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Cart not parallel after Mint LP alignment?

Howdy,

So after reading about 1000 paragraphs on how good the Mint LP Tractor is - I purchased one and had a marathon session yesterday with my new SL-1210 M5G, AT440MLa and Zupreme headshell...

After all was said and done - the alignment itself took 90 hard minutes - I am finding the cartridge sitting about 5-7 degrees "right" of center. The actual cantilever and stylus are about as dead on as I wanna go with it for now.

Now a comment and a question....

Question: Is this non-parallel result in the headshell normal? It's making me think I may have a bent cantilever or something.

Comment: I have run 10-12 sides thru the rig so far and I must say - I have not yet heard the "revelation" that others have described when comparing their alignments to other protractors or even the white Technics alignment gauge. The rig sounds good...but...what I am missing here.

I must temper the above by saying I have changed phono stages frequently in the last month as well...I was getting nicely familiar with a Bellari VP-130 and then moved that for a Cambridge which lasted less than a week and I now have a Moon LP3 with maybe 25 hours on it...Even my AT440MLa might have 40-50 hours on it as well....

I am thinking that a whole bunch of stuff might need to "burn" in before the system starts to really reveal itself.

But I am very concerned with the stylus/cantilever on the cart...even with all the moves the Mint required...I expected the cartridge to sit straight in the headshell...perhaps expecting too much?

Appreciate any feedback.

Cheers!

VP
vocalpoint
clabe
101 posts
 
Vocalpoint!
I experienced exactly the same problem with my PC-1 using Mint Protractor and was as surprised as You.
But the sound was definitely improved afterwards, micro details, soundstage, blacker background ....just about everything I can think of.
But it took me 2-3 days of finicky.

Good Luck!
vocalpoint OP
10 posts
 
All,

Thanks again for the all the feedback. I heard back from Yip - maker of the Mint LP Tractor and he did say that some degree of "twist" in the headshell "can" occur to obtain maximum alignment. He did not indicate in any way that it was "normal" however.

He also wants to see a phono of my setup to see how much "toe-out" is involved.

As far as the sound goes...after a number of sides that I am really familiar with - I am now starting to get a sense of a better blacker background etc.

I will continue to monitor this for the rest of the week but I agree with the "finicky" aspect of this and may attempt another alignment session on the weekend.
dertonarm
1,042 posts
 
Apparently the MINT tractor does use a different geometry then the one the designer(s) of your tonearm had in mind. If it works fine with you and does produce the sound you were longing for, I wouldn't care too much about the optical issue....
If it doesn't you may cross-check with other "universal" templates like a Dennesen or a Feickert. Maybe they will produce results more to your liking.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
I don't know...I worry about everything. If the cartridge is not square in the shell, or leaning to me that means that the suspension of the cartridge may be "leaning". I wouldn't want my Porsche to lean in any direction at rest.. the suspension has to be perfect for me. I would send back the cartridge for inspection and repair, or get a new one.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
>>04-19-10: Stringreen
If the cartridge is not square in the shell, or leaning to me that means that the suspension of the cartridge may be "leaning".<<

Not true.

All cartridges are not perfectly symmetrical.
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