STP distance. Is it critical ?

Hi, Nandric, your use of Quine's argument is appropriate. The process of cartridge alignment can be as complicated as we make it but what is needed is an elegant method that considers a wide range of tone arm and cartridge combinations.

From W.V. Quine's paper titled "Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis": "Elegance can make the difference between a psychologically manageable conceptual theme and one that is too unwieldy for our poor minds to cope with effectively."

Elegance in the case of cartridge alignment would be variable geometry protractors. And: "Where this happens, elegance is simply a means to the end of a pragmatically acceptable conceptual scheme."

Best Regards and enjoy the day.

Tom

Dear Tom, I also admire Quine but your problem is,uh, similar to the war that was meant to end all wars. To my
mind this is the lanquage issue. The capability of speakers to generate from limited lanquage resources a unlimited amount of sentences and questions. And this process starts very early. Look at those 5-6 years old kids. They look like asking-machines. While we of course are crazy obout them it is a wonder that we don't get crazy from them. But they have also the capacity to remember our answers so no wonder that at certain age they
refuse to listen to us. If our analog hobby survives for,say, 20 years I am sure that even then there will be
questions about the right geometry and the best way to adjust cart/toneamrm combo.
Best regards,

Dear Tom, To defend my advise reg. the Mint tractor I need to add as follow. According to Yip from the Mint tractor the spindle diameter on diff. TT's varies from 6.4mm to 7,3mm. So your 'universal tractor' is not such a good idea.
Yip has the data of the most TT's, tonearms and carts. So every tractor that he produce is meant for a specific combo. I own two of those and am very satisfied with the result. But more important the others seems also to be very
fond about their Mint tractors.
Regards,

Hi, Nandric, as to the different spindle diameters, if you're familiar with the DB Systems protractor, which uses a set of overlays to find correct alignment, a similar setup could be made that incorporates both spindle diameters found on turntable platters. This is but one design concept that could used to build a universal protractor.

I'm sure the Mint protractor is an excellent alignment device and never intended to disparage it's value. But it is limited to specific turntable/tone arm combinations and so is far from a universal protractor, which is what I'm advocating.

Best regards,
Tom