Vinyl Asylum

No dumb questions, only dumb designs...

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but... posted by Mr Blue Sky on July 05, 2012 at 18:15:09

Good morning,
John's reply gives you plenty of information to consider. If you could find one of those Rek-O-Kut mounting kits it would make things easier to accomodate the cartridge you're using. But it still might not make things work for a Lofgren A (Baerwald) alignment. I have read that many of the Japanese tonearm models produced in the past used a Stevenson (or modified Stevenson) alignment geometry. And your S-120 tonearm is one of them. Based on the limited information provided, I ran a few scenarios using the Vinyl Engine calculator. John's estimate that the offset angle is probably close to 21 degrees is a very good estimate. While not a true Stevenson alignment, the S-120 appears to have an alignment that minimizes distortion at the end of a record using a DIN inner groove of 57.5mm and then oddly minimizes distortion in the middle portion of a record. Using an offset angle much different than 21 degrees ends up with even worse alignments. Refer to the Vinyl Engine alignment calculator...

Rek-O-Kut S-120 aligment

Unless you extend the cartridge out past the headshell to increase effective length and then rotate the cartridge, you're probably stuck with an odd alignment. But if you could find a way to extend the overhang by about 4.5mm and rotate the cartridge 3 degrees you'll get alignment null points closer to a Lofgren A setup...

Modified Rek-O-Kut S-120 aligment

That's a lot of modification. Good luck. I'd just use the mounting distance of 209.5mm and live with the alignment of the tonearm. Or get a different tonearm.

Regards,
Tom

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