Been away for the forum for a while. Caught a few topics but I see a ton more to catch up on.
A quick note on a cart set up tool since it might be helpful to someone here. Had the MintLP tractor lying with me for about two months, due to personal reasons did not set it up. Did so last Sunday. Superb change. Have spent only half an hour on it cos I wanted to see if it worked or not. Short answer, it does.
There are two basic approaches to cart setup. Two point protractors and the arc variety. A lot of people believe that arc protractors are superior to two point ones. I won't go into that arguments cos that will be another never ending one similar to a cable discussion perhaps. But its a good point to read up on and see which side of the line you come down on. Most people I've read about who have tried a good arc protractor after aligning with the two point one, surprise themselves.
The MintLP is an extremely highly regarded one with users on many international forums, and also Thom, the Galibier guy. For reviews, discussions etc there are tons of links on Mint LP Solution - cleaning LPs with VPI, Loricraft, Nitty Gritty machines, Mint Tractor with links to A'gon, galibier's own discussion forum and others. There are tons of people who have used both the Feickert (a highly regarded tractor) and the MintLP and found superior results with the Mint, thereafter using the Feickert only to set pivot to spindle distance and then do cart aligning with the Mint.
Simply put, the MintLP is custom made for each tonearm's specifications, taking into account that tonearm's pivot to spindle distance, resulting in a specific effective length arc that one aligns on. What makes the Mint accurate and also demanding is the fineness of the actual lines. I've seen pictures of a cart, I think it was a Dynavector xx2 on a Feickert on a forum where a guy put them up and the lines looked like a broad 8 lane expressway! The null points looked like a huge football field. The stylus could land on the null point and still have plenty of other points to land on within that huge null point itself. Make the stylus ballpark on the mark. In comparison, the null points and effective length arc of the Mint are hairline. Either your stylus tip is on it or off it. No grey areas.
Use of a 10x magnifier is mandatory to get anywhere with the Mintlp but it yields fantastic results once you get it right. Considering how fine the grooves are, the finer the alignment lines are, the more chances you have of getting things right. Parallax sighting with the mirrored surface ensures that you're eyeballing the cart from dead straight on while aligning offset angle, a potentially big pitfall otherwise. Yip at MintLp also makes the spindle hole custom to your table's spindle diameter.
Soundstage just blossomed, proportion of instruments became more correct, I could hear more details and things just sounded more 'correct'. I'm still not done, I have to do a proper session on it to get things perfect but even with a half hour set up, it sounds wonderful.
The biggest surprise for me was how much the alignment changed compared to the free two point protractor I had used earlier. Or rather how much it did not. I could not make out any difference in the place of the cart in the headshell (forward/backward) or offset angle. Changes I'm guesstimating must be in the fractions of an mm. I used to scoff at posts earlier which suggested changed based on these kind of measurements but I've seen it happen. I think I also managed to get the azimuth dialed in a little more correctly which must be contributing to the changed sound. The Fosgate would be a good option for azimuth, but it does its thing with a test tone at 1khz which differs in reality from the normal full music groove so I'm not too sure how good that would be. Thom of Galibier has measured with the Fosgate with different test frequencies and found differing results. I guess by ear is still the best, though toughest...
I have two other arms and one more I intend buying later on, and I'm so convinced about the effectiveness of this tool that instead of buying a universal two pointer, I'm going to order individual MintLPs for each of my arms. Yip at MintLp is a superb guy to deal with. Prompt replies to emails. A great experience.
It will take effort, patience, lots of light and time to get it right, but its worth it since it all starts with the cart reading the groove.
All the above is my personal opinion and lots of people might still love their two point. At about $100, its not a casual purchase, but I'd definitely consider it an essential one and the one you should spend on first! I picked up the 10x Peak Loupe option for 10$ additional.
Regards
A quick note on a cart set up tool since it might be helpful to someone here. Had the MintLP tractor lying with me for about two months, due to personal reasons did not set it up. Did so last Sunday. Superb change. Have spent only half an hour on it cos I wanted to see if it worked or not. Short answer, it does.
There are two basic approaches to cart setup. Two point protractors and the arc variety. A lot of people believe that arc protractors are superior to two point ones. I won't go into that arguments cos that will be another never ending one similar to a cable discussion perhaps. But its a good point to read up on and see which side of the line you come down on. Most people I've read about who have tried a good arc protractor after aligning with the two point one, surprise themselves.
The MintLP is an extremely highly regarded one with users on many international forums, and also Thom, the Galibier guy. For reviews, discussions etc there are tons of links on Mint LP Solution - cleaning LPs with VPI, Loricraft, Nitty Gritty machines, Mint Tractor with links to A'gon, galibier's own discussion forum and others. There are tons of people who have used both the Feickert (a highly regarded tractor) and the MintLP and found superior results with the Mint, thereafter using the Feickert only to set pivot to spindle distance and then do cart aligning with the Mint.
Simply put, the MintLP is custom made for each tonearm's specifications, taking into account that tonearm's pivot to spindle distance, resulting in a specific effective length arc that one aligns on. What makes the Mint accurate and also demanding is the fineness of the actual lines. I've seen pictures of a cart, I think it was a Dynavector xx2 on a Feickert on a forum where a guy put them up and the lines looked like a broad 8 lane expressway! The null points looked like a huge football field. The stylus could land on the null point and still have plenty of other points to land on within that huge null point itself. Make the stylus ballpark on the mark. In comparison, the null points and effective length arc of the Mint are hairline. Either your stylus tip is on it or off it. No grey areas.
Use of a 10x magnifier is mandatory to get anywhere with the Mintlp but it yields fantastic results once you get it right. Considering how fine the grooves are, the finer the alignment lines are, the more chances you have of getting things right. Parallax sighting with the mirrored surface ensures that you're eyeballing the cart from dead straight on while aligning offset angle, a potentially big pitfall otherwise. Yip at MintLp also makes the spindle hole custom to your table's spindle diameter.
Soundstage just blossomed, proportion of instruments became more correct, I could hear more details and things just sounded more 'correct'. I'm still not done, I have to do a proper session on it to get things perfect but even with a half hour set up, it sounds wonderful.
The biggest surprise for me was how much the alignment changed compared to the free two point protractor I had used earlier. Or rather how much it did not. I could not make out any difference in the place of the cart in the headshell (forward/backward) or offset angle. Changes I'm guesstimating must be in the fractions of an mm. I used to scoff at posts earlier which suggested changed based on these kind of measurements but I've seen it happen. I think I also managed to get the azimuth dialed in a little more correctly which must be contributing to the changed sound. The Fosgate would be a good option for azimuth, but it does its thing with a test tone at 1khz which differs in reality from the normal full music groove so I'm not too sure how good that would be. Thom of Galibier has measured with the Fosgate with different test frequencies and found differing results. I guess by ear is still the best, though toughest...
I have two other arms and one more I intend buying later on, and I'm so convinced about the effectiveness of this tool that instead of buying a universal two pointer, I'm going to order individual MintLPs for each of my arms. Yip at MintLp is a superb guy to deal with. Prompt replies to emails. A great experience.
It will take effort, patience, lots of light and time to get it right, but its worth it since it all starts with the cart reading the groove.
All the above is my personal opinion and lots of people might still love their two point. At about $100, its not a casual purchase, but I'd definitely consider it an essential one and the one you should spend on first! I picked up the 10x Peak Loupe option for 10$ additional.
Regards