Tonearm Geometry and Setup


While this subject matter seems to be of 'crucial importance' for our hobby our discussion about this issue is fragmentary and split over different threads in our forum. As if we are talking about some 'abandoned child' that nobody wants. I thought that this 'child' needs its 'own home' in metaphorical sense or its own thread in the
usual sense. While tonearm geometry seems to be very 'simple' in mathematical sense there are many unresolved questions in the actual sence.
My question for the start of this thread is:
'why are we not free to choose the zero points on the record radius independant of the tonearm used?'

Regards,
128x128nandric
Dear Nandric,

If the arm has a range of adjustments then the alignment can be whatever the user chooses - in that sense the arm does not drive the geometry.

The Dynavector arm in your example could be mounted a couple of millimetres closer to the spindle and so have the "correct" overhang, as overhang is simply effective length minus mounting distance. The question then is: can the cartridge be aligned to the "correct" angle?

Had the headshell a facility for doing this, then there is no problem. The more scope for adjustment, the more the onus for choosing an alignment falls upon the user, as it should, given that it is his or her own records that are going to be played.

For me, as a design factor, the chosen alignment is the least of it, there are other far more relevant aspects to consider which are more important to the function of the arm. Of course there are always useful features which might conflict with other desirable features, perhaps, for example, ease of adjustment versus rigidity.

Regarding choice of alignment, LofgrenA/ Baerwald gives the lowest distortion for the 3 maxima, and Lofgren B, lowest average distortion across the side. Stevenson IEC is a special case of LofgrenA, in effect with an inner radius of around 55mm, making the inner null at the IEC minimum. Choosing different null points means that there will be an equivalent LofgrenA or B to match, except that the inner and outer radii to obtain the lowest maxima or lowest average distortion may vary from normal. For example, Dertonarm's Uni-DIN uses nulls of 109.52 and 63.49. This is equivalent to inner and outer radii of 58.4 and 129 for Lofgren A, which shows that beyond 129mm the distortion increases for an LP towards the outer radius.

If you have a wide ranging collection of LPs, then it is reasonable to use an alignment which takes all this into consideration. Personally, I would chose an alignment such as LofgrenA DIN, as it is a reasonable compromise, and try to align the cartridge as well as possible. Then forget about it (unless your favourite old record distorts on the inner groove. At which point you make a null there, and play with the calculator until you get something that is acceptable for the rest of your collection...)

As an aside, in this regard, with the potential of computer generated graphics, I am surprised that we are all still aligning to the nulls, given the surfeit of protractors and super protractors on the market.

I'd have imagined that by now we should have had a protractor with the adjustment grids at the minimum and maximum radii, offset to the appropriate angle to give the nulls in the correct location for the chosen alignment. The further apart the alignment points, the more accurate the alignment Perhaps one of the younger computer literate gurus could oblige.

John
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Dear Gordon, Thanks for your explanation. In some earlier
thread you refered to my 'point' about different tonearms
each of them adjusted to the 'needs' of the LP's in our
possession. Your arguments in this thread assume just one
tonearm in correlation to the 'best' possible adjustment.
I have no intention whatever to spare you but on the contrary will try to get as much info from you as I can . We are allowed to ask questions in this forum I think.
My first is reg. those max distortions. You forget to mention how 'bad' 1% or more is. Then there are many of us with two or more tonearms. My quess is that they all are adjusted in the same way. Ie with the same geometry. From what I think that I can deduce from your arguments we should adjust them differently. Dependig on the records we
own.

Kind regards,
Dear Nikola,
My comment a while back was rather tongue in cheek, not myself having a surfeit of decks.

I make do with one set up and don't worry too much about it, though I do like my anti skate set up well...

"Best" and "bad" are a different matter. Especially regarding distortion, as is well documented. So 1% (or 0.5% or 0.1% or less) can be regarded as acceptable or not. I suspect that vertical mistracking of one form or another rather than distortion per se due to the horizontal alignment is the main culprit regarding inner groove distortion, that and poorly set up anti skate.

However if I had four decks all identical, I may well set them up with different alignments and mark the albums appropriately. Or even completely different decks to suit different types of music. Why not?

But I doubt it. I would probably sell three of the decks and buy a guitar...
Regards,
John
..
Dear John, There is this hilarious English phrase for the
German tourist: 'Don't mention the war!'
Well you deed mention the anti-skate...The most controversial subject in our forum according to my knowledge. My 'Solomon' solution is 'in between'. I use my test-records to get some idea about tracking ability but never push above 60 micron. Ie if there is no 'buzz' from the R.channel at 60 micron I live the anti-skate 'there'. I come a warning from Van den Hul across not to try to get,say, 80 microns which the cart can 'perform' because
one need to increase the anti-skate to get this 'result'.
Something like : better no anti-skate at all than to much.
What is your method?

Kind regards,
Nikola, I normally use a test record with tracks of increasing level, and listen with headphones, as that way I can hear better when there is mistracking. You have to hear the mistracking to know when it is equal on both channels. then re-adjust the VTF.

Having said all that, if, with whatever set-up, the sound feels solid and the image doesn't wander or get a bit watery, then fine. But I still feel more comfortable knowing that the forces on the stylus are equalized as best they can be, as the skating force is always there as long as you have a VTF
John