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Cart not parallel after Mint LP alignment?

Howdy,

So after reading about 1000 paragraphs on how good the Mint LP Tractor is - I purchased one and had a marathon session yesterday with my new SL-1210 M5G, AT440MLa and Zupreme headshell...

After all was said and done - the alignment itself took 90 hard minutes - I am finding the cartridge sitting about 5-7 degrees "right" of center. The actual cantilever and stylus are about as dead on as I wanna go with it for now.

Now a comment and a question....

Question: Is this non-parallel result in the headshell normal? It's making me think I may have a bent cantilever or something.

Comment: I have run 10-12 sides thru the rig so far and I must say - I have not yet heard the "revelation" that others have described when comparing their alignments to other protractors or even the white Technics alignment gauge. The rig sounds good...but...what I am missing here.

I must temper the above by saying I have changed phono stages frequently in the last month as well...I was getting nicely familiar with a Bellari VP-130 and then moved that for a Cambridge which lasted less than a week and I now have a Moon LP3 with maybe 25 hours on it...Even my AT440MLa might have 40-50 hours on it as well....

I am thinking that a whole bunch of stuff might need to "burn" in before the system starts to really reveal itself.

But I am very concerned with the stylus/cantilever on the cart...even with all the moves the Mint required...I expected the cartridge to sit straight in the headshell...perhaps expecting too much?

Appreciate any feedback.

Cheers!

VP
vocalpoint
hesson11
233 posts
 
Vocalpoint,

I look forward to your findings in comparing the two alignments. I haven't read of anyone ever doing this before. But I wouldn't be surprised if the differences are pretty minor. We old, hardbitten audio vets have a habit of hyperbole, I'm afraid. And we often make what others would consider minor changes seem like they are night-and-day. If you do hear a difference, I also wouldn't be surprised if are unable to determine whether one alignment is clearly "better" than the other. As in many comparisons, "different" doesn't always mean "better."

-Bob
tvad
9,467 posts
 
I found after setting up my cart on the Technics tonearm with the MintLP that the sound was clear and free of distortion. The difference was not subtle.

Sometimes people complain of "brightness" with turntables, when in fact what they're complaining about is distortion, especially in the upper mids and highs.

The MintLP eliminated this distortion.

That was the difference I observed. Some might consider it subtle. It wasn't like the first orgasm by any means.
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Bob, with the Mint LP, it isn't so much a question of which alignment geometry is better, Baerwald, Stevenson, Lofgren. It is the fact that the Mint facilitates a more precise cartridge alignment.
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
691 posts
 
...with the Mint LP, it isn't so much a question of which alignment geometry is better, Baerwald, Stevenson, Lofgren. It is the fact that the Mint facilitates a more precise cartridge alignment.

Hear! Hear! (Pardon the pun)
hesson11
233 posts
 
You're right, of course, Dan. I overlooked the imprecision introduced by the Technics alignment jig. I have an SL-1200, which I aligned with a protractor, and I guess I was thinking of that. In any case, it would be interesting to hear impressions of precisely set-up carts with different geometries!

-Bob
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