When I checked the alignment, so that the stylus was exactly on the line at the farthest point from the spindle, it was ahead of the curved line of the Mint about 1/2 mm at the closest point..near the spindle. Even though it seemed only a very small difference, I went ahead with the adjustments. Yes, the directions are very clear, however it is a tedious task, Adjustments are very small, and these old eyes were struggling. With the protractor a lighted magnifier is included, and I opted for the 10X Peak loupe. I have a work table in the garage with lots of light (very much needed)and a 100 LED flashlight (very glad I had that). I find glasses very helpful for reading, however when I removed the glasses and used the lighted magnifier, I found that I never needed the 10X loupe. The procedure took about 2 1/2 hours, going slowly and as accurately as I could. I lucked out in that I didn't have to adjust the cartridge for section "B" since my Benz Ebony LP has a square face, and my careful setting was absolutely correct for section B. That would have required me to redo section A again. Anyway, I certainly didn't think that my original setting was very far off, (I checked it with the VPI tool before I began using the Mint to be assured I didn't screw up the original setting. Yes that was right on. When I got finished with the Mint, and put the record on, I was floored at the improvement. I could tell there was going to be something good, just as the stylus touched the record, and all that "air" blossomed into the room. The biggest improvement I heard if I could pick out one thing was the silence between the notes. This allowed a much cleaner presentation of everything. Willie Nelson's guitar...you could hear the pick snapping the string, and then the vibration of the instrument in response to that. The improvements in sound extended from the beginning of the LP to the end. Sung S's were good before, but now have a realism that it didn't have before. Separation of instruments enable one to follow each instrument individually..the instruments aren't attached to each other as they were before. It was thrilling. The singer was clearly directly between the 2 speakers...no bleeding to the sides. I found this to be no small bump. I encourage everyone to send their 100 dollars to Singapore ...it IS worth the trouble and money. I thought my turntable was good before...wow. My wife couldn't believe such an improvement could come of such a small adjustment.
Mint Tractor
I'm sorry, I apologize, please forgive me for doubting all of you who have told me of the need for the Mint Protractor. I got it today, and just did a quick check to find that the cartridge is indeed off set up with the VPI protractor that comes with the Supercout/10.5i. I read the directions and it is a very tedious, and slow going procedure, so I'll get back in a while and tell you if I hear any differences.