Time to choose: Baerwald, Lofgren, Stevenson ?

@fleib

Chakster,

I bet you’ll wind up with Loefgren alignment. Both nulls are within the recorded part of a 7". Error will be much less through most of song. Stevenson will be better at the end, but much worse up until there.

No, only one null point is on the recorded part of the 7" inch. As you know Feickert use 3 steps: 1) for overhang. 2) for offset at outer null point. 3) for offset at inner null point.

Only Stevenson’s geometry is withing the 7" inch two times: First at step-1 (aka overhang), which is exactly the beggining of the recorded grooves (aka the beggining of the track, not the edge of the vinyl) on 7" inch, and step-3 (aka offset) on the inner null point which is exactly in the end of recorded music (not the edge of the label) on 7" inch vinyl. While the Baerwald and Lofgren are on the 7" inch ONLY at inner null point once.

I have a Smartractor for a few days now and settle the Uni Din with good results. Today I changed the curve and trief the Loefgren B (DIN) and I clearly prefer the latter.
I listen mainly classical music and I find the flow of music more natural to my ears. Also the micro dynamics' the way the note begins has more snap.
tt is TW Acustic Raven AC wih Da Vinci arm and MC Anna cart.

Fleib, In defense of the arc type protractor, the converse of your criticism of it is that if the P2S distance is not precisely correct, the arc type will tell you that, and you can fix the problem.  Whereas the Dennesen and related types don't tell you that with as much precision and certainty.  I have an original all-metal Dennesen, which I never use, since I greatly prefer both the Feickert and the UNItractor from Dertonearm.  One reason I went away from it is the near impossibility of seeing either the tiny dimple into which the stylus must sit and the grid lines for aligning the cartridge body. They are SOOO faint.  It was never easy to use, even in my yout', when I could see real good.

Barbapapa, After only one day, is it not a little bit premature to conclude that you will live forever more with the Lofgren B alignment?  I myself am not given to love at first sight, which is why I ask.  For one thing, had you auditioned the very same LPs using your old alignment, just prior to the latest re-alignment?  Nice stuff, by the way.

In defense of the arc type protractor, the converse of your criticism of it is that if the P2S distance is not precisely correct, the arc type will tell you that, and you can fix the problem.

If the tonearm is 1mm too far and you mount the cartridge 1mm forward so that the overhang is correct, can you really tell the difference between an arc with radius of 270mm vs. 271mm? The difference is going to be tiny. Notice that this is different from having the tonearm mounted right and having the overhang off by 1mm.

The good news is that the effect on the tracking distortion is also very tiny, shifting the null points by less than 1mm if the tonearm is 1mm too far or too close but overhang is right:
http://www.vinylengine.com/tonearm_alignment_calculator_pro.php?arm1=Arm+1&l1=ps&a1lv=271&am...