VPI JMW setup

Creativepart, what cart do you use and what is the recommended vtf? I obsessively adjusted the azimuth after my last alignment and it is a major difference being dead on. I think stinggreen is preaching the truth as well. The VPI tractor is good, but not precise enough to hit the bulls eye. I think I may find myself looking more closely at the mint tractor as alternative to the VPI.

$110 for the mintLP protractor is a lot of money, but not so much when you consider the gear you are working with. I'm certainly no analog expert, but the mintLP was the first protractor I've used that didn't leave me wondering whether I really got it right. And the improvement I heard confirmed it.

Now, if Yip could come up with something for azimuth, I'd really be in heaven. I still haven't come up with a way to really dial it in. I guess WallyTools would work, but it's hard to get in touch with that guy.

Cheers.

correct me if this is the wrong way to do this, but I simply removed a vial from a cheap level, placed it on the machined groove for azimuth alignment, and centered the vial on the cartridge. voila!

The "true" best way is to set it electronically. There is a computer program and you can dynamically adjust it. Or you use voltage meters to minimize cross-talk. But the way you've done it is the way that I do it and makes both sense and good sounds to me.

The computer program costs a couple of hundred dollars and you need an outboard A/D convertor (sound card, etc) to get the info into the computer. It's a new thing.

Wally sold a device for this that was meters etc. But you can't get Wally to deliver anything unless you work for Stereophile magazine.

I don't have VPIs protractor. I have three that I printed out plus Ken's protractor that I mentioned earlier and I feel with these I'm getting it set just so.

Oh, what cart do I use. I have a couple that I use and interchange between them. I have a 1980's Audio Technica AT155LC MM cart which is fantastic and a Denon 103D MC cartridge that I love as well.

I've ordered an Ortofon 2M Black MM cart which should be here next week or so.

The AT cart's VTF is 1.0 to 1.25 grams and the Denon's is 1.5 to 1.7 grams.