Will fine tune adjustments with protractor help with "brightness?"


Hello everyone-

I've had my TT setup now for 2 months. System looks like this:

Piega C10 Ltd speakers
McIntosh 402 amp
Technics SL1200GR TT
Lehmann Audio Black Cube SE II phono pre
MoFi Master tracker cart

My ears may be deceiving me, but I swear my vinyl cuts sound slightly brighter at the beginning of the album and soften a little as we near the middle. I set the cartridge by using the little white piece provided by Technics and it sounds great. I've been told by reliable sources that a good protractor, maybe even  Feickert Universal Protractor can help me get even more out of my carts. 

Would enjoy hearing your thoughts on this. Thanks! Brent

128x128knollbrent
Working on a band new Technics tonearm for GAE, G, GR and 10R models Matsushita engineers changed and improved almost everything, except the tonearm geometry as far as i know. If this geometry would cause the problem they could simply change it in the last generation of their reference class turntables. They are completely changed the entire tooling of those machines. Working on such important project in 21st century the Matsushita engineers definitely made a lot of tests. I can not believe these guys knows nothing about Baerwald/Lofgren.

Anyone can explain why the tonearm geometry of a brand new Technics tonearm is the same as it was before (very close to Stevenson) ???

Technics carefully checked every weak part of the old design to create brand new reference class turntable, do you think those guys just forgot to check the tonearm geometry after all these years ???

Do you think Technics/Matsushita engineer have no idea about Baerwald/Lofrgen ???

Anyone can prove the level of audible distortion between Baerwald and Stevenson, so we could hear it in the recordings made with the same cart, same tonearm, but with two different alignment? Why it was not done before if the level of distortion is so audible for human ears like some people thinks? Is that so difficult to prove it ?

P.S. Another question: Which japanese top class high-end tonearm has Baerwald/Lofrgen geometry ? 


I noticed the same phenomena you described in your original post. My feeling is that the Technics tables just track so incredibly well that you are hearing the natural progression of analog sound and it is more noticeable on this table.  The outer grooves will always have better fidelity than the inner grooves.  You are just hearing it more obviously with the table.  You may have to load your cartridge to accommodate the brighter outer grooves.  The thing is that the inner grooves sound so amazing that they sound like the outer groves on most tables.  Not sure how they accomplished this.
Of course the Technics engineers know what they are doing wth respect to tonearm geometry and alignment.  However it is a proven fact that different flavors of alignment have different distortion characteristics over the arc of the record surfaces- it becomes more of a choice and preference thing.  
However where the Technics engineers failed is by not improving the accuracy of the overhang gauge.  Adjusting the cantilever so it is parallel with the gauge is a guess at best.  There should be runway lines on the gauge.  
bottom line- it is more accurate to align a cartridge and cantilever with a proper gauge that lines up with the spindle.  
The mint tractor alignment sounds better- whether it be through "flavor" or allowing better accuracy (or both). 
Yip recommended the 9 step as the "standard" won't be avail till the end of July. Not sure what the difference is, he didn't say. It's in the mail too!

Regarding what I do and don't hear. I'm totally sure I hear anything wrong or not but was curious whether a specific protractor will help my cart be better aligned and I do believe it will. At least, I'll find out soon!
i am using the standard Mint for the 1200G.  Sounds great to me.  maybe I will try the new one when available to hear the difference.