Feel Silly Asking This Question Alignment Parameters

There’s a bit too much to address individually on this topic. The last thread that was loosely related to this this subject hit a few days after I put this blog post out.

TL;DR #1: There numerous excellent geometries to choose from. Dispense with your confirmation bias about Löfgren A/B, Stevenson, Uni-DIN, etc. And faithfully follow your favorite.

TL;DR #2: I strongly suspect the "controlled" experiments many have reported on this thread are heavily skewed by (1) not getting the zenith right and (2) varying it slightly with each setup - invalidating any comparison. Take a look at the distortion and tracking angle curves in the above post, when the zenith is off. I have not compared zenith errors across all alignments, but know this: zenith is the new azimuth, and it’s much trickier to get right than azimuth is. Aligning zenith using the cantilever is a much more flawed method than setting azimuth with a horizontal headshell and calling it "good".

I say this with humility. As @lewm commented above, I would hope that we all look back at our work product from 5 years ago and view it with disdain ... as far as how much progress we’ve made in our journey.

... Thom @ Galibier

When I recommend a procedure or tool to a customer, I try to get a read on their aptitude and willingness to learn. Needless to say, mechanical and cognitive skills span quite a broad range and with them, so do my recommendations.

If someone is willing to recognize how alignments are established (and the reason I published that blog post linked to, above), then we have vanquished yet another demon. I look at that as a good thing.

As far as anti-skate is concerned, it is "accidentally correct" at a few points along the stylus’ path, and of course, if you’ve set any anti-skating force at all, it’s wrong at the null points ;-)

I endorse the method espoused by both Frank Schröder and Peter Lederman of Soundsmith (click here for Peter's comments).

Don’t get too cute with anti-skate. AJ van Den Hul once told me that the vast majority of cartridges he receives for inspection show signs of vastly too much anti skate (wear on the outer / lead-in groove side of the stylus).

When you understand that anti-skate is is the vector sum of the forces which in turn vary with groove friction, you’ll realize why any attempt at anything more than a minimal setting is asking for trouble.

Groove friction in turn varies. It is a function of the cleanliness and condition of both the stylus and record, the shape and polish of the diamond, and the signal level encoded in the grooves.

In other words, what works for one record at 87mm from the record spindle may be too little or too much force for another record.

Wally M was a charming, quirky fellow and he has done some amazing work for the vinyl community, but his one product which I strongly disagree with is his Wally-Skater. I did a favor for him at one show, and he offered me any Wally-tool as an expression of gratitude. Thinking that I was missing something, I chose a Wally-Skater.

Read Peter Lederman’s comments on the topic and focus on getting your zenith correct. You may well have been misdiagnosing poor zenith as incorrect anti-skate.

... Thom