Mint LP Best Protractor

At the end of the day you get what you pay for and really the Smartractor is the bees knees, seriously.

A good friend has one and he has set up all my carts on my table ( after I have rough set them with simple tools) using it and watching him at work it looks very simple with the only caveat being the carts that have the stylus buried under the body instead of out front being more difficult but that would be true with any tool.

Is it worth $650?
Depends on how often you are changing carts, arms TT etc.

I am very fortunate that he lives just 2 miles down the road........

I have a Mint for my SL1200 GAE, but since I have other turntables decided to buy a Feickert because it is cheaper when multiple tables are involved. The simple and free paper protractors are also an option and work fine, but are a bit fiddly to use. I also bought one Accutrack, which is for a tt recently sold, so I gave it to the new owner. All of these work, a fact I can attest from personal experience. The easiest to use are the single point units like the Feickert or the Smartractor, which can rival the accuracy of the Mint if used correctly. The proprietary gadgets from VPI or the overhang gauge from Technics are for people who do not really care. The Mint is the most accurate, but the most fiddly to use, and for multi tt users, needing a different one for each tt gets to be perhaps the most expensive option. Bottom line, though, no matter which route you go, it is important to align your cartridge for optimum sound, stylus life and record life.

I find that setup is everything when it comes to the sound quality of a vinyl setup.  That said, I have the mint for my basis 2800 and it works very well.  Yes, it takes an hour or two to get things set up initially, but I find the results worth the time and effort.

@rushfan71 did you manage to get an answer from Yip at Mint LP Solution? Trying to contact him and I’m not getting any replies.

@jaypare yes I did.

However that was around the time I started this thread.

Good luck to you.