It took a full week in Feb. for Yip to respond to my order. Then about 3 weeks to receive the protractor. It's worth the wait!
Mike
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@rushfan71 did you manage to get an answer from Yip at Mint LP Solution? Trying to contact him and I’m not getting any replies. |
I have a Mint for my SL1200 GAE, but since I have other turntables decided to buy a Feickert because it is cheaper when multiple tables are involved. The simple and free paper protractors are also an option and work fine, but are a bit fiddly to use. I also bought one Accutrack, which is for a tt recently sold, so I gave it to the new owner. All of these work, a fact I can attest from personal experience. The easiest to use are the single point units like the Feickert or the Smartractor, which can rival the accuracy of the Mint if used correctly. The proprietary gadgets from VPI or the overhang gauge from Technics are for people who do not really care. The Mint is the most accurate, but the most fiddly to use, and for multi tt users, needing a different one for each tt gets to be perhaps the most expensive option. Bottom line, though, no matter which route you go, it is important to align your cartridge for optimum sound, stylus life and record life. |
At the end of the day you get what you pay for and really the Smartractor is the bees knees, seriously. A good friend has one and he has set up all my carts on my table ( after I have rough set them with simple tools) using it and watching him at work it looks very simple with the only caveat being the carts that have the stylus buried under the body instead of out front being more difficult but that would be true with any tool. Is it worth $650? Depends on how often you are changing carts, arms TT etc. I am very fortunate that he lives just 2 miles down the road........ |
the bigger problem with the geodisc, IIRC, is finding the center point of the tonearm pivot. Missing that by a degree or so can and will generally give you a bit more unwanted inner groove distortion. As we go to (move up the stylus chain of qualities) more and more severe stylus profiles, (Gyger, Fine-line, micro ridge, shibata, etc) this becomes more noticeable. With conical or the more limp versions of elliptical (0.4x0.7), this can be less noticeable. So I might use the geodisc, but then do a check on it with the paper protractor. And then see how much the paper says it is off, and then go back to the geodisc and finally see how much I missed the center point of the arm pivot. A few mm of missing the center/pivot, is a lot, when it comes to inner grove distortion and human sensitivity to such. this is where the bigger or better and more complex devices show their worth. The ones with an arm on them...to find that center pivot point perfectly, are the better units. In the end, it tends to be all about inner grove distortion. |
I have a scout and went through many alignment tools trying to avoid buying this http://www.feickert.org/index.php?id=17&L=1 Go ahead and bite the bullet you will never look back stupid easy and stunning results have fun Willy-T |
The paper downloads from vinyl engine. I mentioned using double sided tape and gluing them to cardboard, in order to make it to the semi- correct record thickness. Try to use a thinner cardboard, if you can. Drill the spindle mount/position hole in stages, so the center point is correct. Do it after it is mounted to the cardboard. Perfection in the thickness, to some degree, is ’close enough’ as record thickness always varies. More so, the way the record sits varies even more than the individual record thickness variance itself (or about as much), so the target of matching thickness is a moving one. Work to get close and learn (via listening and then thinking, in no particular order) to tweak from there. There is no perfect engineering spec textbook answer that one can rubber stamp their way to a sunshine, flowers and bird tweeting panoramic and perfected dogmatic repetitive eternity... It’s a use your head and intellectually grow, kinda thing. I realize this might be a challenge, for some... ;) Those with the kind of cranium that prefers to fit things on the fly, will do just fine here. Essentially, that: Threads ebb and flow in the clash of these two types. |
Which is the primary benefit of the MoFi Disk, its designed to emulate a record, only one with the geometry marked right on it.Actually not a factually correct statement. That it is the ONLY one. Just one example here for a lot less cash, plenty more on Fleabay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hudson-Hi-Fi-Turntable-Cartridge-Alignment-Protractor-Mat-Single-Sided/254577953444?epid=828455521&hash=item3b46074aa4:g:mJQAAOSwK6Veohh3 The Geo Disc might be better made, nicer to use, that I do not know but I have used the Hudson version for years. |
The goal of Dr. Feickert NG is that it can be used for adjustment/alignment of ANY tonearm on ANY turntable and PS is measurable for all size of tonearms. Also using Feickert we can choose which alignment method we want to use (Baerwald, Lofgren or Stevenson). This is universal and it’s like having 3 protractors in one. First step for any alignment is tonearm/turntable PS (pivot to spindle distance) measurement. I use Dr.Feickert NG not only when I adjust cartridges, but when I swap tonearms and adjust them, this is where PS is required first and it’s the most critical. If you have only one turntable with fixed tonearm (fixed PS by the manufacturer) and willing to use only one alignment method then you can use some other basic protractors. You can buy Hi-Fi Tesl LP and there is a free protractor inside! |
"Thats why I came here to ask the experts." If you rely on the "experts" here, then dump the VPI. It's "wrong" VPI/HW doesn't know what they're doing. As mentioned any jig is going to be "correct" only in 2 points of the arc. HW came up with their compromise which seems to be worthy of using for the line. Getting more "I know" advice guarantees increased nervosa, and takes away from actually enjoying your perfectly fine setup. Not a knock on trying other jigs.I have the Feikert, and found it to be a waste of money. Can't hear a clear sonic improvement between it and, the supplied VPI jig. Just my $0.02 cents. You may hear something? Some say they do, it's their ears. A primo condition period press of Led Zeppelin or a 1958 mono Blue Note is more worthy of nervosa, IMO. That's even argued to death. Great sound is the sum of parts involved. |
If you want the most accurate, I find the mint is the easiest to get perfect from my experience. The p2s must be exact though. I now also use a smart tractor as I have multiple arms. It is quicker to use but i feel it’s not as easy to see alignment perfectly as well as the mint is. The smart tractor also makes up for the p2s not being 100%. |
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Its only madness if you make it so. Some look at turntable geometry and drive themselves crazy trying to optimize every tiny little thing from an engineering/geometry point of view. Long arm, tangential arm, this protractor, that protractor. Its real easy to spend more time aligning than listening, and more money on setup than the rig itself. Or you can take the sane approach, recognize no matter what you do its never gonna be perfect. But it will sound absolutely awesome nonetheless! Then you realize this is just as likely whether you download and print a jig for free, or pay thousands for all the gizmo's. The cartridge can be properly aligned every bit as good with paper, eyeballs, and a $20 Shure stylus force gauge. I am not kidding. Look at my rig. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 My first table was a Basis with the Graham arm. The Graham is fairly unique in that it has a detachable armwand with a jig that is used to align the cartridge, eliminating all the protractor steps. Its why I bought it, because so many people had succeeded in brainwashing me into thinking how hard this all is. Its not. Its simple. If you print one of the free downloads just be sure and place the paper on a used record. That way your alignment will be done at the same level as when playing a record. Which is the primary benefit of the MoFi Disk, its designed to emulate a record, only one with the geometry marked right on it. But whatever. Point is you go through all the same few simple steps no matter what. Also no matter what you do the arm swings through an arc while playing every record. No matter how perfectly you sweat the precision its only precise at two points across the whole record. So why sweat it? If you are off by some tiny fraction of a millimeter all that means is the two places where its perfect are shifted a little one way or another. I can totally get that its hard being new to hear something like this. You got a slew of people repeating the same old same old, and its quite a bit different than this. Well, get used to it. There's a whole lot of stuff people repeat over and over and over again. Repeating the same wrong stuff over and over again doesn't ever make it true. Go and listen. You will see. |
"Currently I only have the protractor that VPI provided. I've read it's not the best option." An exercise in madness. If HW uses the very jig you have, why would it be inferior? Having the best cart and phonostage I can afford, then using the supplied jig does wonders on my VPI. I also have a Feikert. |
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millercarbon ... get the MoFi Geo-Disk for $50 and be done. Works like a charm.I’m not a fan of the MoFi disc and just don’t find it precise enough. I think the best gauges use a mirror (such as the Mint) and align the stylus and cantilever, such as the old Wallytracktors. That’s the best alignment gauge I’ve ever used, hands down. |
rushfan71, IMO the Mint is the most difficult alignment tool out there. It’s so exacting that any deviation of the cantilever is literally “under a microscope” because a minimum 15-20x loupe is mandatory. But what really sinks in after many hours on many cartridges is that it’s overkill. I find a standard protractor is much faster and results are equally good. I use a Feickert but any protractor that compensates for overhang should do as well. |
With the Mint the spindle-to-pivot distance is critical. The arc the null points are on gets flatter or steeper with the change in overhang. If it doesn’t measure exactly to spec and can’t be adjusted, give that info to Mint. He’ll make It custom. Just 2 mm off will render the Mint useless. That’s exactly how much my s2p was off. Fortunately for me my s2p was adjustable. Most VPI tables have incorrect s2p and have little wiggle room. Assuming the stylus is perfectly aligned with the cantilever, the Mint is as exacting as its alignment is difficult. Which is extremely in both cases. Here’s a tip for when you want to align a new cartridge: Fix the platter so it can’t move. Align the Mint to the cartridge already installed. Only then remove the old cartridge. |
Just want to bring this up. The Mint requires you to line the cantilever up between 2 tiny parallel lines, which I found too difficult with a cartridge with a short cantilever tucked under the cartridge body. I know many people use it and are able to do it, but you need to be ready to work if you don't have a cart where the cantilever sticks out front like the Lyra - and even then. I bought one and then sold it and went back to my Basis alignment tool. Good luck. |
If you have trouble placing an order over the web, simply send an email to Yip at mintlp@hotmail.com with the following information: 1. Brand and Model of Turntable : 4a. Username [Std. Tractor ONLY] : |
