Tracking error distortion audibility

Hi, just a little aside from behind the curtain as it were.

SME in their misguided wisdom using the "ICE-standard" (that strangely exists for LP manufacturing at al, BUT not cart ALIGNMENTS, correct me if I'm wrong ) for their alignment happen to use Baerwald, hallo!

Now Baerwald is what most everybody and his uncle is using these days... and is constantly being referred to in this here circle, very good.

The other item that might shine some light on this pivot to pin distance issue, and SME's disregard for such importance is: The SME V (in fact all 300 series) are based on a mounting hole to stylus tip distance of 9.52 mm or better 3/8". Therefore 233.15mm stylus-to-pivot distance, and a 23.6350 offset angle.

Most carts I've seen/worked with are ball-park, give or take 1/10 of a millimetre. This means that the post is move by about that amount to correct for overhang for that specific cart. A difference in VTF alone will change this distance by some 0.01 mm.
Nobody seems to take note here, that when a hole of some dimension about 32 mm is drilled in a plinth to take a fixed pin/pivot arm arrangement, that 1/10 mm or even less is simply within tolerance.
Unless this is done in a tool shop with a highly accurate machining set-up.
So whilst I DO agree with the importance of it all, I surely disagree to get complete anal about this. Reality of arm fitment is most probably a lot worse than <0.1 mm.

Now I feel so much better :-)
Greetings,
Axel

Dear Axel: Certainly the analog imperfect world " permit " that the people take decisions that are more oriented in " feelings " than in scientific care like the tonearm/cartridge set-up. Even those 0.1mm affect/provoke changes/distortions that are added at the whole audio system ones.

This kind of " behavior " unfortunately happen in every single link in the audio chain, sometimes by careless and sometimes by low know-how.

What is important to note is that many of those distortions are in our each one " hands " to make it lower if we take care on it not only in the whole system set-up but in the whole audio item system selection.

There are many many different subjects/factors that are "under " our each one control but even we don't know it.

Our each one audio learning curve is a " long road to home " journey where maybe the best way to help us is through an open attitude thinking that almost always exist a better " way " to make things to improve/grow-up.

I always try to think that the " best " is for coming.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Axel,
the SME 300 series is one of the very few tonearms which does come with a kind of "fixed" geometry in ALL parameters. Given its unability to adjust offset, overhang (we can just move the base - which we shouldn't... - NOT the cartridge ) and effective length, it surely is a fairly unique sample.

SME took for granted all industry standards of its day (early 1980ies) and said:

"well, if all cartridge designers do obey to and follow the standards given and if all LPs are cut following the new IEC standard, then evrything will be perfect with our new tonearm - it will be the "best tonearm in the world"............"

But the world is an imperfect one and many people do want to go their own ways.

The new SME surely was the LEAST UNIVERSAL tonearm ever designed .......
It is for sure the one tonearm which gives almost no possibilities to adjust to specific cartridge needs or to different arcs.

The SME V was a child of its day and was regarded when introduced as the first tonearm which took all (some fairly new...) industry standards for record-cutting and cartridge dimensions serious.
Too serious.

In a biological sense the SME V is the very opposite of evolutionary versatile.
It can not "adjust" to any change in the "enviromental conditions".
With the "right" cartridge, it is a VERY serious tonearm.
But there are so very few "right" cartridges for the SME V around.......

Dear Raul,
yes, the analog world is an imperfect one and will always be.
I just think that in tose few areas where we do have pure sientific parameters - teh geometry - we should try to use them for the very best results and should follow them as strictly as possible.
There are so many other segments of the analog front-end, where our "feel" and "intuition" is of paramount importance - cartridge, cables, VTA, VTF etc.
Here however, pure geometry is I believe of great help.
This is the reason why I permanently insist on the strict application of the 2 geometrical calculations for the complex tonearm/cartridge topic.

Its the foundation of all which follows in the audio chain.

Making any mistake here, will make it VERY hard - if not impossible - to fix that "bug" ever after.

Hi Raul,
nice to be able to call you by name, unlike most folk that prefer to hide behind some alias.
All taken in good sprit, the point missed might be, that some folk might leave this here discourse with a major case of 'audiophila nervosa' because their spindle/pivot is out by 5 hundredth of a millimetre.
Figure that out in thousands of an inch if you will, and it might give more of the participant a better feel what tolerances we are talking. Recall it takes 25.4 millimetre to make 1 inch. So now we are talking about 3 or 5 hundredth of a millimetre!
AND we still take care by a good set-up to compensate for this, by making sure of the right amount of overhang at each null-point AND being dead-on 90 deg. It seems to get just a bit 'unreal' to pretend to pursue this hyper-tolerance notion.
Add 0.1 gram (usually 0.4 gram tolerance) variation in VTF, your suspension goes a bit down, your stylus-pivot distance has changed by 0.002 or0.003 at least. Now we 'pretend' get the arm post holes drilled so this is within such tolerance --- please, let's just accept the real world situation, I say.

One last point I want to share: the lateral Azimuth (twisting the cart left or right) when trying to get the CANTILEVER (never mind the cart body) as close to 90 deg. (0 deg to the groove) at the two null-points.
This is some issue with ALL fixed head shell hole arms e.g. SME V, IV, 300 series, Linn..., when a cart's cantilever is not quite in the 'perfect' place related to the mounting screw-(threaded)holes of that cart.
It is than because nigh impossible to get it to 90deg. due to the next to no play (~0.05mm) of the mounting screws in the head shell holes.
So, get a better cart, or file open the holes? Do not drill them open!! This would allow for too much lateral movement of the cart in the head shell. I discourage this of course, but to spend another 2-3k dollars may just make you change you mind on that also.

Greetings,
Axel