Wow-you need to spend more time at VA. This stuff has been widely discussed, and thanks to some kindly VA members virtually anyone willing to put in a little study can be an alignment expert. But here's a good start:
John Elison has an excel spread sheet that allows you to extrapolate null points for any pivot-to-spindle and effective tonearm length for both Lofgren A (Baerwald) and Lofgren B. The link below gives you instructions, and there is a link at the bottom of that page to the actual Excel file. (BTW, JE's on a crusade to call Baerwald 'Lofgren A', since his studies have shown that Lofgren published an identical geometry long before Baerwald)
http://www.avhub.com.au/Features.aspx?MagazineID=5&FeatureID=85
Conrad Hoffman (old nuff 2 no better) has produced an arc protractor calculator that allows you to input custom spindle-to-pivot lengths, null points, etc. to print out an arc protractor of your own design. A boon for those of us with several makes of tonearms, and it's fun exploring differing alignment configurations (it has inputs for Lofgren A (Baerwald), Lofgren B, and Stevenson) to determine which alignment you prefer. For you Mint, or other custom, protractor buyers, this will allow you to dictate to the custom builder the parameters that *you* enjoy, from actual experience.
http://www.conradhoffman.com/chsw.htm
Then, of course, there's the great Cartridge Data Base produced by 'EdAInWestOC' that has a wealth of data on specific cartridges, along with a calculator to allow you to match your cart's compliance and mass to an arm with the correct effective mass. Thanks again Ed for all your hard work.
http://www.cartridgedb.com/
Plus, the Vinyl Engine has several good articles exploring pivot tonearm geometry, and searching the archives at VA will provide a great deal of discussion and added knowledge. But the three links above make the whole deal so, so much easier.
John Elison has an excel spread sheet that allows you to extrapolate null points for any pivot-to-spindle and effective tonearm length for both Lofgren A (Baerwald) and Lofgren B. The link below gives you instructions, and there is a link at the bottom of that page to the actual Excel file. (BTW, JE's on a crusade to call Baerwald 'Lofgren A', since his studies have shown that Lofgren published an identical geometry long before Baerwald)
http://www.avhub.com.au/Features.aspx?MagazineID=5&FeatureID=85
Conrad Hoffman (old nuff 2 no better) has produced an arc protractor calculator that allows you to input custom spindle-to-pivot lengths, null points, etc. to print out an arc protractor of your own design. A boon for those of us with several makes of tonearms, and it's fun exploring differing alignment configurations (it has inputs for Lofgren A (Baerwald), Lofgren B, and Stevenson) to determine which alignment you prefer. For you Mint, or other custom, protractor buyers, this will allow you to dictate to the custom builder the parameters that *you* enjoy, from actual experience.
http://www.conradhoffman.com/chsw.htm
Then, of course, there's the great Cartridge Data Base produced by 'EdAInWestOC' that has a wealth of data on specific cartridges, along with a calculator to allow you to match your cart's compliance and mass to an arm with the correct effective mass. Thanks again Ed for all your hard work.
http://www.cartridgedb.com/
Plus, the Vinyl Engine has several good articles exploring pivot tonearm geometry, and searching the archives at VA will provide a great deal of discussion and added knowledge. But the three links above make the whole deal so, so much easier.