How important is Cartridge Overhang? Need help

Hi, Wilson667: A difference of only 1.0mm should not prohibit you from adjusting the position of the cartridge in the 9cc tone arm headshell to align to the Lofgren A/Baerwald geometry. The headshell slots have enough play forward and backward from the middle position, which accomodates most cartridges with typical mounting hole to stylus distances of +/- 9.5mm, to easily accomodate your HMC 20.

Something doesn't sound right. Before spending money on another cartridge, try using the Conrad Hoffman protractor, which works very well for the Pro-Ject tone arms. Download from the link, unzip, print, and follow directions in the README file.

http://www.conradhoffman.com/TemplateGen.zip

Tom

Wilson667,

When you moved the protractor back to get the stylus to land to the left, could you then move the cart back in the slots toward the line? If not, I suspect that the arm is not mounted exactly at the P2S distance. However, the distance between the stylus and the line will give you an idea of how much the arm pivot is off. I remember the Pro-ject arm I had on an MMF-7 a while back, but don't remember how much play there is in the three set screws that hold VTA. Maybe it is possible to play with this and get the P2S correct? Can you measure carefully what the P2S distance is now?

Granted, a short hole-to-tip makes life a bit difficult but if things are set correctly and your arm has slots for mounting the cartridge it should work. There is no standard for the hole-to-tip distance. That is why most arms have those headshell slots.

Dan_ed; I would also consider that the Mink protractor may not be constructed correctly. If the wrong parameters were given or used to set the markings on the protractor that could also account for the problem trying to use it with the Pro-Ject 9cc tone arm. There should be more than enough play in the headshell slots to accomodate a 1.0mm difference in cartridge mounting hole to stylus tip distance. Unless Pro-Ject has recently redesigned the 9 series tone arms, a typical cartridge with 9.5mm mounting holes to stylus tip distance puts the cartridge right in the middle of the slots with almost 3mm of travel fore and aft.

That's why I asked what dimensions were used to create the Mink protractor: Are they the correct dimensions? Using parameters of 212mm spindle-to-pivot distance and a 230mm effective length the cartridge should easily align to a Lofgren A/Baerwald geometry with the Pro-Ject 'arm. And also why I suggested using another protractor with the correct parameters to compare with the Mink protractor. Conrad Hoffman's TemplateGen is a quick way to check. That would indicate if it's the Pro-Ject turntable or the Mink protractor that was possibly mismanufactured.

Until more information is provided all bets are off as to what is causing the problem.

Tom

Hi Wilson,
I used to have a Pro-Ject as well. When I owned it I bought and kept the Sumiko Pro-Ject protractor and alignment kit. This is specially designed to work with Pro-Jects and is what is used when they mount cartridges.

You are welcome to borrow it. Contact me off the thread/forum page and we can make arrangements. I have 3 different protractors and I can definitely say the Pro-Ject works great with "Pro-Jects". And it is easy as well.

By the way, I also have an Ortofon HMC-20 on my Vpi Scout. It is a very nice cartridge and I get excellent sound quality with it. I looked at the mounting holes on it and compared them to my Blue Point Special which is OEM with Projects. The Ortofon stylus is definitely further back and probably needs more "reach".

Keep working on it, it is definitely worth the effort and your ears will thank you. Your records too!

HI Tom. That is very true, and the MintLp is not a universal-type protractor. The actual mounting distance of the arm has not been verified either. If that is off, everything is off. Sure, it will play, but not optimally. Project wouldn't be the first manufacturer to not mount their arm with any kind of precision.