I don't think you need "high power" to view the stylus. 30x to 50x should do it. I just bought a Peak 50x microscope that works very well because it has a clear plastic base that allows you to set it on the kitchen table and focus on the stylus. At 50x, you will not see very much of the length of the cantilever, 40x might be better for your purpose. I have been using the microscope to set SRA. A blob of Play-Doh sitting on Saran Wrap works perfectly as a base for viewing the stylus as it sits on an LP. I see Peak microscopes on a site called Edmonds.....I got lucky on Ebay. Let me just say thanks to Neil for his excellent posts regarding SRA.
Micro-ridge styli
Has anyone ever checked to determine whether the ridges of a micro-ridge stylus are perfectly perpendicular to the cantelever on their cartridge?
I'm wondering about this because we usually look at the cantilever when adjusting a cartridge so that it's tangent to the groove. If we do this for a cartridge with a micro-ridge stylus and the ridges aren't exacty perpendicular to the cantilever, the stylus won't be optimally aligned with respect to tangency even if the cantilever is tangent to the groove (a line drawn through the two ridges should be parallel to the radius of the LP).
I know that variations exist in stylus rake between identical cartridge models, so I'm just going out on a limb and assuming that variations might also exist in the "rotation" of styli in cantilevers. This question does not only apply to micro-ridge but also to line contact and, to a lesser extent, elliptical cartridges.
Any ideas on how to analyze the relationship between the cantilever and the ridges? A scope and a test record? Viewing the stylus from the bottom with a high powered microscope?
Which cartridges today have micro-ridge styli?
I'm wondering about this because we usually look at the cantilever when adjusting a cartridge so that it's tangent to the groove. If we do this for a cartridge with a micro-ridge stylus and the ridges aren't exacty perpendicular to the cantilever, the stylus won't be optimally aligned with respect to tangency even if the cantilever is tangent to the groove (a line drawn through the two ridges should be parallel to the radius of the LP).
I know that variations exist in stylus rake between identical cartridge models, so I'm just going out on a limb and assuming that variations might also exist in the "rotation" of styli in cantilevers. This question does not only apply to micro-ridge but also to line contact and, to a lesser extent, elliptical cartridges.
Any ideas on how to analyze the relationship between the cantilever and the ridges? A scope and a test record? Viewing the stylus from the bottom with a high powered microscope?
Which cartridges today have micro-ridge styli?