Cartridge alignment - which is optimum?

[Berty bass]

As the happy owner of a Rega P6, presently sporting a nearly-20 year old (rebuilt) Goldring Excel GS, I'm quite familiar with the discussion there is about optimum cartridge alignment and the merits of Rega v Baerwald v Steveson v Lofgren etc. Just wondering if any fellow Subjectivists with greater technical insight than myself (i.e. any more than zero) are inclined to make a case for a particular alignment over any other and if any are demonstrably 'better' than the others?

[Alfi]

I was of the understanding that Rega use Stevenson alignment. I tend to use arc protractors off The Vinyl Engine as a starting point, then over time my ears to fine tune.

Alfi.

[Berty bass]

Hi Alfi, I've done the same. I'm intrigued by tables I've seen for Baerwald that appear to suggest there is less average and maximum distortion associated with that method though. As I say, I'm not technical, so I've no idea what the context for those figures is.

[Vinyl-ant]

I have a dr feikert protractor that has null points for all 3 on it and with the at150 in the arm ive tried all three.

I prefer stevenson as with this alignment i dont get any noticable end of side distortion. At all.

With baerwald i noticed a drop off in treble performance over the record, but performance was a little better at the start of a side.

Lofgren was similar. I couldnt put up with the drop off, and i found stevenson alignment simply didnt change across the side.

The other 2 were very marginally better at the start of a side but not enough for me to sacrifice the end of side as this is where i find most records are damaged by mistracking carts so the better i can get end of side performance to be, the nicer the record is overall

[Vinyl-ant]

Edit: the above is just my findings, others findings may vary

[Latteman]

I use an inner and outer ‘null’ point after setting the overhang then set vta via a spirit level, recheck tracking weight then alizumth and listen rechecking until I’m happy.
Don’t use lateral tracking force- can’t hear any difference with or without

[Berty bass]

I use an inner and outer ‘null’ point after setting the overhang then set vta via a spirit level, recheck tracking weight then alizumth and listen rechecking until I’m happy.
Don’t use lateral tracking force- can’t hear any difference with or without

Which alignment null points do you use? By 'lateral tracking force' do you mean anti-skate?

[Latteman]

It’s an alignment gauge I’ve had for years, produced by unicorn products- yep no anti state

[_D_S_J_R_]

This shit only becomes relevant when a third party drills holes for a tonearm and may not get it quite right, so errors here need 'fixing' in the headshell and/or the offset angle in the worst possible cases.

Years ago, the newer standard for the inner null point was set at around 60mm or so, to bring it into line for LP records, the previous being around 65mm or even 70mm in the case of very old Garrards with short tonearms. My later Duals using the originally supplied gauge as reference, place the correct alignment at 58mm or so as checked on a proper protractor and I believe the Technics arms were set to this as well if their own gauges were used. Dual certainly got the geometry right and the pivot is fixed, so setting overhang is a doddle once you understand their specs and preferably use the supplied gauge.

Do PLEASE remember chaps that messing around with these settings means slackening off and re-tightening cartridge bolts several times and this has a far bigger difference on some cartridge bodies and may well influence what you think you hear - in my personal experience.

Setting the inner distance to 65mm or more will drastically increase the errors at the very end of a longish LP side as you go further in from this setting. Increased errors at the beginning of side are irrelevant usually, as the tracing speed on the vinyl is higher and high frequency 'squiggles' are further apart and easier to track (I can't explain it better, sorry) - the inner grooves are critical, especially with a line or fancy tip profile. generally though, there's FAR more important crap in vinyl playback to worry about once the arm is positioned correctly from the spindle to start with and the inner null point set - in my experience obviously. If you want to play, go right ahead of course, but the very expensive pickups I've worked with (costing thousands and with decent diamonds on them) don't seem as 'sensitive' to this as you'd imagine once the basic settings have been got right.

[Daniel Quinn]

Its vinyl neurosis for men with nothing better to worry about. Fortunate men indeed.