general tonearm design question


Many popular tonearms are designed with with the fulcrum for the vertical axis at ~70 degrees (e.g. Rega, SME), rather than perpendicular (e.g Origin Live).

Doesn't the former design cause the needle to track to the outer groove as the counter weight swings downward?

...or does the cartidge/tube somehow counter this?

Would a counter weight mounted at 90 degrees to the fulcrum, yet the arm tube set at 70 degrees be the solution to this, or am I wrong?

(The reason I started wondering about this was due to the varous Rega counter-weight mods. I would think that a lower center of gravity would exacerbate this problem. Furthermore, wouldn't a lower center of gravity only be effective on a uni-pivot design?)

your thoughts?
popluhv

Showing 1 response by pauly

Doug. Are you saying the azimuth on a uni changes each time you adjust the VTA? Wouldn’t a unipivot simply keep a consistent azimuth over an elevation on the record? I cannot recollect that I have ever had to adjust azimuth after I adjusted the VTA on any of my unipivots, and I frequently play with VTA adjustments (almost on every record).

Regards
Paul