If I may, let's look at the diamond on the end of the cantilever.
This was installed by human hands. Let's assume some type of jig was used. They now glue the diamond to the cantilever, and the glue dries. Opps, glue doesn't dry in a uniform fashion. Is your diamond perfectly perpendicular to the cantilever?.
Alignment protractors are a starting point. After that you adjust by ear. Use the tonearm designers recommended alignment. Again, it's just a starting point.
A lot of tonearms come with Azimuth adjustment. For me, this is the most crucial parameter. Once Azimuth is good, there is a larger range for vertical tracking angle (side rake angle). If Azimuth is off, you'll drive yourself crazy with VTA/SRA.
If you search Audiogon, Doug Deacon posted a fabulous thread on adjusting your cartridge. I think it should be a 'must read'.
If you're not shaking your head yet,........., the cutting head of the master lathe was also installed by hand.
Stop obsessing, you can't get it perfect, at least not for every album.
This was installed by human hands. Let's assume some type of jig was used. They now glue the diamond to the cantilever, and the glue dries. Opps, glue doesn't dry in a uniform fashion. Is your diamond perfectly perpendicular to the cantilever?.
Alignment protractors are a starting point. After that you adjust by ear. Use the tonearm designers recommended alignment. Again, it's just a starting point.
A lot of tonearms come with Azimuth adjustment. For me, this is the most crucial parameter. Once Azimuth is good, there is a larger range for vertical tracking angle (side rake angle). If Azimuth is off, you'll drive yourself crazy with VTA/SRA.
If you search Audiogon, Doug Deacon posted a fabulous thread on adjusting your cartridge. I think it should be a 'must read'.
If you're not shaking your head yet,........., the cutting head of the master lathe was also installed by hand.
Stop obsessing, you can't get it perfect, at least not for every album.