little Simple Green and it left a little discoloration in the graphite. Based on that experience I chickened out on trying the Goo Gone. I have done some testing with Kleenex and I can't detect that there was no adhesive left behind by the tape.

Thanks Dan ed,
I think I'll have to contact VPI. This has to have come up before. Meanwhile, it's not the end of the world I guess. I think the marks may even be fading a little. No more Scotch tape for me though.

I'll walk you through the graphite cleaning, Dan. It might be a good topic to take on the Galibier Forum for other users as well.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Just a heads up, I got my Mintlp Protractor today.
First time I ever got anything for Hong Kong in my life, and perhaps Yip should offer a side service, where he could ship me in a few bottles of some really good Chinese Oyster Sauce! lol Yummy!

Anyway, all arrived intact, Yip did a fine job of packing. I like the lighted magnifier, much smaller, and probably easier to use, than the huge affair I have on hand.

I like the personalized flair that Yip sis with these, it's made "especially for me"! The 211mm AQ PT Arc will work for both tables I have.

So, I'm looking at the Protractor, and saying to myself, ahh, a nice fine Arc line, but I only see just two lines on the Null Grids. Hmm, I thought.

Yanking out the 10X Loupe I have, I look closely at the Null Grids to discover two thicker lines, and three very fine lines in between, plus a very minute Tic, right on the Arc, which it where the Stylus must be placed.

While I haven't done the alingment yet (I know one must be prepped, and in a very happy mood before toying with anything like this) It looks to me, that Yip has made a very good product, with very high resolution.

It must be this ultra-fine resolution that sets his Protractor apart from many others avaliable.

Hopefully, I'll find a correct Spindle sized hole when I begin. I'll write again, when I can offer more to us 'Goners here. Mark

I got my Mint Protractor yesterday. Before I ordered my protractor, I measured the spindle diameter with a caliper, just to make sure the diameter stated by Acoustic Signature was correct. At first, I was surprised that Yip is such a perfectionist that he even takes into consideration the diameter of the spindle so that the protractor fits snugly around it. That's the way it should be! If the protractor fits loosely around the spindle, then the cartridge setup will be off.

Any other protractor I've used fits either loosely or too tight on my turntable. Because of this, I made my own arc protractor based on the dimensions provided by Dynavector. It's a simple drawing that I printed on thick photo paper. I thought I was being precise by having all my lines 0.5mm thick, but after getting the Mint Protractor I realized that a 0.5mm thick line is too thick for such a precise setup. The arc line and the null point lines from the Mint Protractor can be defined as "hair lines".

The instructions for using the Mint Protractor are very clear. In my experience, the thinner the lines of the protractor, the longer it may take to setup the cartridge. The setup took about 2 hours. I just kept working on it until the tip of the stylus was right in the middle of the arc line at both ends. With Yip's clever instructions, I found the null points easier to setup.

With such a precision tool, I was eventually expecting a more controlled sound presentation from my system. Instead I got that, plus a lot more. Sibilants are now quite sharp and distortion-free. There is more layer definition as well. It is as if a can see that an instrument is in front of another instrument. The silences are so dead quiet that sometimes, for a split of a second, I thought that something must have failed because there was no sound. All the nuances and details of the performance are now more present, which makes everything sound more real.

After the setup, my entire analogue system sounds like it has been updated one or two steps up. I'm very relieved that after so many years, finally somebody has developed a protractor that will absolutely reveal the true potential of an analogue playback system. This precision tool should be a must for anybody who is serious about analogue playback.