Feickert analogue protractor....Owners impressions

I acquired a Freickert protractor a little while back. I wish I had listened to the really knowledgeable pundits on this thread.A Freickert is a good place to start, if you are a vinyl novice like me. A newly arrived Lyra Skala is sounding far superior to the Helikon it replaced on a Rega RB 1000 arm and Gyrodec. Having spent a tidy sum on my vinyl rig, its good to know that the cartridge is properly aligned and set up.Its certainly an improvement on the hit and miss of a downloaded paper protractor( given printing errors and clumsy hands trying to puncture a spindle hole).
I guess I went for a universal protractor knowing that upgraditis is never far away.A silly move coz I intend to order a Mint from our friend Yip in Hong Kong.IMHO the biggest advantage of the Freickert is also its biggest let down: namely an accurate spindle pivot measurement that has no use when you actually align the cartridge on the predetermined null points. A custom built arc protractor built for the spindle pivot distance of your arm as measured by a Freickert should yield optimum results.
It would be interesting to see the change in alignment, if any,required by the Mint.

Help...am totally confused.Initially aligned the cartridge with the Freickert protractor using the Baerwald alignment thats on one side of the protractor disc. Out of curiosity, yesterday tried the Lofgren alignment thats one the other side of the disc and guess what...it was a perfect fit.According to my limited understanding , Baerwald and Lofgren use different geometries with different null points. If thats the case why am I getting a perfect fit with both or am I missing something?
Hello Yip ...here I come!!

I traded in the Freickert for a Shunyata power chord in Singapore at the Adelphi last week. Got a pretty good deal loosing only 30% over a month or so. This was possible coz the MintLP arrived, again via Singapore, last week.Aligning my Rega RB 1000 with the MintLP was a two stage process. On day one got the overhang right(this is the easier bit). On day two adjusted the offset( or rather the lack of it) spot on. Yip supplied a 5X magnifying glass along with the 10X loupe.Its a pretty ingenious device coz you use parallax to get the alignment of the cantilever spot on.I was not too comfortable with the loupe and used the magnifying glass that comes with a tiny light bulb.
Did it sound better? Definitely. Using my standard reference demo lp - Amanda McBroom "Dreaming" achieved an all round smoothness( not sure if thats an appropriate audiophile term but it best describes what I felt)that I have not come anywhere close to achieving with my vinyl rig and its pretty close to what I think the vinyl magic is all about.
I can only strongly endorse and echo what Stiltskin and others have said on this thread about the MintLP : its an outstanding product. Apart from obvious and significant sonic benefits its a great feeling to know that your cartridge is set up just right.
Out of curiosity compared the alignment with the cardboard protractor supplied by Rega. Now this is the interesting bit : the alignment was identical!!

Palasr
My experience with the protractors I downloaded from Vinyl engine is identical. The Baerwald and Lofgren were virtually un doable as I ran out of room to nudge the Cartridge(Lyra Helikon/Skala)foward. The best fit was with the Stevenson.Actually if you think about it its no surprise that the MintLP and the Rega supplied protractor yield the same result. Theoretically, there can only be one perfect alignment.The Mint LP allows you to achieve this with a degree of precision and certainty thats not possible with a cardboard or even the Freickert IMHO. In fairness to Yip, I should point out that its all to easy to compare the final alignment between the MintLP and the supplied Rega protractor.Could I have achieved the same quality of alignment using ONLY the Rega supplied protractor ? The answer is NO.