[Wayner]

2bigears,

The Rega protractor sucks. The geometry is correct. expecting that when you have the stylus on the "X" and the surfaces of the cartridge parallel to the lines, you are supposed to be there. Boy, they sure want to make you work for it.

Acoustic Research came up with a nifty gismo back in the late 1960's that can be adopted to todays turntable stylus location. First, you understand that the front of the cartridge should be parallel with the front slope of the tonearm. that will dial in your 23 degree offset angle. The only thing else you need to know is overhang and that is 17.2mm or .678". The record spindle is about 3/8" high.

Here comes the shop project: find some wood that is 3/8" think and make a pointer that looks like the AR pointer below. Then towards the end of the wood pointer, you mark off 2 hole locations, one for the spindle to fit thru, the other as a cross-hair mark for the stylus to rest on.

To drill the spindle hole you will need a 9/32" dia. drill bit. When you  are laying out the pointer, all the holes are on the same centerline and the tip of the pointer too.

When you have it done, you point the pointer right at the center of the pivot for the tonearm and then you bring your tone arm over to see if the stylus hits the cross-hairs. All you have to do is hit the cross-hairs and keep the front of the cartridge parallel with the front edge of the tone arm.







In the AR version, they had a molded dimple that the stylus dropped into. Pretty slick. You could use a paint stirring stick, but you would have to build up the area where the cross-hairs will be or else your cartridge body will hit the spindle before the stylus tip hits the cross-hairs.

Darn, maybe I should start making these!

Hope that helps.

Wayner  aa

[Wayner]

Here, I guess you can make one out of a stir stick.



I couldn't find my 9/32 dia. bit so I used a 1/4" insted. Because the Regas' spindle is tapered, the 1/4" hole worked and it put the stick at an angle so I didn't need a spacer block. Who says 2 wrongs don't make a right?



Wayner

[2bigears]

  nice job Wayner....soooo the carts tip should rest 17.2mm from the spindle CL ???? so that is where the length comes in.where did you get that number ???? i just used the Rega tractor and set the cart flush with the end of the arm.i think the Rega tractor works good..you don't like it ??  thks  Pat   

[Wayner]

The technical information is from Rega. Yes, the stylus is 17.2mm from spindle centerline. All cartridge bodies are not designed the same, though some things are standard. the stylus point is the key to proper alignment. While the Rega aligment jig works, it takes some trial and error. My method is pretty easy.

Wayner

[2bigears]

   can it be said that if Rega does not use two pionts,they could care less on the 17.2mm.they give you one point and the means to square the cart and then they call it a day....them boys like to live the simple life for sure..    

[nrenter]

Now you need to mark the offest angle of the cantilever relative to the dimple that notes the overhang distance (technically 240.000 mm from the pivot, or 17.241 mm from the spindle) on your alignment tool.

The appropriate offset angle is 22.914 degrees, and while I can't speak for Rega tonearms, the headshells on Origin Live derivatives are degrees 23.000 degrees.

It should also be noted that this tool would only be appropriate on fixed Pivot-to-Spindle tables that have short (i.e. non-threaded spindles).

[Dan_ed]

Yip will get a protractor to you within 10 days of your order. You can order from Wally and never hear from him for months. That alone makes the MintLP Best Protractor better. But wait! There is more.

The MintLP has its protractor printed on a sheet of plastic that is then applied to mirrored surface. This "suspends" the lines above the surface so that when you look down you will see the line you are looking at and a mirrored image of the line when you are not looking straight on. This feature is taking advantage of parallax.  Also, the printed lines are finer than on the Wally so it is possible to get much more precise alignment. With the MintLP protractor it is very possible to align the STYLUS and forget about aligning the cantilever.  That is what it is all about.

The downside of the MintLP is that you need very good light, very good visual aides, and a lot of patience. However, the results you can obtain are amazing!

The Wallytractor is also a "mirrored" affair (except it's engraved on the glass, not a plastic sheet stuck on).  But I admit that I'm lucky, having got mine about 5 years ago (when Wally was younger ... and much more reliable  ).

Wally's tractor is about aligning the cantilever ... sorry, IMO you are kidding yourself if you think you can align the stylus itself.

You always need "very good light, very good visual aides and a lot of patience" when you are setting up a cart optimally.

Then of course there's the cap loading if it's an MM or the res loading if it's an MC!    To say nothing of VTF, VTA and azimuth! 

Regards,

Andy

C'mon over and I'll show you exactly how I align the stylus with the MintLP. 

It never ceases to amaze how so many in this hobby are absolutely sure they have seen and done it all.
Thanks for the tip about VTF, VTA, azimuth, cartridge loading, etc. I'm sure I wouldn't know anything about that stuff.   

BTW, you left out AS.

[Wayner]

Now you need to mark the offest angle of the cantilever relative to the dimple that notes the overhang distance (technically 240.000 mm from the pivot, or 17.241 mm from the spindle) on your alignment tool.

The appropriate offset angle is 22.914 degrees, and while I can't speak for Rega tonearms, the headshells on Origin Live derivatives are degrees 23.000 degrees.

It should also be noted that this tool would only be appropriate on fixed Pivot-to-Spindle tables that have short (i.e. non-threaded spindles).

NOT! The tool I made is for a Rega table only. The front lip of the tonearm/headshell already has a built in 23 degree offset angle. All you have to do is align the cartridge front to that slope on the tonearm and it dials you in.  As much as anyone wants to convince you, there isn't one protractor that fits all. Many tone arms and turntables have different specifications for offset angle, overhang and tonearm length. The designs are all over the board.

The Baerwald curve has 2 null points. they are 65.9mm and 120.8 mm (measured from the centerline of the record. If you have tonearm with different effective lengths, and a fixed base of rotation, they can't hit the same 2 null points. It is geometrically impossible. Of the 6 different tables that I have, only one closely matches Baerwalds specifications for the "perfect tonearm" mounted at the "perfect distance" from the record spindle, with the "perfect offset angle". That tonearm is the Audioquest PT series, (PT-6 for my VPI). It's specifications are off only a couple of thousands of an inch.

Other manufacturers have chosen other dimensions for their tonearms (I don't know why) and to compensate for their short comings, change the offset angle or the overhang distance. The combination of the 3 are all over the board, some arms longer some shorter. There are some protractors out there that try to simplify the process and claim that one fits all, but it ain't true at all, period.

What happens when you have the stylus is the wrong position and the wrong offset causes a couple of problems. First, if you don't have the right distance for arm length and offset, the null points change. That in itself is not bad, but along with it, the mechanical distortion increases because the stylus (especially and elliptical) will start traveling down the groove really "cockeyed". At the 2 null points, the stylus is in perfect alignment with the groove sidewalls other points along the record it starts to drift and become skewed. That is why linear tracking tonearms were invented. They travel in a straight line and prevent the stylus from becoming skewed in the groove walls. This is how the record was cut with a linear tracking lathe. Now you try to strike an arc thru something that was cut linear. There is the problem. That is why Baerwald (and others) figured out the best possible specifications for a arc swinging tonearm, to do the least possible distortion. If you do not have the correct offset angle, that will contribute to the mis-alignment. You might end up hitting only one null point and that might be in the middle, the other null point...gone. Now your distortion has gone thru the roof and you are on your way to extreme record wear.

This is why you need to follow your turntable/arm manufacturers specifications for aligning the cartridge.

Now there are longer tonearm than the standard 9". Vpi has a 10.5" and in the old days when radio stations spun records, they where very long, 15" or more. their mounting distance from the spindle was back further and their offset angle was much shallower (maybe like 15 degrees). These longer arms have less mechanical distortion because the total angle of the arm sweep is less than that of a 9" arm.

Wayner

[2bigears]

  Wayner,i need you to come up to Canada and show me tt stuff.how do you know all this,pretty cool.anyway,i will try the Mint out,i see my cantilever is out when i look down the two sets of lines on his tractor.you need real steady hands to get all this spot on.is 8 AM too early for vitamin 'V',vodka 

[Wayner]

2big,

While I'm no Michael Fremmer, I have hung around tables for a good 40 years and I've learned a thing or 2 about them. My past profession has also helped me understand the geometry of the whole damn thing.

The turntable and record concept is an enormously wonderful idea. Even today people are flocking back to the old ways almost abandoning the new wave format (CD) altogether. There are so many great ideas built in to it. The stereo record may be on of the first multiplexed signals ever used (45/45 groove walls make horizontal and vertical movements in a twin electrical field to generate a stereo signal. Most people still don't understand the idea. But that's OK. They do know they like the sound. My problem is that I get too technical and the things I get into almost need live class room discussions. That is why Mr. Fremmer did the DVD. I haven't seen it but I'm sure he did a good job.

I guess some people want to get closer to really good and to do that, you have to stop being on the sidelines and jump on in. If you don't understand the mechanics of the tables, you will have trouble getting to that next performance level. I do not even have the right tools to get the things dialed in right. It's just such small dimensions that we are dealing with. It's hard to measure and hard to verify. I'm sure the Wally tractor will get you really close (if the designer truly understood the task), as well as the 2 point protractors. You will get close. But to dial it in to a .001" which I think can be done, requires tools I don't have. (they do at work!  aa ), but that's a different story. Just keep pluggin' away.

Wayner

[2bigears]

   thks Wayner.you have been spinnin' for a good time,through the good music too.i have just finished linin' up the Mint and the cart was not that far off from just the Rega tractor.just had to tweek over a bit on one side of the cart.i have seen the cantilever up close now and was wondering if the tips get blackened by heat.it's not the same color on the bottom half for sure.spinnin' now.... thks also,you must really know tables by now,was wondering what are your favs ????   

[Wayner]

I have my Empire 598 II from when I was 16. I also have a Rega P-3, a VPI Hw-19jr. w/Audioquest PT-6 tonearm, a Technics SL-1200MKII, a Technics SL-Q2 and 3 AR-XA's. I play the Technics SL-1200 everyday. My one and only cartridge mounted right now (to 4 machines) is the Audio Technica AT440MLa, which I think is the greatest bargin in the audio world today. Tracks like a bastard and really good overall freq. balance.

Wayner