BaerWald vs VPI setup protractors

melm

When you wrote, "This is why Mint protractors are made one by one for each tonearm." it seemed you were ascribing greater precision to them, which would be incorrect. IMO the arc protractor, which was introduced originally by Wally Malewicz, as a marketing effort by him to make vinylphiles believe that they needed a custom, hand made and expensive device to do what the one-size-fits-all devices had been doing successfully for years. It worked ...

It worked, to a point. The accuracy of a one-size-fits-all protractor hinges in part on how precisely it can locate the arm pivot. That precision is iffy and varies depending on the gauge and the arm. A dedicated gauge doesn’t suffer that problem.

With just a little care the simpler ones, like my Cart-a-line or the turntablebasics an do the job just as well for a hobbyist ..

The Cart-Align gauge is particularly imprecise in locating the arm pivot.

Dear @gillatgh: If the tonearm is mounted by VPI just forgeret to use other kind of alignment geometry. The VPI JIG was made it expressely for your 10.5i and in reality doing a change to LÖfgren A/Baerwald or Löfgren B  can´t makes a true and listeabler differences for the better in your tonearm.

I don't have evidence or read evidence that says the VPI JIG is non-accurated, as a fact I read it's.

The advantage to use the VPI JIG is that the tonearm is mounted with very high accuracy degree and the JIG works around that.

Which the problem you are listening with the VPI dedicated JIG alignment. Are you unsatisfied and why?

The name of the game  in any tonearm/cartridge alignment type geometry is accuracy and if your set up is accurated this is enough and you don't have to change it. Why should you or any one VPI owner?

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Agreed.....the MINT protractor is best......agree with Raul....again.

melm, You seem determined to find something to disagree with, no matter what I write.  Yes, I did know that the UNI and Smartie are based on the Dennesen.  Was it necessary for me to say that in the context of the point I was trying to make?  I didn't think so.  I would also add, however, that the Acoustic Sounds protractors are so far and away superior to the original Dennesen in so many ways that it is not even important to note their common origins.  These include:

(1) 2-point alignment vs single point
(2) Use of a mirrored surface where the reflective component is very close to the surface of the glass (not several mm below the surface, as for the TB protractor or no mirror as for the original Dennesen)
(3) Separate mirrored templates for each tonearm
(4) Interchangeable spindle holes to compensate for slight variations in spindle diameter
(5) Precise location of the pivot from the spindle and precise measurement of P2S
And more...

As I hope I made clear, if you or anyone else does not want to spend $600 on a protractor, that's fine with me, and it is very understandable.  I held off buying the UNI for a long time, for that reason.  My advice in that case would be to opt for the free download of an arc protractor from the source cited above.  Or, for fewer bucks than the AS products, get the Feickert. Heck, some guys maintain that an arc protractor is the only way to go; I'm cool with that, too.  But this is how I would advise a neophyte.

Neither. VPI is bunk and Baerwald is phony. Use Lofgren A or B. What is there to think about?