Letter of the Month
FIT TO GO
Your Fit To Go article (August 2019
issue) resonated with me somewhat.
My first serious tonearm was an SME
3009 that had a detachable headshell- heaven! Fitting a cartridge at around
20 years of age was indeed a walk in
the park, compared to my next arm
which was an Alphason Delta – no
detachable headshell here. The die was
cast for my current arm which is an
SME V.
In the article you suggest using fine
or snipe nose pliers. I prefer to use a
small pair of locking arterial forceps, so
there is no possibility of dropping the
nut! See eBay for Medentra tweezers
(£2.95).
I would like to see a pair of
tapped threads in the cartridge body
as an industry standard, it does make
cartridge mounting easier.
Alignment over the years is
probably the most written about
parameter in tone arm setting
up. I gave up some time ago on
card protractors, preferring a
Clearaudio Alignment protractor - see http://www.analogueseduction.net/
clearaudio-upgrades-parts-accessories/
clearaudio-high-precision-cartridge-
alignment-gauge.html. It is pretty pricey
now (£230). The downside is it can only
be used if you
have access to
the tonearm’s
pivot.
Another
industry
standard would
be to have a
sliding arm
base such
as the SMEs:
this way you
only adjust
overhang.
Other tools
I use are a x
magnifying lens
mainly to see
that the stylus
tip is sitting
exactly on the
cross wires of
the protractor.
It is also useful
to use above
the head shell when checking that the
head shell is running true to the parallel
lines on the protractor.
Because my turntable is in a
darkish corner I use a small LED torch- useful to ensure the stylus tip is
sitting exactly on the cross wires. With
all the twisting, the overhang setting can
be altered.
I do wonder sometimes how
accurately cartridges are set up by
reviewers: when I have used a card
protractor, I could never seem to settle
with the alignment – always going
back and tweaking it. Even with fine
adjustments the sound heard is altered
considerably by a minor tweak to theWhen fitting a cartridge "I prefer to use a small
pair of locking arterial forceps" from Medentra
says Mike Bickley.A KEF EGG WIRELESS DIGITAL MUSIC SYSTEM is on its way to STEVE CHAPMAN,
Letter of the Month winner in our August 2019 issue.
For more advice see Letters from earlier issues at http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/letters
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20 HI-FI WORLD SEPTEMBER 2019 http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk