Ramblings concerning the MintLP Protractor - very impressed and some suprising results...

Posted by VynylTap on March 1, 2009 at 12:05:19

I spent a better part of yesterday afternoon and evening aligning my Dynavector 20XL with my newly aquired MintLP mirrored protractor. I have to say I'm quite impressed with the results and some of them are surprising.

In a nut-shell, here's where I'm noticing after several spins to make sure I'm really hearing what I'm hearing.

- Dramatic reduction in surface noise
- Much MUCH more focused imaging - center focus is much better and rock solid stable.
- Soundstage depth and width has improved, especially the depth.
- detail level in the bass is much more defined - which I wasn't expecting.

I'm not noticing much difference in the high-end or in tracking, which is surprising to me. The 20XL tracks very very well though.

Overall I'm very impressed with the results and am perfectly satisfied with the outlay of $100 on this. In fact, I'd say it's a bargain.

I will say, it took a great deal of patience. I actually went through the exercise twice - I originally put the 20XL in the stock Technics headshell and aligned it - things sounded okay, but not great. I switched it out later in the evening to the LP Gear Zupreme headshell and started the process all over again. The Zupreme just sounds better to me although it requires the aux weight on my KAB SL-1200 and puts the counterweight pretty far from the pivot point. I feel I'm getting more detail and better imaging / soundstaging with the Zupreme - so it's staying.

The biggest piece of advice I can give on doing this is to take your time and read through the instructions carefully. Get it set as best you can, walk away from it for a half-hour, come back and recheck it, repeat until you're convinced it'd dead on.

It's painstaking, but well worth the effort!

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Topic - Ramblings concerning the MintLP Protractor - very impressed and some suprising results... - VynylTap 12:05:19 03/01/09 (20)

RE: Ramblings concerning the MintLP Protractor - very impressed and some suprising results... - MarkD 13:07:30 03/02/09 (1)

Just to be clear - I've never used Ken's protractor, but it's well liked here... - VynylTap 14:32:46 03/02/09 (0)

Better LIke It, It's Expensive - Fishstink 08:43:31 03/02/09 (1)

Give me a break.... - VynylTap 08:47:32 03/02/09 (0)

Is the MintLP protractor table-specific, or table-arm combo specific? [nt] - travisty 02:57:51 03/02/09 (3)

That's my understanding of it... - VynylTap 08:55:16 03/02/09 (2)

Isn't specifying the table to indicate spindle diameter? - Jeff Maxson 09:08:00 03/02/09 (1)

That's the only thing that makes sense... - VynylTap 09:55:24 03/02/09 (0)

It would be interesting to hear before and after recordings. - Bry 14:34:23 03/01/09 (3)

I still have to get my self in gear and try your design. )MT( - J. S. Bach 17:20:57 03/01/09 (0)

I may actually be able to do that - let me dig around in my recordings... - VynylTap 14:46:33 03/01/09 (1)

I think it's a valuable tool. - Bry 05:29:37 03/02/09 (0)

RE: Ramblings concerning the MintLP Protractor - very impressed and some suprising results... - JayTea 13:03:28 03/01/09 (7)

RE: Ramblings concerning the MintLP Protractor - very impressed and some suprising results... - FolkFreak 13:49:06 03/01/09 (0)

I have no idea!!!! - VynylTap 13:40:09 03/01/09 (5)

RE: I have no idea!!!! - JayTea 13:48:42 03/01/09 (4)

On the Technics SL-1200, yes... - VynylTap 14:04:09 03/01/09 (3)

RE: On the Technics SL-1200, yes... - sberger 09:38:56 03/02/09 (2)

RE: On the Technics SL-1200, yes... - JayTea 03:06:07 03/04/09 (0)

It's much more precise than any paper protractor I've ever used... - VynylTap 14:19:10 03/02/09 (0)

Ramblings concerning the MintLP Protractor - very impressed and some suprising results...

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