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Cartridge alignment - mounting distance questions, longish and technical

I used this tool (link below) to simulate some results and need some help analyze them. What I wanted to do is to compare tracking errors and distortions among three different setups for one same tonearm, each time using the same Lofgren A IEC approach with the inner null point at 65.998 mm and the outer null at 120.981 mm.

Set up 1 is to mount this arm at 208 mm pivot to spindle distance. According to Lofgren A, the arm will have an effective length of 226.368 mm, overhang of 18.368 mm, and offset of 24.381 degree.

Set up 2 is to mount this arm at 211 mm P2S distance. According to Lofgren A, the arm will have an effective length of 229.128 mm, overhang of 18.128 mm, and offset of 24.068 degree.

Set up 3 is to mount this arm at 214 mm P2S distance. According to Lofgren A, the arm will have an effective length of 231.894 mm, overhang of 17.894 mm, and offset of 23.764 degree.

For now, let's assume the headshell mounting slot has enough space to allow cartridge to be aligned to any of these three setups. Let's also assume the cartridge may not be sitting squarely in the headshell, but for now let's just ignore that. Also, obviously we are ignoring the specifications/recommendations provided by the tonearm manufacturer - but that is done intentionally.

I used the spreadsheet tool mentioned (the second tab) to generate the tracking error and distortion statistics for each of the three setups:

Setup 1: 208 mm P2S distance -
Inner groove tracking error: -0.794
Outer groove tracking error: -1.931
Inner groove peak distortion: 0.658
Outer groove peak distortion: 0.661
Max between two null points tracking error: 1.115
Max between two null points peak distortion: 0.653

Setup 2: 211 mm P2S distance -
Inner groove tracking error: -0.782
Outer groove tracking error: -1.903
Inner groove peak distortion: 0.648
Outer groove peak distortion: 0.651
Max between two null points tracking error: 1.099
Max between two null points peak distortion: 0.644

Setup 3: 214 mm P2S distance -
Inner groove tracking error: -0.771
Outer groove tracking error: -1.875
Inner groove peak distortion: 0.639
Outer groove peak distortion: 0.642
Max between two null points tracking error: 1.084
Max between two null points peak distortion: 0.635

My questions are:

1. The results show that the setup with a longer P2S distance tends to have less tracking errors and peak distortions, correct? If so, among these three different setups, are the differences generally audible by human ears?

2. Let's say my current armboard will only allow me to mount at 208 mm P2S distance. Is it worth the trouble to make a new armboard with the 211 mm or 214 mm distance? Again, let's assume the headshell slot space is sufficient to allow mounting at either distance.

Thank you very much for reading and helping!



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Topic - Cartridge alignment - mounting distance questions, longish and technical - Da He Hua 09:28:03 02/14/17 (63)

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