The BEST cart alignment tool

These things are awesome...I have a Baewald model...

John, not sure if you've produced yet ..but the extra lines HELP ,,just a frame for reference visually ..they should all come that way
 
elcoholic said:
The protractors are available in Baerwald and Stevenson alignments and either work with most turntables and cartridges. It comes down to the length of the arm, offset angle, the dimensions of the cartridge, location of the cartridge mounting holes and the length of the head shell and it’s slots. The difference between the alignments is 2 or 3 mm and a degree in offset angle. The choice between these 2 optimized alignments is mostly a matter of preference. Baerwald is said to be more common and averages the tracking error across most of the record resulting in lower overall tracking error. Stevenson favors the inner tracks and seeks to reduce inner groove distortion on the last track. Manufacturers’ alignments are usually pretty close to one of these, but sometimes vary.

Protractors are $50 each or $75 for both alignments when ordered together. Shipping is via USPS Flat Rate Box, which is $5.35 and generally takes 2-3 days within the CONUS. For Canada and the UK it's $19.50.

CONUS PayPal prices are $57.01 or $82.76 for 1 or both protractors respectively. Please PM me for my PayPal ID.

Here's are links to photo albums showing the development history and production from V. 1.0 to 2.0 and to 2.1:
https://picasaweb.google.com/teamo65/MirrorProtractor10?authuser=0&feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/teamo65/MirrorProtractor20?authuser=0&feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/teamo6...authkey=Gv1sRgCMeQgP-k7Py15wE&feat=directlink
Click to expand...

oops, I messed up my own post...sorry
 
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OK girls and boys another batch is in the works. Materials are inbound and I should be ready to ship some next week. I was going to hold off a while longer with the kitchen remodel underway and all, but I couldn't resist when I got an order from India. That makes 3 continents down and 4 to go! Let's go Antarctica (slackers). OK 3 to go - South America, Africa and Australia.
 
The wait is over! "The BEST Cart Alignment Tools" (Rob's words, not mine) are back. 2 of these 27 beauties are headed to India tomorrow so that leaves 25 for you guys. Come an get 'em while they're hot! Elco needs a new ruby for his F9.

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Part of this delay was that a major on-line audio retailer had one for evaluation. Ultimately they opted not to pick them up, which is all well and good.
Interestingly what they were citing as "cons" are specifically the "pros" of the design. In a few words they were thinking - mass production and more grid lines. This set me to thinking, maybe other folks are holding back for what I see as the wrong reasons.

The intent of the design is to align the cantilever, not the cartridge body. The printed and/or silk screened lines on other mirrored protractors are much wider than the diamond scribed line. There would be no reflexion of a narrow cantilever such as an SAS stylus. All that is seen is the cantilever on top of the wide printed/silk screened line. The advantage of parallax to achieve sub-millimeter accuracy, eye-sight permitting of course, is lost.

The durability of printed or silk screened lines on glass or applied film is far less than a line etched in the glass with a diamond scribe. Having the mirror inset into phenolic plywood makes the "2.1" much more durable than protractors with exposed glass edges that will chip easily.
 
You guys should grab one. I use a regular protractor for rough in...then use one of these to align the cantilever...so its like getting the first 95% right ..but this gives you that last important 5%. Word...LOL
 
ohbythebay said:
You guys should grab one. I use a regular protractor for rough in...then use one of these to align the cantilever...so its like getting the first 95% right ..but this gives you that last important 5%. Word...LOL
Click to expand...

Does he have a VPI configured one? If not, how would this differ from the reverse side of a CD (which acts like a mirror)?
 
Mike,

VPI? Maybe, maybe not. There's no way of knowing since they don't publish numbers and supply an "overhang" setup gauge. Most of the proprietary alignments I've been able to reverse engineer are either Baerwald or Stevenson with a few hybrids of the two. Baerwald is the overwhelming favorite alignment because it provides the best overall performance. I only recommend/use Stevenson where IGD is a problem because it has higher overall distortion. I suppose a CD would work if it was big enough, but the outer Baerwald null point is just under 121 mm and CD's are 120 mm in diameter. They also scratch easily which is why I ruled out using much cheaper plastic mirror.
 
Mike said:
Does he have a VPI configured one? If not, how would this differ from the reverse side of a CD (which acts like a mirror)?
Click to expand...

Hi Mike

Harry has his own alignment with distortion minimized in the last 3rd. Similar to Stevenson, but different. When I owned the VPI HRX I tried all the main alignments and overall I went back to Harry's simple protractor as it sounded best.
Harry knows what he is doing.
 
XV-1 said:
Hi Mike

Harry has his own alignment with distortion minimized in the last 3rd. Similar to Stevenson, but different. When I owned the VPI HRX I tried all the main alignments and overall I went back to Harry's simple protractor as it sounded best.
Harry knows what he is doing.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's what I figured.
 
VPI isn't alone in splitting the difference between Baerwald and Stevenson. Many of the proprietary alignments do very much the same for better or worse. VPI doesn't publish their alignment specs for most of their arms and tables. They do publish the numbers for the Traveler. They also state their alignment yields the lowest overall distortion. The alignment calculator pro on VE does not bear this out and I've yet to hear anybody say it's off. The average and peak distortion is higher than Baerwald (Lofgren A) and Stevenson. What's more the null points don't match up. This is a pitfall of proprietary alignments and why I stick to the time honored alignments from the "Masters". Baerwald is the most popular alignment for a reason. Stevenson is only recommended by yours truely where IGD is a problem. If it sounds better that's all well and good. The engineer in me want's the numbers to work out and these don't.

V+PI+traveler.tiff


This also points out what a difference 4/10 ths of a mm makes in peak distortion.
 
Yesterday I mounted and aligned (3) cartridges on 3 of the 4 down stairs turntables. 2 Baerwald and 1 Stevenson, total alignment time was 20 minutes. These protractors make it so easy to get a cartridge dialed in it's ridiculous.
 
This is part of the reason I have always stayed with baerwald. I have found it the most accurate null points across the entire track selection bands. In addition, while aligning to those null points, I then take the further step of using you protractor to ensure the cantilever is truly aligned, not the cart body. As you say, a few /10ths of a mm makes a difference...
 
Just heard from an Aussie AK'r a pair of the protractors has arrived. That's continent #4! I know you like to rough it in first and then hone with the 2.1, but I just go straight for the cantilever. With all the cart rolling I've been doing lately with 5 carts and 5 tables I'm getting pretty close eyeballing my starting point.
 
2 more protractor sets are all packed up and shipping tomorrow. I still have plenty of protractors, even have 2 more pair packed and ready to go. 3 more sets and the TOTL Soundsmith Ruby-OCL F9 stylus will be mine all mine!
 
Call me impatient if you must, but these aren't moving fast enough to suit my feverish desire for a new Soundsmith F9 Ruby OCL. :) It's all for the love of new audio toys anyway, so off to the 'bay they go without the "2fer" deal for the time being anyway. The "2fer" deal for Shark's will be expire in 1 week, so that's 4:00, PDST, 8/12/13. There are 14 left in this batch. I took some new pictures as well.

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Top

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Back

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Lined up from the side

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Misalignment

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On the money inside null point

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On the money outside null point
 
Well the 1st protractor to an AudioShark ships to mthham tomorrow! About 10 left in stock. Thanks Tom.
 
I'm about to enter that special level of hell known as major home renovations and would like to see these sold in the next couple of weeks. So I'm lowering the price by $10 so that $40 per single or $65 for the pair plus shipping and Paypal tax. Come and get them while they are hot.
 
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