Wally Malewicz's legacy lives on...Wallytractor

Back when Wally was around, if you bought his stuff instead of others you could at least tell yourself you were supporting him. Now that he's gone so is that one. I can see people wanting to cash in, but come on, a VTA gauge? Hard to see that as anything other than preying on the vulnerable.

These are the “tools” that Wally had designed and were in his “kit” that some audiophiles acquired.  Many are seen on Femer’s setup DVD.  I believe this endeavor, if you read the website, is a partnership with Wally’s son so not sure anyone is cashing in inappropriately IMO.

And for ONLY $350 it will provide EXACTLY the same results as the $20 turntablebasics.com protractor when both are used correctly.  I can hardly wait to order one!

melm

And for ONLY $350 it will provide EXACTLY the same results as the $20 turntablebasics.com protractor when both are used correctly.

That is completely mistaken. One of the biggest advantages of Wally’s gauge is that it aligns the cantilever, while the typical protractor only aligns the cartridge body. Big difference!

Melm, some setup tools ARE inherently better than others, IMO. If you don’t want to pay for the best or for anything that might be better than the TTB protractor, that is your right, of course. But do keep an open mind. ( I’m not touting the new WM kit here; I’m just saying sometimes more expensive IS better.) I own the TTB and two other much more expensive protractors. The latter are both far superior to the TTB in terms of the likelihood that you get accurate alignment.

The old arm-specific Wallytractors are my favorite alignment protractor . Just used one this morning.

@cleeds
"That is completely mistaken. One of the biggest advantages of Wally’s gauge is that it aligns the cantilever, while the typical protractor only aligns the cartridge body. Big difference!"

I didn’t say anything about a "typical protractor." I mentioned the turntablebasics protractor which is mirrored just like the Wally. So you align the cantilever just the same. And you save $330.

@lewm
"The latter (Wally) are both far superior to the TTB in terms of the likelihood that you get accurate alignment."
First the alignment you get with any of these devices is far less critical than you may believe. That was proven by the Viv Lab Rigid Tonearm, apparently an excellent arm, without any such alignment at all. But even for conventional arms azimuth is far more critical IMO and also that of Peter Ledermann. So probably, for a lot of cartridges, is SRA. But I digress.

Cartridge alignment is not a stochastic event. There are no "likelihoods" here. It is a matter of care. You may think that Wally is easier; I do not. You cannot argue with the proposition that both the $350 one and the $20 will give exactly the same result when both are used correctly. Because it is true.

Wally was ripping off the insecure analog community for decades. I guess that job has been passed on to a new generation.  Yes, as the OP wrote, the legacy lives on.