Alignment tool for SME V + Shelter

Axel, you clearly did not read my thread on SRA.

"VTA" isn't even a real world entity (or concept or whatever) and is absolutely useless. People who think VTA is real are indeed doomed to "keep on chasing 'sound'" because VTA doesn't exist (unless your cartridge just happens to match the cutterhead in all dimensions and angles -- yeah right!) So just forget about it!

As for SME mods, I just don't believe in guilding the lily (or removing petals from it ;-) The SME arm is all about RIGIDITY and ZERO FRICTION -- both to the max. So I have to assume the bridge is there for rigidity, or else, as Bette Midler would say, "Why botha?!" As for the finger lift, I hardly think the tiny axial torque it creates will affect those huge ABEC horizontal bearings in the slightest.
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Howdy Nsgarch,
well now didn't I read that 'VTA' post, don't know, maybe I did? - didn't I read enough VTA stuff already? Uff...:-)
SRA, VTA, what ever, I do know the difference picture's right there in my head (as I said, didn't I read enough yet?).
I still use(d) the more widely 'used' terminology, it's less confusing with most folks - I think. (Like every UK dude weights in STONE --- then come the Kilogram, etc.)
I do not suggest to start yet another white-paper on the subject. If the stylus' contact ridge angle be always 90 deg to the cantilever it actually would be a perfectly interchangeable figure. Alas, this is not the case, so VTA ~ SRA are somewhat a bit more loosely related ~ by a couple of degrees at best.
As I said, take time out to optimize it for each cart/arm and then - peace be with you brother.

As to the finger lift 'story' we seem to agree on NOT mutilating, stripping down the V arm. It is not the torque (measured in uN/um of 'angel-wings' in this case?) but rather the resonance of this thing sticking out on the side. It's too practical for me to leave it off, putting heat shrink will take care of the resonance (at least in the audio band) so I guess nobody can say that I didn't try :-)
Greetings,

Axel, please! It is NOT another "VTA post" ;-) You do me an injustice!

VTA and SRA are NOT 'loosely' related. In fact, they are not related at all! You really need to edumacate yourself if you want to discuss such subjects.

Yes, the torque of the fingerlift is miniscule compared to the resistance of the vertical bearings. Fingerlift torgue is an issue of course with unipivot tonearms. As for the 'resonance' of the fingerlift? Another 'audio chimera'. It is apparently made of spring steel, yes, but constrained only at one end -- so if it does resonate, be assured it's WELL ABOVE the range of human hearing and at an amplitude only bats could hear! Good God!!

Hi Nsgarch
ok, ok, ok, so VTA is totally, utterly, completely, unrelated to SRA you say. So you'd be then saying that the stylus is also unrelated to the cantilever?!
And maybe then the stylus' contact-line is unrelated to the stylus?
Oh, oh, please gimme THAT link so I may also partake in this 'current fantasy'.

And in any case *SRA* is wrong also, since it should be then called *SCLRA* Stylus-Contact-Line-Rake-Angle, since the 'stylus' is only doing that picking-up via its 'contact-line' touching the groove, yes?
And as it so happens, the angle of the contact-line maybe just as unrelated to that 'clump' of stylus also!

As to the spring-steel finger lift --- you do recall that we are amplifying that pissy cart signal by 1000s of times and THAT - will make you hear a fly fart when sitting on your head shell, promise :-)
Greetings,

I have the SME V and my dealer never installed the finger lift when he set up my arm and installed the cartridge saying that it made for a less direct connection between the mounting bolts and headshell. Is it audible? Probably not. I simply hold the headshell when I need to move the arm.

Can one hear the difference between the fixed SME V headshell and the detachable SME headshell (used for quick cartridge swaps and azimuth adjustment)? I never tried. It probably did contribute in small part to why my SME V sounds better than my old 309. I like the theory that the more rigid the headshell/arm interface and the headshell/cartridge interface, the better.