Mintlp

I have the Graham Phantom and the Mint protractor for the Phantom.
There is no question that the Mint tractor does a better job in aligning the stylus v the Phantom jig. The sound has less distortion, expecially during the last 3rd of the LP.
Yip's customer service is especially good.

The Mint is not as great as the Wally tractor IMO. Two main difference's being the ability to choose between Loefgren or Baervald arc's.
The Wally has laser etching of the arc's and aligment lines, rather than lines behind a plastic cover.
The bad point ( an probably overiding point) is that Wally's customer service is suspect to say the least.

Wally does make a great mutli arc protractor for gents with more than one arm.

Curio I remember, there were a few skeptics and I admit I was a little skeptical myself.

One of the biggest skeptics was Stringreen....how could anything be more accurate then his VPI protractor....

As you know he finally wore down and ordered one and came back with a thread of his own apologizing for being so skeptical.
I remember it well because I got such a kick out of what he said....
From there Stringreens thread filled up with testimonials and serious discussion of the Mint tractor.

Hevac I know you have a Phantom arm and I am quite familiar with the fantastic Graham set up jigs.
However believe it or not the Mint will take set up to a whole other level.

Audiofeil, Great idea for a dealer to do, supply Mint Tractors with your sales of tables.....

Hello Hevac1,

As Tvad probably remenbers I was one of the more sceptical about the MintLP Best Tractor used on my Technics SL1210 MKII and we had a long debate here about this relatively new glass template.
Well .. now I'm a MintLP addict :-) and not only I bought the one for the Technics but I also bought one for my Michell Tecnoarm and both worked "Simply Magical" on the SL and on the TW Acustic Raven One .. I guess two very different arms.. don't you agree?

Well I have ordered mine. with all this talk it should be a fun time.

Thanks again. I had no idea that I needed to check my cartridge alignment annually. Makes sense but I just had never given it any thought.

VPI uses a proprietary, single null-point-jig to align the carts on the JMW series arms. I say 'proprietary' since HW has seemed unwilling to release any specifics on how it came to be, though I believe it's meant to skew the inevitable tracking compromise towards lower distortion on the inner grooves.

My experience has been that an arc protractor will provide more satisfying results, but at any rate, you need to learn how to mount a cartridge, for at least two reasons:

*Unless you have a dealer who will come to your home, and mount and adjust the cart on the turntable where it will be permanently situated, and said dealer has a long and revered reputation for doing exacting work, you're (much) better off doing it yourself.

*You shouldn't be going a year without checking your cart adjustment

the setup was done by the dealer when I bought the table..

The Dealer is no-fault , I saw many setting cartridges with the templates inside the TTs or arms and swear the set-up was perfect.
I trust them .. the problem is the impossibility to get the perfection with those templates.

I personally believe Mint's best advice is to be patient. I have done this three times now on the dame setup, with increasing amounts of anality and been stunned EVERY time. I believe that Stringreen said every time you think you've got it right, take a break and recheck. Your ears will love you for it. The difference on my Scoutmaster was huge when compared to the VPI jig.

Thanks everyone. Just for clarity...the setup was done by the dealer when I bought the table, about a year ago. I haven't touched it since then and, had it not been for you folks, I wouldn't have investigated the mintlp. Hopefully I'll finally make the time this weekend to get the job done right.

I just purchased quite a few Mint LP protractors to cover all of my turntable/tonearm combinations. The expenditure was significant but not nearly as significant as the performance increase attributable to them.

More importantly if the Mint LP protractors are correct, and I believe they are after listening, not a single manufacturer's protractor/jig supplied with their tonearm is accurate. Some are close but others are not.

The point is if you've invested in a decent table and tonearm, you'd be foolish not to spend another $100 or so and ensure proper alignment.

This device is a no brainer IMO.

Definitely to the above and in addition to Yip's excellent instructions there are even more user tips and testimoials in the archives,
I believe Stringreens thread titled Mint Tractor.

Ditto! You probably won't be off that much once you get the arm and the protractor in the correct positions. It sounds like most likely you haven't learned how to do this important step with an arc-style protractor. As Swampwalker and Thom say, you need to get the arc tracing correct first.

To do that you will need to move both the protractor and arm until your stylus is hitting the arc at the extreme outside edge and as close to the spindle as possible. Once you have that done you will have found the place to lock down the protractor. It is all in the directions. Read them again, be sure you understand, take your time.

Spend some time and bond with your protractor ;-)

As Swampwalker sez, trace the arc first, and then worry about offset angle.

Cheers,
Thom

It is ASSUMING the cantilever is square to the front of the cart body. The beauty of the mint is that it allow you to align relative to the cantilever not the body. Also you need to get the cantilever square AFTER getting the overhang correct along the entire arc. Its not as simple as just aligning the cantilever square to the grid lines.