Opinions wanted on cantilever alignment

If there is a problem there I am sure Mr Carr will make it good. I have had several Clearaudio cartridges now and I have to say they are incredibly precise as is the Ortofon Windfeld Ti. Vantilevers are perfectly aligned and SRA is right on the money. You just lose an occasional stylus. Poof, gone:)

The cantilever should not look like that. I had an exact same issue and it was corrected by Lyra after a trip to Japan. I noticed this misalignment after just a few minutes on my tonearm. My dealer was behind me 100% and the folks at Audioquest were also accommodating. The Kleos is a great cartridge, but this issue seems to occasionally be a factor.

Pretty common issue with Lyra carts. I’ve seen several pictures, mine was off too. Not sure the exact cause, but an issue none the less. Send it back.

Hi rushfan71: I haven't received any email from you, but your photos suggest that one of the asymmetrical (IOW pointed or tapered) dampers in the suspension system has rotated away from where it should be, and the cantilever is being pushed away from its proper orientation as a result.

Please contact the dealer that you purchased the Kleos from, who will arrange for the cartridge to be returned to us so that we can readjust the suspension setting and cantilever alignment.

On a separate issue, I don't necessarily agree that a cartridge should always be aligned to the cantilever instead of the cartridge body.

Frequently cantilever skew is caused by playing the cartridge with incorrect anti-skate settings for too long; in such cases adjusting to the cantilever without rethinking the anti-skate will temporarily make the issue seem to disappear, but aggravate the problem over time.

In situations like this, a wiser method is to keep the cartridge aligned to the cartridge body, but reorient the anti-skate setting slightly in the opposite direction from where it has been, which will over time push the cantilever back to the correct orientation. However, it is necessary to observe the cantilever orientation frequently, and revert the anti-skate setting closer to the original position once it has been verified that the cantilever skew has been corrected.

With cartridges made before the advent of NC or computer-guided machining techniques, it is conceivable that the main (rear) magnet structure does not align to the body structure.
But for more modern cartridges that employ NC or computer-guided machining techniques in their construction, the builder would have to work very hard to misalign the main (rear) magnet structure from the body structure.

On the other hand, the front magnet structure (aka front yoke, front polepiece) is usually deliberately designed so that its angle or position (relative to the coil formers) can be adjusted during the build and tuning process, and it is therefore not unusual for the front magnet structure to be slightly skewed from the rest of the cartridge structure.

hth, jonathan

jcarr, from the standpoint of cartridge wear and performance are you saying that it is best to set the anti skate so that the cantilever does not deviate laterally in either direction when lowered onto the record? What is your view of the Wallyskater?
Also, assuming that no new cartridge is exactly perfect, is it not best to align a new cartridge  by sighting it's cantilever?  This assumes that the cantilever, coils and magnetic gap are in the proper alignment. Also, many cartridge bodies are odd shapes ( I won't mention any names here) and difficult to align by.