Just my tuppence worth...
I have only used the Graham Phantom Setup Jig on my current cartridge but as it may have been mentioned elsewhere this allows a very clear, well illuminated, view of the cart undercarriage during setup.
The most important thing I observed is that tensioning the cart screws is very critical and not the final result that people think - even when they are convinced they've been extraordinarily careful not to upset the "perfect alignment". After the first 60 tries (yes you read that correctly) I was still unhappy with the final cart position which often ended up with an estimated 0.2mm offset from target in any given direction(!!!). I finally got the perfect result (and was only truly happy) after 70 tries...
(Admittedly I was using nylon washers to protect the headshell finish and am unsure that these are a better idea than steel washers for cartridge mounting...)
With this experience under my belt I was sure I could do it in less than 10 tries from then on, but it clearly illustrates the unpredictable nature of the process. Our mindset tends towards the conviction that once we've tweaked the hell out of it, we don't want to move it again for fear of upsetting it. My contention is you probably have upset - almost every time - merely by trying to lock it down.
The moral of this story is that had I been using a gimballed arm, I would have been stripping the arm off the T/T for each tightening exercise and would have repeated that process no more than half a dozen times before losing the will to live and capitulating. I suspect many other enthusiasts would settle at this point too, but, given the above story, would their alignment have been as good as believed????
Moreover, by this stage, would they care???
I have only used the Graham Phantom Setup Jig on my current cartridge but as it may have been mentioned elsewhere this allows a very clear, well illuminated, view of the cart undercarriage during setup.
The most important thing I observed is that tensioning the cart screws is very critical and not the final result that people think - even when they are convinced they've been extraordinarily careful not to upset the "perfect alignment". After the first 60 tries (yes you read that correctly) I was still unhappy with the final cart position which often ended up with an estimated 0.2mm offset from target in any given direction(!!!). I finally got the perfect result (and was only truly happy) after 70 tries...
(Admittedly I was using nylon washers to protect the headshell finish and am unsure that these are a better idea than steel washers for cartridge mounting...)
With this experience under my belt I was sure I could do it in less than 10 tries from then on, but it clearly illustrates the unpredictable nature of the process. Our mindset tends towards the conviction that once we've tweaked the hell out of it, we don't want to move it again for fear of upsetting it. My contention is you probably have upset - almost every time - merely by trying to lock it down.
The moral of this story is that had I been using a gimballed arm, I would have been stripping the arm off the T/T for each tightening exercise and would have repeated that process no more than half a dozen times before losing the will to live and capitulating. I suspect many other enthusiasts would settle at this point too, but, given the above story, would their alignment have been as good as believed????
Moreover, by this stage, would they care???