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Or every maker could take the Well Tempered approach

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In Reply to: RE: Someone should make aa device for popular Tt which when stuck on headshell, gives perfect cart alignment posted by Elizabeth on July 28, 2012 at 08:58:19

I'd love it if that were possible, Elizabeth. In fact, I've made a little jig out of small clear-plastic boxes the gets me into the alignment ballpark with my Oracle Paris/Sumiko MMT combination. I also use the Technics jig on my KAB-modded SL-1200.

But it would even be simpler if every arm/table maker followed Bill Firebaugh's philosophy as practiced on the Amadeus and Simplex tables: There's no provision for any type of cartridge adjustment at all. Just a fixed mounting position. (Firebaugh claims to have figured out the optimum mounting position for every cartridge! And who am I to say he's got it wrong?)

-Bob

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RE: Or every maker could take the Well Tempered approach - Lew 07:03:18 08/01/12 (0)
As one who has spent an entire afternoon trying to help a disabled friend align his new Dynavector Karat in his WT Reference tonearm, I believe I am qualified to say "he got it wrong". For those who don't know, the DV Karat has a VERY short cantilever; thus its bolt hole to stylus tip distance is odd, and its alignment is way off in the WTR tonearm. To compound the problem, not only are the cartridge mounting holes fixed at the distal end, but also it is nigh impossible to mess with the spindle to pivot distance, at the other end. (We tried to rotate the base in order to compensate for the problem at the headshell end.) In the final analysis, my friend and I decided not to care about alignment, once we got it as good as it could get. But the WTR tonearm is also over-damped and, at best, vague with regard to azimuth setting and stability of same. I am not a big fan.
Like a Naim ARO is the same... - kuma 14:25:12 07/28/12 (5)
... Supposedly optimised for the Linn Troika. I've tried and heard several dozen cartridges on the arm and it's easy to determine what works and what doesn't. Mount a cartridge, adjust the arm height, check azymuth and done.

Eliminating obsessive dial-in process leaves me more time for listening to tunes.

Can't say for other turntables, but for the Sondek/ARO there are other areas that needs to be dialed in proper which have far more influence in sonic outcome than tweaking alignment of a cartridge. ( so long as there are no gross mismatch in compliance )
- Can't say I agree with you, I'm afraid. ... - andyr 20:41:15 07/28/12 (4)
  If the Aro was "optimised for the Linn Troika" then that's probably OK for all Linn cartridges, which I suspect are all built to the same cartridge-bolt-to-stylus-tip distance.
  But not every cart is built for this distance ... so these carts are going to be misaligned, without headshell slots. Which is, of course, fine ... if you want to limit your choice of cartridge. :-))
  Regards,
  Andy
  
  Edits: 07/28/12
  - The boult to the stylus distance ... - kuma 21:40:21 07/28/12 (3)
    hasn't been a good indication of what sounds good to me, tho.
    
    I was originally hang up on it but as I tried many cartridges on the ARO, some, even with the ideal distance, can under perform compare to others. ( a few Dynavector carts come to mind )
    
    ARO isn't that fussy in terms of cartridge choices. Many do more or less *work*. I don't think this is a super duper precision instrument.
    
    My problem right now is to find a suitable replacement for the Miyabi/47 which might not have had the correct geometry, but boy I really miss the voicing of this cartridge!
    
    Nothing like it out there for the money so far. I value an overall cartridge voicing and dynamics more over a geometry now.
    - "the correct geometry" ... - andyr 22:16:17 07/28/12 (2)
      AFAIAC, there is no "correct" geometry for a cart. It will have a certain stylus-to-bolt-hole distance, and height from stylus to headshell, and a good arm will allow adjustments for these parameters, to suit that particular cart.
      
      But getting it located so that it aligns to the correct null points for the particular alignment chosen (and the inner groove radius/outer groove radius choices you prefer) is crucial, to make the cartridge sound its best. (As is VTF, VTA and azimuth.)
      
      But each to his/her own. :-))
      
      Regards,
      
      Andy
      - The odd thing is... - kuma 22:23:10 07/28/12 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: "the correct geometry" ... posted by andyr on July 28, 2012 at 22:16:17
        
        I never get the inner grove distortion that I've read so much about except when the cartridge is on the way out or the record has groove damage.
        
        Anyways, I am sure you can make a cartridge sounds better through precision alignment but all efforts lost if the voicing of the cartridge doesn't agree with the owner to begin with.
        
        "all efforts lost if the voicing of the cartridge doesn't agree with the owner to begin with" ... - andyr 22:57:18 07/28/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: The odd thing is... posted by kuma on July 28, 2012 at 22:23:10
        
        Absolutely! But if you haven't set the cart up correctly, you won't be hearing 100% of the beauty of its "voice"! :-)) EG. the stylus profile that demands exactly the right VTA to sound its best. (Many - most? - other profiles are much more tolerant of the VTA setting.)
        
        Regards,
        
        Andy

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