Feel Silly Asking This Question Alignment Parameters

@thom_at_galibier_design 

I forgot to mention, the cure for improper zenith or any other stylus orientation problem is a new stylus or cartridge. IMHO every cartridge should be examined before it is mounted for the first time. If the stylus is not mounted correctly it should be covered under warranty and usually is without argument. Under optimal circumstances the examination should be done before the cartridge leaves the retailer. A file of the pictures should accompany the cartridge. Most individuals are not going to spend $1500 on a usb microscope and proper staging. 

@thom_at_galibier_design Welcome Thom.

I am a big fan of Frank Schroeder. I currently run a CB. The method of setting AS recommended by Frank and Peter is useful for people who have no better way. The problem is defining what a "slowly drift" means. One person's slow drift may not be another's. From a tracking and record wear perspective too little AS is just as bad as too much. The determinants of the skating force are VTF, contact patch size, groove velocity and modulation density. The skating force increases towards the center of the record because the modulation density increases. For any one particular set up VTF and Contact Patch are constants. With a reasonably compliant cartridge like a Lyra or Van den Hul you can determine the correct AS force by careful observation of lateral cantilever deflect as the stylus settles into the groove at the midpoint of the record. Bright light and 10X loops help. The cantilever should not move laterally from its resting position. This corresponds to a Wallyskater reading of 12 % for really acute styluses like the replicant 100, Gyger S, Soundsmith MR and Jico SAS. More conservative line contact styluses, like Lyra and My Sonic Lab use, correspond to a WallySkater reading of 11%. Even though groove velocities can vary from one record to another, there is little difference in the AS required from one record to another. This problem exists for any method of setting AS. 

Having gone through the above process many times I have no problem trusting the WallySkater. It is a rapid and easy way to find a reasonable, average AS setting and definitely more accurate than a "slow drift" towards the label in the run out position. I know exactly what 11% means. 

There are those that make that argument @lewm. You are either leaning on one wall or the other. My goal is to minimize that as much as is feasible, even it out. An arm that is not offset is ideal as long as it stays right on the tangent. 

@lewm You are right Lew. The question is what is the best average over the entire play area.  The amount of AS required increases with the size of the contact patch at any given VTF.  Studying cantilever angles is an extremely fastidious way of going about finding the right setting. Some would argue there is no right setting. Then I would argue why use AS at all. Most of us with 1/2 a brain are going to call that a bad idea. So since everyone with 1/2 a brain agrees that we should be using some form of AS, and we know that the skating force is variable, not a constant, how do you go about figuring the best average and a way to dial it in consistently with as little effort as possible. IMHO the WallySkater is the best way. If you want to look at cantilever angles to dial things in further, why not. I do this every time I use a new to me stylus profile. I have found that styluses like the Soundsmith MR, the replicant 100 and the Gyger S do best at 12% of VTF. Lyra's line contact and MSL's line contact take 11%. It will be interesting to see what the V15 MR with it's extremely high compliance and low VTF will take. I will have the Jico stylus tomorrow.

@wrm57, @lewm The best way to see this is with a naked cantilever. The AS setting depends on the type of stylus used. For 9" arms the range is 9-11%. 9% for spherical, 10% for elliptical and 11% for line contact. I push it to 12% with really aggressive styluses like the Gyger S,  Replicant 100 and the Soundsmith MR. When lowered in the middle of a 33.3 RPM record the cantilever should remain perfectly straight. It's horizontal angulation should not change. It it leans outwards towards the right channel you have too little AS. If it leans inwards towards the left channel you have too much AS. The WallySkater settings get you right there without a trial and error nuisance. It also verifies that the bearings and AS device are functioning correctly. I have seen several arms with significant defects. I have also put the stylus down all along the radius of a record and the cantilever's angle does not change notably. When set at the beginning of the record you will see that the cantilever starts leaning towards the right channel just before the run out area proving that the skating force INCREASES towards the end of the record. Setting in the middle gives you a good average. The WallySkator should be adjusted so that the stylus floats over the center of the record. The Lyras,  Clearaudios and Van den Huls are great cartridges to see this. I use 20X loops and very bright lights to aid the process. Unfortunately, cartridges that extend over their cantilever make this difficult to see as will very low compliance cartridges. 

@wrm57 I have the same old eyes you have and as you found out the SmarTractor is a really nifty device. Many people have a hard time getting over the price, but for any vinyl head who is the least bit fastidious it is well worth every cent. I can say the same about the WallySkator. If someone tells me I set the VTF to 2 grams and antiskating at 11% I know exactly what that means. Every other way of trying to describe antiskating is virtually meaningless. 

@lewm you know I meant the wavelength of the tracing, obviously the wavelength in air does not change.

Come on @rauliruegas you know darn well that I have read everything. Yes, it is true that any given frequency has a shorter wavelength as the groove speed declines, but the situation does not get serious until you are inside of 65 mm. I would guess that only 5% of the records I have go inside of 65 mm. Many do not get inside of 90mm where Lofgren B shines. If you really want low distortion at the last 10% of the record that hardly anyone uses go with UNI P2S. :-)

@rauliruegas It did not make sense to him because back in the day many more records were run right up to the label. Now that is a very rare occurrence. Modern records space out the grooves a little more and resort to two discs instead of one. The main reason for this is CDs accommodate much longer play times than records and artists have become accustomed to that extra space, thus the record version has to resort to two discs anyway, but even re-releases of old material are resorting to two discs when originally there was only one. Zappa records are a good example. 

You may love pivoted offset arms, but I do not. The problem is that there have not been any compromised tangential designs until recently. Both the Reed 5T and Schroder LT are brilliant designs that maintain tangency, have low horizontal effective mass and obviate the need for an antiskating device. You may want to talk about pivoted arms, an unfortunate, but necessary compromise, I would rather talk about these. Once the patent runs out on the Schroder LT there will be many more arms like it. The Reed is much more complicated and twice the price. 

Actually @rauliruegas I prefer tangential tracking, or as close as you can reasonably get. The two arms that have my attention are the Reed 5T and the Schroder LT. I have specific requirements in a turntable that few tables meet in total. Sota is re-designing the Millenium. My current plan is to take a Millenium, strip it of it's suspension, mount a Reed 5T on it and place the whole rig on a Minus K platform. I may also mount an LT. The Millennium's stock suspension can not handle the weight of the 5T and the LT is so long it will require an outrigger of some sort. Nothing like a science project.

@rauliruegas Absolutely, the difference is probably not easily audible. It is a technical superiority. These technical issues do add up over an entire system, looking at 100s of small issues like this.......in theory. I do have a rather fine sounding system....I think.

@pinwa  No, that is not Zenith error, twisting the cartridge ( cantilever) is induced tracking error. Zenith error is the stylus twisted in the cantilever. Frankly, I have yet to see an example of this, although given the errors I have seen I am sure it happens. You need very strong magnification to see it which most audiophiles do not have. It is great for JR's business, the ghost in the machine. The cartridge is stupid in this regard. As long as there are two contact patches in contact with the groove the cartridge will make music. If you study the geometry of the stylus tip there would have to be a huge zenith error before it would interfere with tracking. The phase error might interfere with proper imaging, might. The cantilever out of alignment is a far more serious issue. 

@neonknight I forgot to mention. The most common mistake I see when setting up a cartridge is the technician does not neutralize the antiskating mechanism before setting the overhang and offset. This will substantially angle the cantilever when you set the stylus down. The cantilever should never change angles from its resting position even when playing a record. If it does something is wrong. 

@lewm I should have been more specific. Twisting the cartridge just a few degrees in the headshell is enough to blur the image. There are always unequal forces on the cantilever. A few degrees one way or another is not going to matter. Shoot, there are people who will swear their cartridge sounds better without antiskating and if you look at their cantilever it is skewed 5 or 6 degrees towards the right channel. 

@macg19 , I study every cartridge I can under high magnification. You can see some pictures here, https://imgur.com/gallery/stylus-photomicrographs-hmTaO0m

I check SRA and Zenith and the best cartridges are beautifully constructed. Azimuth is easy to see on the SmarTractor, you look for a symmetrical reflection and SRA is right when your arm is parallel to the record surface. If a cartridge is off it is usually easy to see. The last defect I even picked up with the naked eye. a cartridge with a SRA of 89 degrees. The manufacturer replaced it immediately. He had just started using a new adhesive and it was not setting up as fast and the stylus was drifting forward. I have yet to see a cartridge with a significant zenith error. I'm sure they are out there. I just got a Shure V 15 V MR body and ordered a Jico SAS/B for it. It will be interesting to see how accurate it is. I will post pictures of it.

Right, @ Lewm is on it. All you care about is the cantilever being perfectly tangent to the groove at two points on the record as dictated by your preferred alignment. To get that tangency you have to juggle the variables of overhang, offset angle and pivot to spindle distance. Pivot to spindle distance is fixed as long as the tonearm is mounted correctly. There are tonearms like the SMEs that have an adjustable bases, but most do not. This leaves overhang and offset angle. To set these accurately whatever alignment tool you are using has to index the stylus so it can not move and it has to clearly indicate tangency in such a way that it is easy to get the cantilever perfectly coplanar by eyesight. Magnification is mandatory if you really want to be accurate. 

@pinwa There is a significant difference. Most people do not notice it because they are listening to tonality which does not change. What changes is the image focus. I can demonstrate this on any system that images at or near the state of the art just by twisting the cartridge in the headshell a few degrees, making before and after recordings then ABing them.

@macg19 I have several Wally Tools and they are great, JR also knows what he is doing. However you need to be able to do this yourself. All you need is a SmarTractor, a WallySkater and a Wally Reference. With these tools you can be just as or more accurate than anyone.

I prefer Lofgren B. Lofgren B generates less distortion across the bulk of the record than any other alignment accepting at the very innermost area where distortion rises sharply. Modern records avoid the innermost area of the record. You might see some old classical records with only a centimeter runout area, but that is about it.

It is not easy to align a cartridge perfectly. Most people are only ball parking it. The most accurate and versatile alignment protractor is the SmarTractor. Its etched mirrored surface and very effective magnifier makes it much easier to get that cantilever perfectly parallel to the lines. The stylus actually fits right into a small pit in the surface. The SmarTractor does Lofgren A and B plus a few others. It is pricey but you have spent enough money on your rig to validate it's purchase. GET ONE, I promise you will never regret it.