tonearm geometry question


I've followed the linear vs pivoted thread with some interest. Itt raises a question that someone with greater technical expertise may be able to clarify for me.

At rest, both a pivoted arm tube and an LTT tube share a common position tangent to the platter ( call it the CP line) and a common anchor ( or pivot) point (call it CAP). From there, a pivoted arm tube defines an arc across the record, while the LTT tube slides on its anchor point from the CAP along a line perpendicular to the CP line and tangent to the platter until it hits the inner groove. Call this the LTT anchor journey.

My question: Why is the pivot point on a pivoted arm not located halfway along the LTT anchor journey. Wouldn't this reduce the pivoted arm's error by half? Surely loading/removing the record can't be the reason. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

Marty
martykl

Showing 2 responses by atmasphere

Marty, if you want a short answer, for the location you are asking about, you can set it up with 2 null points, but you will have a much larger tracking error at all the other points on the LP. By locating the radial arm at the end of the LTT these out-of-null points have a much-reduced error.

If you were to draw some circles representing the platter, and impose the radii of the two arm locations, you will see immediately what the problem is.
Well, if you think about it, as you optimize the 'new' position you will see that it has a lot in common with the 'old' position...