Peter, on the subject of Zenith, how much wiggle room in the head shell bolts do you have? Is it usually enough to adjust Zenith correctly? Just curious.
I have an SME table and arm. I used the SME protractor until I ordered a MINT LP arc-type protractor. The SME was close, but the MINT is slightly better. When Yip builds one for you, you must supply a very precise cartridge mounting hole to stylus tip distance so that he can trace the correct arc for the SME arm and your specific cartridge. Unlike with other arms that have slots in the headshell, the SME arms do not so you must give Yip that distance for his protractor to be accurate.
The advantage of the MINT is the zenith alignment at the null points. I think this is what microstrip refers to as "the alignment of the cartridge with the head-shell." This is extremely accurate and the results were clearly audible in my system.
Here is a photo:
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Peter, on the subject of Zenith, how much wiggle room in the head shell bolts do you have? Is it usually enough to adjust Zenith correctly? Just curious.
There's about a millimeter play, so unless the cantilever is way off, you usually have enough wiggle room.
Peter,
don't SME arms have an adjustment in the pivot tower instead of cartridge slots? so you do micro overhang adjustments there?
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I was wondering how Yip got his arc protractor right for the SME arm. Unfortunately it sounds like you need a different protractor for each cartridge unless the cartridge mounting hole to stylus tip are the same for each of your cartridges.
I had a Mint for a VPI Classic I used to have. It worked well. Hopefully Yip has specific instructions for the SME arm as it is a bit different than others.
I personally like the Feickert alignment protractor as it will work on any arm and also measure pivot to spindle distance as well. It is more accurate if it has a recess above the pivot point for the pin to drop into though. The Mint is nice because of the mirrored surface that allows you to correct for parallax error when adjusting zenith. I like to adjust zenith by ear anyway because the stylus may not be mounted to the cantilever perfectly square in many cases.
I have the Feickert alignment protractor and agree it's spindle to pivot tool is great when you have a spot to drop the pivot pin into that allows it to be precise, otherwise you end up having to 'sight' it. in my case, I have a purpose built metal spindle to pivot tool for both my Durand Telos arms which eliminate any issue of error on that. but if you have multiple arms with only paper templates (or no templates, just a distance) the Feickert tool is great.
That is great that the Telos comes with a custom built tool. It would be nice if more arms had their own.
The SME V comes with a built in custom alignement tool ... Perhaps it is too simple for hard vinylophes ...
Peter, on the subject of Zenith, how much wiggle room in the head shell bolts do you have? Is it usually enough to adjust Zenith correctly? Just curious.
Peter,
don't SME arms have an adjustment in the pivot tower instead of cartridge slots? so you do micro overhang adjustments there?
I can see the advantage theoretically in that approach. making tiny overhang adjustments while maintaining zenith adjustments with slots can be maddening.
I've never owned an SME arm but I seem to remember that.
nice pictures, btw.
I have a feeling it is more accurate than the SME tractor.
Congrats Bruce! I let go a 20/3 with a V arm some weeks back and regreting it!
Mike,
Yes, it is why no special ultra accurate protactor can be designed for it ... Even the smallest variation in cartridge tip to mounting holes would introduce a significant error.
The MINT is more accurate than the SME. This is because the stylus makes contact with the traced arc and it is an extremely thin line. With the proper magnification and lighting, one can see overhang errors of about 0.1mm. The SME protractor depends upon lining up the arm tube from above with the outline drawing below, which can be about 1"-1.5". That gets you close, but not precisely.
The other big advantage is the zenith lines at the null points.
Here are a couple of photos of my two MINT protractors for the different SME V arms. One is 9", the other 12". Note how much flatter the arc is for the longer arm and how much less the overhang is. Incidently, the headshell offset angle is also much less with the longer arm, so skating force is less.
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