For more advice see Letters from earlier issues at http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/letters
http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2019 HI-FI WORLD 21
LETTERS & EMAILS
alignment. If access to the tone arm
pivot isn’t available then it leaves
you with little choice to use a card
alignment protractor.
I hope that this novel doesn’t put
anyone off aligning their cartridge: get it
right, and it will reward you with hours
of pleasure.
Regards
Mike Bickley.Hi Mike. Thanks for the advice:
locking surgical forceps are new
to me – I try to keep away from
operating theatres! Your stainless
steel Medentras are cheap at £2.95
on eBay so look like a good solution.
I also have jewellers’ pliers for fine
work. Another option is to use short
nut runners / nut drivers. These will
hold a nut but won’t get into tight
spaces.
As you say a large and preferably
illuminated magnifying glass helps and
Ikea have small LED table lamps that
can illuminate dark corners.
LP is a very old analogue
technology that suffers a lot of
variation. When LP was in its
prime, Benjamin Bauer of CBS Labs
described issues such as ‘lacquer
spring-back’. After being cut by
a heated stylus lacquers can’t be
pinned down to micro-metricaccuracy;
there is
variation
and this falls
through to
the final
stamped LP.
Just
about all
adjustments
can and do
alter sound:
decide which
one best
suits you.
A reviewer- like any user – faces this variability
and uncertainty; there are no
deterministically correct solutions. At
the same time set-up is fascinating
and can be rewarding when done
properly. NK
TECHNICS TECH
In the June 2019 issue of the magazine
in the otherwise very good article about
Technics SL-1200 series of turntables,
Martin Pipe mentions SL-1200Mk5
and Mk5G models. I inform you that
there was a Mk5 model, however the
next model released some time later
with improvements was the M5G
with no “k” in its suffix. I state that
with certainty because I own an M5G,from when new. It has very good pitch
stability, and that was the reason I
bought it, but its tonearm causes more
audible resonance than better designed
tonearms I have heard on other
turntables.
I bought a Funk Firm - Achromat
Platter Mat for my M5G as a reviewer
or owner had reported it as suitable
for use on Technics platters and I hear
some clearer definition of various
instruments when using it. Any M5G
users are welcome to comment.
I am tempted now to buy one of
the new Technics GR model turntables
for what may be audibly even better
pitch stability – for LPs with perfectly
located centre holes – and the possibly
less resonant tonearm.Technics SL-1200GR from
Timestep. "I am tempted now
to buy one of the new Technics
GR model turntables" says Chris
Taylor.A Clearaudio turntable alignment protractor- preferred by Mike Bickley.