Mint Tractor

Just received ours yesterday. No time to realign yet, but it looks as precise as other users have described. Nice tight fit on the spindle - too bad none of my LP's is drilled this accurately! ;-)

One technical correction to Yip's (excellent) instructions. For setting overhang he recommends setting the stylus on the outside end of the arc, moving to near the spindle, then adjusting cartridge position by the amount of the error.

Wrong - if you did that precisely as described you'd endlessly iterate between equal amounts of too much overhang and too little.

The correct procedure is to adjust for ONE HALF of the amount of the error. Then reposition the arc and iterate again.

FWIW, my overhang appears off by about .2-.3mm. Not much, but probably worth correcting. Saturday project coming up.

Cheers...

P.S. Loved the teeny tiny Magic Eraser bits. So cute!

Executive Summary: HOLY MOTHER OF &#@$!!!

I couldn't wait for Saturday to "Mint" my setup, so I did it Friday night. We had the Olympics on and I spent the evening jumping between TV and TT. Not the most focused approach and certainly not the fastest. It took me 5 hours, but 4 of those were spent watching the athletes. If I'd been doing nothing else a half hour would have been plenty. I'll double check the setup today with the help of daylight.

I would have sworn on a stack of London bluebacks that my spindle-to-pivot distance was correct, but since this is critical with an arc protractor I double checked. Good thing I did, it was short by nearly a mm!?! I don't know if it moved over time or if it got nudged somehow, but it's easy to adjust S2P with a pivoting armboard and now it's cranked down pretty snug.

My old alignment wasn't necessarily wrong because of the S2P error, since I was using a universal Baerwald protractor (TurnTableBasics), but the Mint is far more precise so it's likely to produce superior results.

I found using the Mint easy and intuitive, no more tedious than any other protractor and far more accurate. I haven't used a Wally, but nothing else I know of rivals this. As Yip's text and photos explain, the ability to use parallax to be sure you're sighting *exactly* down the alignment line is critical. This was always the best feature of the TurnTableBasics and no non-mirrored protractor can provide it. The Mint just adds several orders of magnitude better precision.

For my eyes the illuminated 5X loupe was fine, though the optional 10X loupe gives a better view of whether the stylus is *exactly* in the center of the arc. It's tough to get the viewing distance right with the 10X loupe since the field of focus is so short. One trick: unscrew the clear base and use just the black part - that lets you get closer. Yip's Tips on how to work and think are excellent BTW. People who have trouble or get frustrated at any stage should review those.

So, how does it sound? WOW!!! I expected audible improvements, but nothing like what we got. Most of what I'd describe would repeat what Stringreen, Sunnyboy1956, Palasr, Tshulba and Dan_Ed have already reported so I won't bore you. I'll just emphasize their enthusiasm. As Palasr said,

I urge you to try a GOOD arc-based protractor custom cut for your arm. You'll scratch your head wondering why you didn't try it sooner.

One thing several of them mentioned which we didn't get is greater blackness between the notes. Frankly, we already had that and Minting didn't increase it. What it did do between the notes was ennable even lower levels of detail. Decays and soundspace cues are much better than before, giving more of the illusion of a live event.

The other major change we heard that was not previously described may be cartridge-specific. The UNIverse/TriPlanar combo is unique in our experience at keeping separate musical sounds separate. The compexities that make up the timbre of a particular instrument and the L vs. R channel information that produce stereo imaging are never "mushed" together. If zenith alignment is off, this great resolution of tiny differences can make a system sound analytical. The slight time shifts caused by tracking angle errors don't produce painful distortions, they just let us hear each tiny sound slightly time shifted, which picks timbres and images apart. A time shift between L and R channel information also reduces peak amplitudes, since the two sounds aren't leaving the speakers at *exactly* the same moment. Our system has always had some of that character. It made it easy to hear and adjust what was going on system-wise, but it could be more analytical than musical.

Minting our setup changed all that. Without losing (and in fact gaining) low level detail and subtle harmonics, these are now better integrated and sound more like real voices and instruments and less like a collection of "sounds". L to R imaging is better, peak amplitudes are WAY better and the soundstage expanded in all directions, including upwards. Bass response in particular is much stronger but with more articulation.

Four musical examples:

Ella sings Gershwin Songbook (1970's Verve reissue, white label promo copy) - Ella's voice was more fleshy and human, less diagnostic. The backup orchestra became even more amazing as musicians. We heard little vamps and riffs that were literally inaudible before. An incredible record got incredibler!

Vivaldi, Concertos #1-3 from 'La Stravaganza'. Hogwood and the AAM on L'Oiseau Lyre (impossibly talented musicians on a great label) - Original instrument performances provide some of the toughest system tests we know of. The Mint nailed everything while bringing the vivacity of 18th century Venice to living, breathing life right in front of me. That must have been one rockin' convent! Minting produced extraordinary improvements in the reality, energy and emotion of every instrument. Vivaldi was a genuine superstar, and this playback session made it clear why.

Poulenc, Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, Marie Claire Alain on a late issue French Erato (the best, from that label) - YIKES! The poor cats zoomed out of the room. They couldn't take the increase in dynamics AND clarity. This is a big recording of a big piece, and the improvement in soundstage stability laid out every instrument in a 3-D holographic presentation that could make you believe you were there. The big, complex organ and drum lines were clear as crystal even while rattling the house more than ever before. This was just scary.

Dark Side of the Moon - some reissue - We aren't frequent rock listeners and Swampwalker, Dan_Ed and Raul will all tell you our system isn't voiced for it. Until last night we agreed with them. The main issue was that tendency of our system to pick most modern recordings apart and display the pieces in their separate little bits, obviously recorded in different sound spaces and assembled in the mixing room. Post-Minting, we can still hear all that but it's no longer thrown in our faces. The huge increase in bass amplitudes and the better integration of each instrument into a whole now lets this record ROCK like it should. Hope the neighbors didn't mind, it was 2AM. ;-)

So, if you have a rig worth optimizing and provided it's Baerwald compatible, I can't recommend the MintLP protractor highly enough. As others said above, it's an amazing upgrade for a very low cost. Buy it. Use it.

Mark,
It's both! ;-) Yip prints the overhang arc and alignment lines on a sheet of very thin, matte finish plastic, which he then applies to a glass mirror.

No lifting by the edges, no bending-flexing, remembering to lift the entire protractor straight up.

Bending and flexing aren't possible. It's a sturdy sheet of glass. Lifting straight up? It's such a snug fit on the spindle there's no other choice. Swinging it back and forth while nudging upward/downward near the spindle works best.

CAUTION: Take care to not move the protractor or tonearm when the stylus is down on the plastic sheet. The tip can hold on and that would stess the cantilever and/or damage the sheet.

TIP: If your tonearm has VTA adjustment, remember to raise it to compensate for the thickness. You want to align with the cartridge at a normal playing angle.

This valuable thread (agreeing with Stiltskin) has also proved what we all knew, that a tangential tracking arm has the potential to be superior to any pivoting arm. Even with "perfect" alignment all we've done is managed tracking angle error. We've not eliminated it. Users of top end tangential arms are smiling while sharing knowing winks. ;-)

Further Minty observations:
Paul reports speaker integration for the first time. His favorite chair is way off center so he never listens for imaging. From that position we've always heard two distinct speakers, no center image. After Minting there's some center image integration happening for the first time.

After 2-3 sides my ears told me I could reduce anti-skating. I went from 3 little O-rings on the A/S dogleg to 2 and had the impression I still had a hair too much. Last night I reduced to 1 O-ring and even very dynamic LP's tracked perfectly. Another benefit of the Mint, since reducing A/S always improves cartridge performance. :-)

What Palasr said ^^^

I haven't bothered taping the platter or a protractor in several years. If you work carefully and delicately then nothing will move. If you don't work carefully and delicately, you shouldn't be aligning a phono cartrdidge! :-)

SirSpeedy,

I haven't seen/used the Phantom jig but I have used the one supplied with the 2.2.

Besides having no parallax arrangement for sighting accuracy (as noted by Stiltskin) the flip-over piece sat at a different angle depending on the height of the cartridge. This moved the cross-hairs forward or aft, which meant that overhang was only accurate when mounting a cartridge of the same exact height as whatever cartridge Graham designed the jig for.

If the Phantom jig is similar, I'm sure you'd find the Mint worth the investment.

... garishly-recorded strings and brass still sound bad.

The good news: based on my experience there are fewer such records than you probably suppose, especially in classical. System improvements of all kinds (including the Mint) consistently make most "bad" records sound better.

The bad news: reread the above and save up more pennies.

Perfect example, Tim.

We've got most of the Mozart symphonies on Philips, with Haitink in the Konzertgebau. For years I described those LP's as veiled, soft, rolled off highs, little sense of soundspace, etc.

Today, while they may not quite match an audiophile label, they've gotten much closer. Low level detail, extended highs and the rich and deep acoustics of that hall are in ample evidence with multiple echoes off back/side walls and the whole bit.

Same for many DG pressings, the band behind Ella on the Verve reissues of the 'Songbooks', etc., etc. The number of bad or even mediocre LP's is much lower than supposed, at least in our collection.

Jdaniel,

I've admired your passion for and knowledge of classical music since you first joined the forum fray a few years ago. I wish I had the time to acquire your knowledge.

Regarding sonics however, I invite you to visit next time you're in the neighborhood, and perhaps expand your sense of what's possible.

If your master tape and LP of the Munch Berlioz Requiem (for example) both sound strident, that doesn't disprove or even test the hypothesis that such stridency arises from distortions in the reproduction system. 'A priori', it is impossible to know whether such problems are due to a bad recording or to the exceptional dynamics and complexity of the recording presenting too many challenges for the system(s) you've heard. In this case, I guarantee that system problems are to blame. I have that LP and it sounds magnificent. Three years ago I'd have firmly endorsed your conclusion, but I was wrong and you are too.

With respect, there is equipment which will do less damage to a signal than the pieces you listed. None of it is cheap, but it exists. Play those problematic LP's or tapes in some systems passionately and uncompromisingly built over many years to minimize distortions while maximizing dynamics - in most cases you'll be happily surprised.