Uni-Protractor Set tonearm alignment

Dear Henry,
thank you for this throughout comprehensive and dedicated review.
Please allow me to briefly address the points of concern in your post/review about the UNI-Protractor.

* MA-505 / Grace 940.....
While both tonearms do indeed share the same overhang, mounting distance and effective length, they had different destinations from their designers.
Hence the two templates have very different null points.
Consequently the micrometer scale must show different values for these two templates too.
The Grace 940 follows an unusual alignment curve with VERY little distortion in the 2nd half of the record.
The MA-505 does follow (according to it's designers) rather the Stevenson DIN calculation. I have a bit "optimized" the MA505 calculation alignment, while letting the Grace 940's alignment stand as it is.

* ruler as P2S......
Well this was included as a handy tool ( and not mentioned in the initial Audiogon listing, but added as a "freebee" later. This is just intended to serve as a quick check whether the mounting distance is correct. I thought it to be a nice add-on, as it offers ( not common ...) 0.5mm scale.
Please note, that this can not be incorporated in the positioning arm, as the positioning arm does not aim direct over the spindle.
Since the UNI-Protractor was designed to offers precise alignment for all mounting distances, it's positioning arm can not aim direct over the spindle and must be variable too in it's distance to the spindle for different null-point-alignments ( please see Dennesen's original patent for further details and perfect explanation of the geometrical background ).
BTW - "my" P2S-tool - the UNI-P2S - will be introduced (finally) early next week.
This however will be much too much for most and is only a suitable tool for professionals who do set up tonearms on a daily/weekly basis and want the most precise.

* "full mirror" vs "frosted mirror"
That may be a matter of personal preferences - to my eyes the full mirror parallax is much better, as it allows for clear view of even the most minor declination (especially the helping lines left and right wing of the cantilever center line).

* geometry - name engraved on template
Those templates following any of the "standard 3" (Bearwald/Löfgren A, Löfgren B or Stevenson ) have been named so.
All the others do either follow their manufacturer's geometry or have been re-calculated by me. In those cases where I have recalculated a specific tonearm's alignment, I have named it so (i.e. FR-64s 231.5 D.B.) as this most often goes hand-in-hand with a mounting distance different from the manufacturer's specifications.
If my "correction" was rather marginal (i.e. MA-505) I have not left my signature.

Again - many thanks for your time and effort to supply this review !!
Still worth a smile IMHO is the fact that the birth of the UNI-Protractor was initially provoked by the deleted "FR-64s geometry" - thread of past early winter.
Cheers,
D.

I enjoyed your review.

For me, I want to do a better job finding the center of the pivot on the 10.5i arm with the Uni-Pro. Perhaps the reticule can be of a different color? Since it is white, it is a bit tough to see against the silver of the 10.5i arm. This issue is not limited to Uni-Pro. Feickert and Clearaudio also has this issue. The center rod is too skinny for the center hole of the 10.5i arm pivot. At least the Uni-Pro provides a reticule.

Dear Jazzgene, good point here ! On black colored finish tonearms the UNI-Pro's reticle will be best as it is, but I will pick up your suggestion and will have a batch of reticles w/black hairlines made in 2nd production run. I will provide a reticle with black hairline once the 2nd production run is ready to ship, which will be end first week May.
Cheers,
D.

I am very happy that you can change the color of the reticule. Thanks. Great customer service. Looking forward to getting it.

Here is my review of the Uni-Pro. Received it in great shape. Well packed and bomb proof. I liked how you packed the unit. I did notice a few freebies such as the ruler and the light?

Upon setup, I noticed a few things that could be improved.

1. the center pin is a little short for my liking as my Dynavector has a lower pivot piont. I think a longer pin would work much better and would not hurt the design.

2. like Jazzgene said, The lines on the centering device is very difficult to see on lighter/shiny tonearms especially the FR66s and my DV507. I believe should the lines be anothter colour instead of white would be much easier to see.

3. Numeric markings on the acrylic arm like the Feikert would be a bonus.

Now to the strong points.

This thing is built like all German made stuff. Serious, tough and the word precision written all over it. Looking into the magfier proved an easy task on this system as it has a large enough lens.

Upon checking my setup, I noticed my alignment off by a little. Correcting it via the Uni proved easy enough.

Now to the sound. The setup (DV507) after using the Uni was more solid and focussed. It also proved itself as after the adjustment as there was slightly less surface noise (quieter) and less grain in the music.

So far this is the first tonearm I have setup with the Uni. Will do my other tonearm when I get time this weekend.

Now to the milloin dollar question.....Is it worth $800? I will leave it up to you. If you are like me who regularly sets up turntables, It is definitely worth it's asking price. Also if you own a resonably priced analog rig and plan to go deeper into analog, You owe it to yourself to get one of this UNI's and setup your own turntable instead of getting someone to do it for you.