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I'm so exhausted I'm going to bed, but the pertinent details:Customer service: Excellent, great email communications throughout the shipping process.
Packaging: Excellent, everything arrived Registered Mail, and carefully and thoughtfully packed
Instructions: Couldn't be clearer, and this is the first time I've used a protractor other than VPI's extremely easy and recommendable one. The pictures describing how to avoid Parallax error are very helpful as well.
Fit and finish of the protractor: Wow. Fit snugly over the spindle-hole without any perceptible give. The etchings on the glass are easy to see as possible and perfectly straight even under 10X magnification.
Ease of use: I won't sugar-coat: by the time I finished the alignment, (probably not taking the recommended breaks as often as I should have), I was feeling a little headachy and nauseous. I went all out, not only lining up the needle perfectly across the whole arc, but going further and centering it within the ultra-thin arc line with the aid of magnification.
Step 2 involves aligning the cantilever between the "railroad tracks" on the inner and outer null points, and it's quite hard on the eyes to focus on relationship between actual lines and their reflections, (exploiting the Parallax effect to insure a perfect sightline) and then refocus on the relationship between cantilever and actual lines.
As one can imagine...this could get frustrating really fast. It is really hard to avoid leaning on (and unfortunately disturbing) the platter which must remain stationary. I must hasten to add that I can't imagine any protractor and/or devices which would make the process easier. I was able--with everything supplied--to unquestionably get everything lined up, and then some, with magnification.
Resulting improvement in sound: The new alignment did *not* improve or smooth out "hot" strings or "blatty," unflatteringly-recorded brass, two issue which I'd hoped would be improved. The improvements were surprising in other ways. Unquestionably more separation of instruments, better airiness, more low-level details...everything was "opened up" and "fleshed out" more in each 3rd of the Lp, especially the last 3rd. The "unflappability quotient" (if that makes sense), of my cart definitely went up.
I would recommend this Protractor for two reasons, 1)definitely a marked improvement in sound as described, and 2)for all the micro-surgery hassle, I couldn't imagine anyone--if one believes in the accuracy of the protractor--second-guessing his work, once all is triple-checked and the items put away. The supplied magnification allows from some extreme accuracy, providing you'll provide patience, good and fresh vision and a steady hand.
Edits: 03/31/09Follow Ups:
As, they can and often do have a tendency to drift...or maybe the tonearm moves ever-so-slightly with that extra 1/16" in the mounting hole, etc.
I couldn't imagine going through that same process to check alignment periodically also..
Nice write up, and glad to see that more good products out there.
Rick
I'm very gratified with the extra focus and bloom in the sound.
Believe it or not, I futzed with the tool again tonight and got the cantilever alignment even more dialed in. All was much, much easier tonight: I know the best lighting positions now, and I was much handier with the magnifying glass in regards to getting it placed and focused, and finally, I'm better with very slight cart adjustments.
My cart is about a year and a half old, so it's pretty settled in. In any case, I figure a re-adjustment--if necessary--every six months shouldn't take more than an hour....
what cart? sorry, I don't follow everything you've posted in detail.
Perhaps the things you mention about the recordings are due to the recordings, not your gear.
is asking for miracles.
in Brahms PC 2 with Serkin. Wow, esp last movement coda! How I wish the engineers would have tamed them, for they are absolutely virtuosic and perfect as well as brilliant. But too bright.
We all need tone controls or graphic eq or better.
Had a chance to do some serious, but infinitely more relaxed listening this morning. I've picked some records that hopefully many will have picked up over the years.Kubelik's Janacek Gagolitic Mass on DGG. The final two sections, one with a pretty "nasal" organ solo and the other containing some extremely raucous music for fluttering, delightfully-grotesque and playful trumpets and all sorts of other hee-hawing...the improvement was incredible: I could hear all kinds of extra detail and the instruments maintained their "roundness" and individual tonalities. It was just a mess before.
Arnold's Lyrita Cornish Dances: my system used to lose a little bit of its composure during the brass chorale in the very last dance, (end of side two). This time around it remained absolutely clear and didn't thin.
MTT's Orff Carmina Burana: the two last big choral sections--this is a great but perhaps unfair test piece, as the record is a little too stuffed with music and you've got a big, slow repetitive choral section (Ave forsissima) holding its chords while high unison strings comment, right at the very end of the record. Again, fantastically better separation of strings and choir with both maintaining their timbres and textures and space.
Some disappointments:
Haitink Debussy's Jeux: spectacular recording in the quiet sections but the louder sections still cause the cart to lose composure; the sound thins and gets crass. I don't know if it's a bad record or saturation on the recording.
Argerich's Chopin Sonata #3/DGG, the last pages of the final mov't: I still get a complete loss of sparkle and separation of the notes. If your system can handle this, my hat's off to you.
The TAS-listed Mercury Rodrigo Guitar Concerto, second mov't big string theme: strings are still thin and dry as can be.
In any case, I'm going to do a little more listening, but the improvement has been big enough for me to consider shelving my plans for a cart upgrade and I may go for a phono-stage in its place.
Edits: 03/31/09
Have you tried switching speaker cables (at the speaker end, both speakers, black for red) on those LPs that remain thin-sounding. Could well be a polarity issue.
Actually the records with problems sound gorgeous overall; there are just some stretches which get thin. At the times at which I can make a comparison between the Lp and a reel to reel tape or cassette, it usually turns out that the record is reflecting exactly what's on the master tape.
If your system can make a 60's Columbia Bernstein Lp sound good, than you've dulled your system. : )
Thinking about your last paragraph, the better the system gets, the better even those gawdawful Bernsteins get. Which doesn't put them very close to Lyrita territory, granted. The only one I really like is the Bernstein/Graffman version of Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody (okay on LP, better on open reel tape). But don't even bother with the Rach Piano Concerto #2 on the other side.
Bernstein's Copland 3rd Symphony on DGG, (my favorite, though I like Copland's own from '79), and Haitink's Strauss Alpensinfonie on Philips. One of these days I'll flip polarity.
/
But I'll be damned if I'm going to spend 4.5 hours aligning a cartridge until I'm nauseous. Nothing personal, please don't misunderstand. I'll just go with what I have, and if I'm missing that last nth of resolution or whatever, so be it.
My life's too short for that kind of exactness.
*************
"Don't quote me."
Theoretically, the cartridge could be left in place forever (of course, I realize that there may be cantilever tolerance issues).
I was 19 or 20 when I first performed a two-null alignment - using the CartAlign "universal" protractor.
Using the universal seems to be much harder than the arc-type tool noted in this thread.
When I align cartidges now, I find that My fifty-year-old eyes can't focus with head as close as I would like it.
Anyway, my comment is that setting up a pickup gets easier with practice, and I vaguely remember frustration and that one beer seemed to help fine motor control.
OTOH, I have installed only one vinyl floor in my life - and that was an easy 5 by 8 bathroom with "soft goods".
I much refer the other vinyl.
Totally understand, but I didn't take the breaks I should have, and it's been a long time since I've squinted through a magnifying glass which is pretty fatiguing. My turntable wasn't in the most convenient position either.
I don't mind doing such things (once) because at least there seems to be real physics to justify it; I'm thinking back to my CD days running around trying green pens and cryogenically treated AC power chords...
I think I also saved myself over a thousand bucks since I'm not so inclined to upgrade carts.
Finally, in classical music the climaxes (the payoff) are usually placed in the worst part of the record. (Records should start from the center and work their way out) : )
...worth a couple of hours work and frustration to me if the net result is hours upon hours of musical enjoyment and the peace of mind that I'm inflicting the least amount of damage possible to my collection.
Is life too short to spend three hours rooting around on the floor in smelly used book stores and salvage shops looking for cheap records? Is life too short to spend 1/2 a Saturday tooling around town from yardsale to yardsale looking for cast off licorice biscuits of joy???
Me thinks NOT my friend! :)
First of all, I fully concur with your experiences and findings. My experience was very similar. I received my Best Tractor a week ago and like you, dove right into the alignment procedure. I spent about 2-1/2 hours on my cartridge. I had some trouble getting the 10X lupe and my apparently big head positioned close to the cartridge for proper viewing without disturbing the platter, protractor or tonearm. With practice, I was able to accomplish this. After completing the alignment, the most obvious improvement was a significant reduction in mis-tracking on the inner grooves. I also noticed more air and space around notes akin to finding the perfect VTF and VTA.
I am a believer in the Best Protractor. However, my take on this product is that its real value is in the instructions. In addition to providing an extremely accurate protractor, Mr. Yip has come up with a real world procedure for average people. I had to laugh when I got to step 13: “By now you must be exhausted…” He’s right, I was. His Tips are perfect too: “have both eyes open”, “Make sure you take a break every 30 minutes”, for small adjustments “…keep the fingers steady but use your mind to move the cart”. He understands the human interaction and fine motor skills that are needed and conveys his ideas in clear, easy to understand words. And, if the words don’t get you there the pictures seal the deal.
Answering John Elison’s question about null points, I measured with a micrometer and get (approximately) 66.1mm and 121.2mm from the center of the spindle hole. Please note that when I eyeballed the measurement I couldn’t bring myself to put the same painstaking effort into this measurement so it may be off a tad ;> )
halogen light. You are right about the instructions--extremely...human.
nt
(nt)
Thank you for the measurements. I really appreciate your effort. I was concerned that the Mint protractors were all designed for Stevenson's alignment, but that is definitely not the case. Yours is obviously designed for Löfgren A. I guess Mr. Yip makes different protractors for different tonearms because the example pictured on his website is a Stevenson model.
Thanks again,
John Elison
Sure thing. FYI, my Best Tractor is made for an MMF 7.1 with Pro-Ject 9C arm. Interestingly, the paper protractor that came with the table has null points at 65mm and 125mm. Do you happen to know where those points come from?
Sorry, I don't know where 65-mm and 125-mm come from. The inner null at 65-mm is alright, but the outer null of 125-mm creates a long period of unnecessary distortion in-between the null point. You are better off with Löfgren A at 66-mm and 121-mm.
Good luck,
John Elison
exhausting to say the least, but well worth it. A surprising result for me was a slight reduction in surface noise - other improvements for me mirror yours: more separation of instruments, better airiness, more low-level details.
The " "hot" strings or "blatty," unflatteringly-recorded brass " you're experiencing could be equipment related that no amount of tweaking will resolve. I'm curious as to what cartridge and phono stage you're using.
I know I know, a phono stage is coming ASAP, just want to make sure I'm not going to be standing in a soup line next year.
I've been able to verify that some "blattiness" is from master tapes, by comparing certain problem Lp's with their reel to reel or cassette counterparts. I was just hoping for a little miracle.
Is there a problem with the phono stage in the A308 integrated?
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What phone pre-amps are you considering.
Congratulations!
I know that cartridge alignment can be a tedious process. You might want to recheck everything tomorrow when you're fresh.
Are the null-points specified? If not, I wonder if you could measure them when you get a chance. I'm just curious about these kind of things.
Have fun with your new toy.
Best regards,
John Elison
Some use Stevenson and some use Baerwald (or whatever we're calling it this week...). My understanding from him is that those are the two standard alignment geometries he uses but that he can do a custom aligment if you wish using any null points you desire.The fact that Yip has researched each table to determine which alignments will work on the stock arm configurations just underscores his attention to detail.
The one for my SL-1200MK2, for example, uses Stevenson (60.325 and 117.42) since very few cartridges can move far enough forward in the stock headshell to allow for Baerwald.
Edits: 03/31/09
I remember realigning the pickup on a number of Japanese direct drives for folks in college. Used index cards, on the spur-of-the-moment. I usually found what you found - could not pull the cartridge out far enough. I aligned to the inner 66mm null and had another beer.
Folks were invariably grateful.
Thank you for the information. That's exactly what I was wondering about.
Thanks again,
John Elison
Technics Baerwald protractor from him for those cartridge/headshell combo's that will allow it.
Great review, thoughts, opinions and analysis on your protractor. I learned a thing or two, thanks for your well written post.
Another reason, why this forum, The VINYL ASYLUM, is the authority on our vinyl format / hobby.
Ed
"Some Folks Need An Education ... Don't Give Up Or We'll Lose The Nation" C. 1970 MARK FARNER of Grand Funk Railroad from "Sin's A Good Man's Brother"
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nonpareil.
There is no such thing as too many records.
There is just too little room for them!
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