Phono Protractor. Recommendations?

Here’s just one example that will highlight not only the futility but in fact how misguided even the most well-intentioned advice turns out to be.

You must align the stylus not the cantilever.

Nope. Not even.

Here’s why:

While this seems to make a lot of sense- all that sophisticated stylus geometry is wasted if the darn thing is out of whack in the groove- its blinkered down to just one small part of the picture.

At the other end of the cantilever is the coil (or magnet) that generates the audio signal. The electric signal is supposed to be an analog of the groove modulation. So think this one through, stylus alingment people: how is it gonna be if you rotate the whole thing relative to the grooves?

Can’t be. So yeah sure you can have the satisfaction of having done what few others have ever been bothered to do. But only at the cost of having messed up something else.

Its like this with everything. You can spend a fortune getting everything to electron microscope precision. Until you actually try and play a record and hear... nothing. Which is why the clear consensus among the people with ears (see the above vinyl heresy thread) is beyond a certain very quickly and easily reached point its all a colossal waste of time.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. Go listen to Mikey Fremer’s setup videos where he very frankly and accurately admits its all just one big tradeoff after another.

I have a Feickert and a Geo-Disc , if you can see the exact pivot point the Geo is very near  as accurate , but as wlutke says , that's a big if , but some  do make it easy like the Pioneer  PLX-1000 .

The piece of paper Shure put  in on the 97xe was better than either but only for that cart .

I hav a Smartractor and Geodisc. The Geodisc is approximate and good for most applications. The Smartractor is outstanding and very precise.

@wlutke 
How do I find what the correct "pivot to spindle" distance is supposed to be?  (My TT is a VPI Classic 3, my tonearm is the JMW 10.5).

If you want the best, and have multiple arms, get the SMARTractor. 
If you want the best, and have one arm, get the Mint. 
If you want to throw away $20, get the Turntable Basics protractor.