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Multiple arms, multiple cartridges and geometry?

I have read the debates regarding the benefits of different tonearm geometries......Lofgren A and B, Baerwald, Stevenson etc....and I appreciate the benefits of choosing where, on the vinyl record, one wishes to have the least spread of distortion.
I also have read where certain arms seem to perform better with one or other of these geometries?

I have two turntables with three different arms on each one and I have a total of over twenty five different cartridges.
Four of those arms have removable headshells and twenty of my cartridges are mounted on their own headshells ready for installation into any of those four tonearms.
How then.......can I have different geometries for each arm if I don't wish to re-align a cartridge within its headshell depending on the arm in which its installed?
Surely......I must select a single geometry for all my arms so that the cartridges fixed to their headshells....are truly interchangeable?
128x128halcro

Showing 3 responses by dover

dover
2,278 posts
 
Henry - for the arms you use that have detachable headshells, surely if you use a headshell that has slots, hence the ability to alter the overhang and alignment, then you can set each cartridge up and the only changeover issues would be tracking weight and VTA. I use to build easy VTA adjusters by tapping a metal block and using a fine thread screw to put under the arm lift. If you recorded the optimum for each cartridge/arm then it becomes easy to adjust.
Failing all this - buy 2 more TT's & enough arms and you can at least get 24 of your cartridges running simultaneously.
dover
2,278 posts
 
Henry, this reminds me of an experience with the Cello Pallette equaliser, where in the hands on a record producer it was a very good tool for poorly mixed records and did give more insight and enjoyment from the music.
I would have thought that if you find the optimum arm for each cartridge, then just switch those combinations - much less stress and dare I say it a move towards minimalism.
dover
2,278 posts
 
Halcro - the Eureka moments are gone in a blink of an eyelid. Just enjoy the fact that you know they are there.
I think Mapman has a potentially lucrative business - "My wife goes nuts trying to figure out where the music is coming from at any given time and usually how to turn it down" - there is a $$$value added proposition in there somewhere.
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