@chakster I agree that the choices made by the tonearm/cartridge designer are the most important and should not be disregarded. The FR-7 have the Stevenson alignment as part of their design criteria and the sonic results speak for themselves.
@nandric I doubt if this choice has anything to do with Japanese culture. Various tonearm manufacturers chose their own alignment, using neither Baerwald nor Stevenson. Not just Sony, I know from experience that Pioneer and Audiocraft used their own alignments as well. So I'm not sure what national custom you're referring to. Innovation is impossible without deviation from the norm and I think we all agree that Ikeda was some innovator.
I've seen some heated debates on this forum about Stevenson versus Baerwald. The 'experts' all claim that Baerwald is way superior. So it seems that some people do hear something special when the 'o' points are set to Baerwald. I just don't.
@nandric I doubt if this choice has anything to do with Japanese culture. Various tonearm manufacturers chose their own alignment, using neither Baerwald nor Stevenson. Not just Sony, I know from experience that Pioneer and Audiocraft used their own alignments as well. So I'm not sure what national custom you're referring to. Innovation is impossible without deviation from the norm and I think we all agree that Ikeda was some innovator.
I've seen some heated debates on this forum about Stevenson versus Baerwald. The 'experts' all claim that Baerwald is way superior. So it seems that some people do hear something special when the 'o' points are set to Baerwald. I just don't.