Lloydc,
If you're serious enough to purchase a Mint protractor, why would you consider using a badly damaged cartridge? The possibility this cartridge can still play as designed is now zero.
Aligning the outer end of a bent cantilever makes the best of this bad situation, but no alignment can nullify the problems Pryso described in his 5th paragraph. The imbalance of vectors at the inner end of the cantilever means that the movement of coils relative to magnets can no longer be as Grado intended. That guarantees uneven channel balance, uneven dynamic responses and perhaps uneven frequency responses.
Further, any bent material is necessarily less rigid than the same material unbent. A less rigid cantilever weakens dynamics and bass. It may also exhibit resonance issues at some frequencies, depending on exactly how the molecular bonds were damaged at the bend.
I'm afraid it's now a junk cartridge. Use it knowing that or have it repaired/replaced.
Sorry,
Doug
P.S. to all, Lloydc has a bent cantilever, not a bent stylus (unless his stylus is a pre-LP era type made from something other than a gemstone). Diamonds wear, diamonds break, diamonds don't bend.
If you're serious enough to purchase a Mint protractor, why would you consider using a badly damaged cartridge? The possibility this cartridge can still play as designed is now zero.
Aligning the outer end of a bent cantilever makes the best of this bad situation, but no alignment can nullify the problems Pryso described in his 5th paragraph. The imbalance of vectors at the inner end of the cantilever means that the movement of coils relative to magnets can no longer be as Grado intended. That guarantees uneven channel balance, uneven dynamic responses and perhaps uneven frequency responses.
Further, any bent material is necessarily less rigid than the same material unbent. A less rigid cantilever weakens dynamics and bass. It may also exhibit resonance issues at some frequencies, depending on exactly how the molecular bonds were damaged at the bend.
I'm afraid it's now a junk cartridge. Use it knowing that or have it repaired/replaced.
Sorry,
Doug
P.S. to all, Lloydc has a bent cantilever, not a bent stylus (unless his stylus is a pre-LP era type made from something other than a gemstone). Diamonds wear, diamonds break, diamonds don't bend.