The Mint Best Tractor is the way to go; I have one. But, it's really important to use the Stevenson geometry to avoid inner groove distortion. This is a highly debated subject because on paper and in theory the Baerwald geometry produced less tracing error earlier on the LP side. However, the Stevenson alignment geometry is more modern than the Baerwald, and puts the inner null point (where the stylus is tangent to the groove) on the industry's standard inner groove limit so it produces 0 tracing error where the grooves are the smallest, slowest, and most suseptible to AUDIBLE distortion. This is a case where Baerwald is better in theory and on paper, but in practice Stevenson is better. The increased tracing error induced by the Stevenson geometry is where the grooves are longer, traveling faster, and therefore not be as audible. Yip at Mint can make you a custom protractor for your table with the Stevenson geometry and I highly recommend it. You'll have the best case scenario with his protractor and the Stevenson geometry. Not every record has grooves cut to the maximum inner groove limit, but for the ones that do, why not have them sound the best they can... which will be with the Stevenson geometry.
End of lp distortion. What does it sound like
I think I'm hearing end of lp ditortion. It sounds to me like a slight grundge is over the voice. Thing is I've gone over the set up many times and everything is checking out. What does the end of lp distortion sound like? I have ordered the counter intuitive to help tweak the azimuth, but what I'd like to know is what causes this ditortion in the set up and what is the best way to tune it out? Is TF the best place to start or does azimuth have more to do with it? I've ordered the MINT protractor to see if it will set me up better than the one supplied by VPI?