I tried the Rega Baerwald Protractor -- and I liked it!!!

Posted by Heli_Dog (A) on August 27, 2005 at 22:59:44

In Reply to: I just used the Rega Stevenson Arc Protractor... posted by Stephen Murphy on August 26, 2005 at 18:45:10:

I have a Rega OEM RB300 on a non Rega Turntable. When I originally set this TT up about a year ago I used the supplied Rega heavy paper alignment template.

Today before starting any alignment changes I double checked the mounting distance and it was exactly 222mm. First I put on my K-TEL Rega Arc Protractor with the Rega Stevenson Arc Protractor side up. Like Stephen Murphy I also found that the cantelever lined up correctly from the outer edge "C" marking right down the protractors arc line to the inner "C" marking and beyond.

I then put the original supplied template on the TT and as expected
everything lined up correctly. I was curious, so I matched up the spindle holes and then overlaid this template on top of the Stevenson Arc Protractor and discovered that the "x" on the original template falls exactly on the grid "x" on the Stevenson Arc protractor, for whatever thats worth.

Next I flipped my K-TEL Rega Arc Protractor over this time with the Rega Baerwald Arc Protractor side up. I lined the cantelever on the outer edge "C" marking but when I moved it to the inner "C" marking the cantelever fell about 1mm behind that spot. My cartridge was secured in about the middle of the RB300 head shell slots leaving me without about 5mm free space to play with in order try to get this dialed in, so I decided to give it a shot. It took a while but eventually I was able to get cantelever lined up correctly from the outer edge "C" marking right down this protractors arc line to the inner "C" marking with everthing squared up on the grid. I then reset the VTF and antiskate before throwing on some vinyl.

On went my trusty old Shure audio obstacle course - era III
followed by a 200 gram Cardas frequency sweep record. The new Rega Baerwald alignment seemed to spin through both of these without any obvious problems.

So on went some tunes, first up a 200 gram Toni Childs - Union,
...well I hardly know what to say, the speakers, forget about em, the walls -- gone,...this was like being transported to the music venue...just sublime! I don't know if this improvement is due to the new Baerwald alignment, having the use of a better alignment grid, taking more time to tweak in the settings or just plain dumb luck but the tunes have been spinning all afternoon and they all sound far better.

My experience seems to be the opposite of slate1 there is simply
NO comparison - my system performs MUCH better with the cartridge aligned using the Rega Baerwald Arc Protractor...and thats where its staying!!! YMMV.

My Analog Front-end:

- Clearaudio Champion, http://www.soundstage.com/vinyl/vinyl200205.htm
- OEM RB300
- Tri-Cell modified consisting of rewiring the arm with one
continuous, length of Cardas litz wire all the way from
cartridge clips to RCAs
- Michell Tecno Counterweight,
http://www.vinylengine.com/michell_tecnoweight.shtml

- Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge,
http://stereophile.com/analogsourcereviews/737/
- Rega Fono MM,
(Eastern Electric MiniMax phono preamp in the mail, due any day now
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/minimaxphono/phono.html)

Champion TT > Rega Fono > Ming Da MC-7R > Simaudio W-3 > Reference 3A MM De Capo i

The Vinyl Engine - Protractors (Open in New Window)

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - I just used the Rega Stevenson Arc Protractor... - Stephen Murphy 18:45:10 08/26/05 (15)

I tried the Rega Baerwald Protractor -- and I liked it!!! - Heli_Dog 22:59:44 08/27/05 (1)

Re: I tried the Rega Baerwald Protractor -- and I liked it!!! - Stephen Murphy 09:22:05 08/28/05 (0)

Perhaps it would be interesting and informative to compare the different alignments graphicallyâ€¦ - John Elison 19:42:25 08/27/05 (2)

wow - hukkfinn 22:16:55 08/27/05 (1)

it's a good illustration - KT88 15:56:21 08/30/05 (0)

I also tried it and... - jsm 16:22:51 08/27/05 (0)

Excuse my ignorance, but where do the Denessen and Clearaudio protractors fit in as far as methodologies? nt - Ray-o-Stat 07:28:29 08/27/05 (1)

The Denessen uses ... - garth 08:22:41 08/27/05 (0)

out of interest - avian 21:11:14 08/26/05 (3)

I get MUCH better performance with Stevenson - slate1 10:39:17 08/27/05 (1)

MUCH better? - garth 14:12:32 08/27/05 (0)

Re: out of interest - Stephen Murphy 21:40:16 08/26/05 (0)

That's odd...... - Jazzyguy 20:39:43 08/26/05 (2)

Re: That's odd...... - Stephen Murphy 21:23:20 08/26/05 (1)

I agree - Jazzyguy 06:50:16 08/27/05 (0)

Follow Ups

I tried the Rega Baerwald Protractor -- and I liked it!!! - Heli_Dog 22:59:44 08/27/05 (1)

Re: I tried the Rega Baerwald Protractor -- and I liked it!!! - Stephen Murphy 09:22:05 08/28/05 (0)

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