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Tonearm compatibility and advice

Dear Vinyl Gurus,

Does the spindle-to-pivot distance determine whether an arm fits a particular table? Or is the needle-to-pivot the determining factor? Or does the headshell adjustment allow you to make up for small mismatches?

The tonearm mounting hole on my table is exactly 222 mm from the center of the hole to the spindle. I was considering a Hadcock GH 228 Export, but I'm confused whether it will work with my table. The spindle to pivot distance for the Hadcock is 212.8 mm, which is 9 mm short, but the needle to pivot distance is specified as 228.6 mm which will make the needle overhang by 6.6 mm.

I would greatly appreciate help understanding this geometry stuff. More specifically, will this arm work with my table? Thanks in advance.

For what it's worth:

TT spindle to center of mounting hole: 222 mm
TT arm mounting diameter: 22 mm
Hadcock GH 228 spindle to pivot: 212.8 mm
Hadcock GH 228 pivot base diameter: ~15 mm
Hadcock GH 228 specs
My table specs
mingles

Showing 2 responses by dougdeacon

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Mingles,

I was a user and a proponent of the Turntable Basics protractor for many years, for Rega style arms and others.

Recently, Audogon member Palasr helped spread the word about a new protractor offered by http://www.MintLP.com After resisting for a while (mostly out of stubbornness) I succumbed to the many positive reports and bought one.

The sonic improvement was amazing. Before you change tonearms, cartridges, I'd suggest buying one yourself. I suspect you'll hear much of what you're looking for once your cartridge is accurately aligned and the TTB, handy as it is, is not precise enough to align a cartridge accurately.

Be aware that the Mint is both tonearm and turntable specific. If you change either you'd have to order another Mint. You can read some of the many testimonials here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1219353750&read&keyw&zzmint

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1224726626&read&keyw&zzmint

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1219724633&read&keyw&zzmint

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1214065860&read&keyw&zzmint
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Rene,

The Mint is indeed designed for an arm mounted at the designed pivot-to-spindle distance, and is useless for any other distance. My OL Silver (Rega clone) was designed for 222mm. Regas can be mounted at that distance AFAIK. Whether it would be optimal with a Mint I'd leave up to Yip (the maker). He'd give honest advice.

I agree the Denon 103 is poorly suited for a Hadcock. Good observation. Frankly, if air and spaciousness were high on my list of sonic goals a Denon 103 wouldn't be among the first cartridges I'd choose. On the right arm it's a great performer, especially for the money, but its strengths lie elsewhere.

Mingles,

Another (cheap) tweak to consider for a Rega/103 combo is the Strange Tonearm Tweak. This ingenious device, which you can DIY for about $5, made my $1K OL Silver sound like a $3K tonearm. Even better, the tweak was designed specifically for a Denon 103/Rega combination.

Nothing you can do will give you as much bang for your buck, and it's fun and highly educational too. I can't recommend that old discussion thread strongly enough. The author's enthusiasm and knowledge are what pulled me back into vinyl (and that's cost me about $20K, so be careful who you listen to!).
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