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Time to choose: Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson ?

I’ve managed Dr.Feickert Analog Protractor for a decent price (build quality is superb, such a great tool).

Time to play with Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson alignments on my Luxman PD444.
Need advice from experienced used of the following arms:
Lustre GST 801
Victor UA-7045
Luxman TA-1
Reed 3P "12
Schick "12

Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson ? What do you like the most for these arms?
Manufacturers recommend Baerwald mostly. 

Dedicated "7 inch vinyl playback deserve Stevenson alternative, maybe?
Since it's a smaller format than normal "12 or "10 inch vinyl, it's like playin the last track's according to position of grooves on '7 inch (45 rpm) singles. RCA invented this format, i wonder which alignment did they used for radio broadcast studios.   

Thanks

chakster
sampsa55
71 posts
 
Dear @sampsa55 : """ I align the cartridges based on the alignment the tonearm was designed for. Since most of my tonearms use removable head shells and were designed for a 52mm distance from the head shell connection to the stylus... """

that’s true only if those tonearms has the same effective length.

Ah, no. The effective length of the tonearm has nothing to do with this. You can have tonearms of very different length that are still designed to have the same 52mm distance from stylus to tonearm connection or tonearms with the exact same length that are designed for a different distance (e.g., 50mm) from stylus to tonearm connection.

Again, think about the SPU: it can be used in short and long tonearms. 

rauliruegas
9,123 posts
 
Dear @sampsa55 : I think that you have a misunderstood on the input data for the whole calculations through diferent tonearm/cartridge alignments.  

Around tonearm effective length are made alignment calculations along inner most groove  and outer most groove radius. This is a fact that no one can change that comes from the original Löfgren papers.

Please read these links:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1307611#1307611

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1306735#1306735

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1305440#1305440

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tonearm-recommendation/post?postid=1305917#1305917

We can manipulate original equations for new calculations. Exist several internet calculator where we can choose diferent kind of alignmwents preserving a fixed overhang or fixed >P2S or fixed offset angle. One of them is at VE but this is not what I'm talking about.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.
sampsa55
71 posts
 
Raul, I think you're missing my point and talking about something different. I’m not talking about Baerwald, Loefgren, or Stevenson, but whatever the alignment was that the tonearm in question was designed for and the resulting position of the stylus in the headshell.


thom_mackris's avatar
thom_mackris
680 posts
 
If the cartridge is aligned as designed by manufacturer, then the cartridge is straight in the headshell. Now move it another tonearm and align it according to that tonearm’s design: it will again be straight in the headshell. To the extent that the tonearms are designed to have different offset angles, those are manifest in the arm tube. So the only thing that could change then is how far in the headshell the cartridge is. But if both tonearms are designed to have the stylus 52mm from the tonearm connection, that doesn’t change either.

If you have difficulty visualizing this, then visualize moving an SPU from one tonearm to another. This is just replicating that with a normal cartridge & headshell.

This makes perfect sense, now that I'm awake, Sampsa55, with (of course) the key element being the offset angle being built into the "bent" portion of the arm wand.

I haven't thought too much about vintage tonearms in the last year, and frankly, I lost track of the 52mm standard, forward offset which is the other key element which allows this to work.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design
sampsa55
71 posts
 
To illustrate, here are snippets from the manuals for the original tonearm of Yamaha GT2000, Ikeda IT407 tonearm, and Denon 308/309 tonearms on how to align a cartridge. They all say that the cartridge has to be straight in the headshell with the stylus 50mm from the tonearm connection. Once a cartridge is aligned in one of these tonearms according to the alignment that the tonearm was designed for, the headshell can be moved to any of these other tonearms and the cartridge will automatically be aligned as the designer of that tonearm intended.
https://imgur.com/a/Xtdg3

Not all tonearms use this 50mm distance. Some other examples:
- Sony PUA1600L: 52.5mm
- Sony PUA9: 49mm
- Technics (all of them): 52mm


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