When I first tried to actually use the UNIprotractor, I wished I hadnt have volunteered to do a review.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldnt see the stylus?!
The package from Germany arrived many days ago and at first I was slightly disappointed at the appearance of this plain brown cardboard box.
Surely a white or black box with some unique graphics was warranted to encase the high-tech machine-like tool within?
Of course that would have increased the costs and Daniel did not at first know, how many of these machines he would sell?
Once opened, the contents were convincingly revealed to be well packaged and a few surprises, such as an LED high-powered lamp and a pair of soft white gloves were included.
Prior to its arrival, Daniel had Emailed the coloured Instruction Manual together with the appropriate micrometer settings for 5 of my 6 arms and let me say that with the exception of the Copperhead, these instructions are better than those which came with all my tonearms.
But back to the turntable.
I had easily assembled the UNIprotractor as detailed in the Manual, and had it positioned on the nude Victor TT-81 with the Fidelity Research FR-64s tonearm as the first patient.
This was not a fair test admittedly, for the Dertonarm recommended geometry for the FR-64s does not follow Baerwald or Lofgren and the spindle to pivot distance recommended by the manufacturer, is not followed by the UNIprotractor.
I had already adjusted my spindle to pivot distance for the arm to be 231.5mm instead of 230mm and had aligned it via the Feikert protractor by utilising its overhang alignment rather than its Baerwald alignment. This also required a twist to the tracking angle but I didnt have the correct null points to accurately gauge this angle so I knew my set-up was inaccurate.
The cartridge was a MM favourite of mine the Signet TK-7e mounted in the FR-3 headshell and for the life of me, I couldnt see the stylus, head-on, through the magnifier.
After developing mild backpain crouching for over an hour, I decided to switch off the lights, have a coffee and a well-earned rest.
During this interlude, I pondered whether Dertonarm had erred in his design by using only modern LOMC cartridges rather than my preferred vintage MMs which had their stylus tips generally tucked well back from the fronts of the cartridges.
Had I just purchased a white elephant I wondered as I gazed at the trees framed against a deepening blue sky?
After an hour, I returned to the turntable, switched on the LED lamp and peered once again through the magnifier.
Could it be? Was that it? A stylus tip?
I grabbed my hand-held magnifier and held it behind the fixed magnifier and there I saw it .a clear stylus and its black cantilevered shaft framed against the mirrored gridlines of the UNIprotractor :-)
Most new tonearms are somewhat intimidating on first set-up but once familiar, they become easier and eventually simple to adjust.
The same must be said for alignment tools.
The Feikert was initially difficult and is now childs play as is Yips MintTractor and the WallyTractor.
Once I knew what I was looking at and for, it became easier and easier to use the UNI protractor until by the fifth arm, I was laughing.
The Signet TK-7e was out by nearly 2mm and its tracking angle was also off. Easily fixed using the UNI.
My previous defacto set-up tool of choice has been the Feikert which is a one-point devise like the UNI. Whilst I use it to set spindle to pivot and overhang (based on Baerwald), I like to use the Mint to adjust the correct tracking angle at the Null points because it is so easy to see compared to all the other devices I have.
The Feikert came with my DaVinci 12 Ref Grandezza tonearm and whilst one face of the white Tractor Disc is marked as a Universal template, the other face is dedicated solely to the DaVinci.
As such, you would expect it to be ultra accurate and so it was. The UNItractor proved that the DaVinci was as good as you can get.
With the other arms and various cartridges, the UNI showed some to be ALMOST perfect, whilst others required adjustment. None was perfect like the DaVinci, and having the UNItractor prove this fact, I trust it implicitly for the other arms.
So is the UNItractor worth its price? If you have several arms and/or interchangeable headshells equipped with multiple cartridges, I would say yes.
If you have only one arm and want the most accurate tool available to align an arm/cartridge then again I would say yes.
Is the UNItractor perfect? No, I think it can be improved ..and quite easily.
Firstly, being a one-point device rather than a two-point arc protractor, the spindle to pivot dimension is critical.
There seems little point IMO, to have the accuracy and tight tolerances of the UNI if you can be 2mm-5mm out in your spindle to pivot distance?
The best device I have seen for measuring this dimension, is the adjustable Feikert aluminium sliding beam and locator. This is rigid and super accurate but what does the UNI provide? a floppy steel rule. There is simply no way that anyone can come close to accuracy with this means other than by fluking it. And this is so silly because the UNItractor already has a device which is nearly as good as the Feikert. The locating device which locks onto the spindle and hovers over the tonearm pivot could easily have a scale on its base which can measure the spindle to pivot dimension. I know that Daniel is soon coming out with a proper measuring device but this IMO is unnecessary.
Another improvement I could suggest is that the mirrored templates which click into the protractor for each different arm, should be a frosted mirror like the Mint instead of the full mirror which is more difficult IMO to see clearly.
A further suggestion I have is that the selected arm geometry should be engraved on these mirrored templates. At present one does not know if one is setting the arm for Lofgren A, B, Stevensen or something else as Daniel pre-selects what he considers is best for each arm. In some cases that is simply the arm manufacturers recommended geometry so that for my Grace 940G and Micro Seiki MA-505S which both have the same effective length and overhang, Daniel supplies two separate templates.
Apart from these easily incorporated improvements, I have nothing but admiration for Dertonarms UNItractor.
A serious device for the serious analogue audiophile.
UNIprotractor
No matter how hard I tried, I couldnt see the stylus?!
The package from Germany arrived many days ago and at first I was slightly disappointed at the appearance of this plain brown cardboard box.
Surely a white or black box with some unique graphics was warranted to encase the high-tech machine-like tool within?
Of course that would have increased the costs and Daniel did not at first know, how many of these machines he would sell?
Once opened, the contents were convincingly revealed to be well packaged and a few surprises, such as an LED high-powered lamp and a pair of soft white gloves were included.
Prior to its arrival, Daniel had Emailed the coloured Instruction Manual together with the appropriate micrometer settings for 5 of my 6 arms and let me say that with the exception of the Copperhead, these instructions are better than those which came with all my tonearms.
But back to the turntable.
I had easily assembled the UNIprotractor as detailed in the Manual, and had it positioned on the nude Victor TT-81 with the Fidelity Research FR-64s tonearm as the first patient.
This was not a fair test admittedly, for the Dertonarm recommended geometry for the FR-64s does not follow Baerwald or Lofgren and the spindle to pivot distance recommended by the manufacturer, is not followed by the UNIprotractor.
I had already adjusted my spindle to pivot distance for the arm to be 231.5mm instead of 230mm and had aligned it via the Feikert protractor by utilising its overhang alignment rather than its Baerwald alignment. This also required a twist to the tracking angle but I didnt have the correct null points to accurately gauge this angle so I knew my set-up was inaccurate.
The cartridge was a MM favourite of mine the Signet TK-7e mounted in the FR-3 headshell and for the life of me, I couldnt see the stylus, head-on, through the magnifier.
After developing mild backpain crouching for over an hour, I decided to switch off the lights, have a coffee and a well-earned rest.
During this interlude, I pondered whether Dertonarm had erred in his design by using only modern LOMC cartridges rather than my preferred vintage MMs which had their stylus tips generally tucked well back from the fronts of the cartridges.
Had I just purchased a white elephant I wondered as I gazed at the trees framed against a deepening blue sky?
After an hour, I returned to the turntable, switched on the LED lamp and peered once again through the magnifier.
Could it be? Was that it? A stylus tip?
I grabbed my hand-held magnifier and held it behind the fixed magnifier and there I saw it .a clear stylus and its black cantilevered shaft framed against the mirrored gridlines of the UNIprotractor :-)
Most new tonearms are somewhat intimidating on first set-up but once familiar, they become easier and eventually simple to adjust.
The same must be said for alignment tools.
The Feikert was initially difficult and is now childs play as is Yips MintTractor and the WallyTractor.
Once I knew what I was looking at and for, it became easier and easier to use the UNI protractor until by the fifth arm, I was laughing.
The Signet TK-7e was out by nearly 2mm and its tracking angle was also off. Easily fixed using the UNI.
My previous defacto set-up tool of choice has been the Feikert which is a one-point devise like the UNI. Whilst I use it to set spindle to pivot and overhang (based on Baerwald), I like to use the Mint to adjust the correct tracking angle at the Null points because it is so easy to see compared to all the other devices I have.
The Feikert came with my DaVinci 12 Ref Grandezza tonearm and whilst one face of the white Tractor Disc is marked as a Universal template, the other face is dedicated solely to the DaVinci.
As such, you would expect it to be ultra accurate and so it was. The UNItractor proved that the DaVinci was as good as you can get.
With the other arms and various cartridges, the UNI showed some to be ALMOST perfect, whilst others required adjustment. None was perfect like the DaVinci, and having the UNItractor prove this fact, I trust it implicitly for the other arms.
So is the UNItractor worth its price? If you have several arms and/or interchangeable headshells equipped with multiple cartridges, I would say yes.
If you have only one arm and want the most accurate tool available to align an arm/cartridge then again I would say yes.
Is the UNItractor perfect? No, I think it can be improved ..and quite easily.
Firstly, being a one-point device rather than a two-point arc protractor, the spindle to pivot dimension is critical.
There seems little point IMO, to have the accuracy and tight tolerances of the UNI if you can be 2mm-5mm out in your spindle to pivot distance?
The best device I have seen for measuring this dimension, is the adjustable Feikert aluminium sliding beam and locator. This is rigid and super accurate but what does the UNI provide? a floppy steel rule. There is simply no way that anyone can come close to accuracy with this means other than by fluking it. And this is so silly because the UNItractor already has a device which is nearly as good as the Feikert. The locating device which locks onto the spindle and hovers over the tonearm pivot could easily have a scale on its base which can measure the spindle to pivot dimension. I know that Daniel is soon coming out with a proper measuring device but this IMO is unnecessary.
Another improvement I could suggest is that the mirrored templates which click into the protractor for each different arm, should be a frosted mirror like the Mint instead of the full mirror which is more difficult IMO to see clearly.
A further suggestion I have is that the selected arm geometry should be engraved on these mirrored templates. At present one does not know if one is setting the arm for Lofgren A, B, Stevensen or something else as Daniel pre-selects what he considers is best for each arm. In some cases that is simply the arm manufacturers recommended geometry so that for my Grace 940G and Micro Seiki MA-505S which both have the same effective length and overhang, Daniel supplies two separate templates.
Apart from these easily incorporated improvements, I have nothing but admiration for Dertonarms UNItractor.
A serious device for the serious analogue audiophile.
UNIprotractor