Alignment Snafu? Or?

Mark,

Another suggestion: try installing your cartridge without the finger lift. The extra hardware and material boundaries make your cartridge less stable in the headshell and alter the resonance behavior of the cart/arm. I can't guarantee this ecology change (as Thom put it) will be an improvement, but I can guarantee you'll hear some differences. I'd bet in favor of leaving the lift off, but you can be the judge of that when you listen.

Doug

Ted,

You're more likely to be able to align a cartridge at the Baerwald points on an OL arm if you mount the arm somewhat closer than the specified 223mm. The problem with 223mm is that, (i) Rega/OL arms were not designed for Baerwald and, (ii) at OL's specified 223mm mounting distance most cartridges will be very near the ends of the headshell slots and some won't align properly even when slid all the way forward.

Here's what I'd do:

1. Mount the arm at 222 (the Rega-specified distance, which is presumably what Wally scribed his Rega arc for);

2. Mount the cartridge and see if you can get the stylus to hit the arc at all points by moving the cartridge forward or back in the headshell;

3. If you can trace the arc, bingo. Square it up on the alignment grids and your're done.

4. If you can't trace the arc, even with the cartridge all the way forward, you'll need to choose another arc and another mounting distance.

G'luck,
Doug

Ted,

Forgot to mention. With an OL at 222m, aligning a cartridge at the Baerwald points will leave it slightly angled (inward) in the headshell. That's okay - as long as the stylus is tracing the arc and aligned on the grids.

Ted,

Correct assumption.

Mark,

Null points at 57.9/114.6 aren't necessary, and probably not optimal unless you have many LPs with very wide lead-in grooves (like 1/2" wide) and music cut right up to the label. Not very likely, so I don't understand why anyone would choose those weirdly positioned null points. They'll result in very high distortion on the first track and higher than necessary distortion in the middle.

If it were me I'd ask him for an arc designed for the Grace mounted at 228 with Baerwald null points.