To my opinion any highend cartridge which shows more then 1 degree deviation should be sent back and money returned. Great video, well thought presentation, compliments.
If only this were possible! The three manufacturers of stylus/cantilever assemblies must be allowed some tolerances. For SRA alone, the stylus contact edge to cantilever mount tolerance is often around +/-3 degrees. Cartridge manufacturers must accept any product within these limits (though I know for a fact that they often accept beyond these tolerances.) This error can then be worsened by the manufacturer mounting the cantilever at too high of an angle, causing VTA to be too high. This has been a documented problem among cartridge manufacturers since at least 1962 when it was studied by engineers for journal publication. A standard for such angles has been proposed but is usually ignored by those making the product. Zenith error tolerances are even greater at +/-5 degrees though we have measured as much as 17.5 degrees.
Many thanks for your hard work for helping us to understand the engineer of music. Two questions. Why do we need Shim (?), when you can adjust height of tonearm. Will you offer the same service for Koetsu with Arche headshell and SME 3012R? Happy weekend 😊
Thank you for your comment. We have analyzed hundreds of cartridges and we know that the average SRA correction is about 3.4 degrees and the average VTA correction is almost 7 degrees. When a tonearm is operated when not level there are different vector forces at play around the pivot area that influence the sound. As a result, any cartridge with a correction required of greater than about 1.5 degrees should have that angular correction done at the headshell, not by adjusting arm height. Yes, we have worked on many Koetsu cartridges and our custom corrective shims work fine with any headshell we've come across so far. However, I do NOT recommend using the stamped metal headshell that is often used with the 3012R. That headshell is simply not rigid enough. It is better to get a far more rigid one like that sold by Korf Audio. Also, you MUST have slots, not holes for your headshell or you cannot adjust for zenith error correction at all.
do you offer services for more vintage cartridges with not much info about them out there? i have an audio technica at-32 that recently got retipped to be microline also, how would the service differ for turntables that also dont have much data on them, since i have a kenwood kp 1100 and the internet has provided many conflicting examples of how much the tonearm weighs for example.
The service analyzes the cartridge only, not the tonearm nor turntable. This is because the arm you put the cartridge on will not result in a different prescription for how it is to be aligned on its four angles. So, we don't need to know about your tonearm or table to know how your stylus and cantilever must be aligned on the headshell. If your tonearm geometry is unknown, we can figure it out together using the WallyTractor, its pivot to spindle ruler and the online calculator we put on our website. I hope that helps!
