MintLP Protractor for the JMW-9T tonearm

First off, Yip has been extremely professional and helpful. I have no doubt his product is the best of its kind out there. I would hate to give even a hint of impression that he has done something inaccurate or incorrect, when quite the opposite is true. The blame for anything rest with VPI that has been rather unhelpful by not providing accurate data for their product, which is necessary to get the best out of any analog system.

I now almost regret I started this thread as I fear it might be causing more harm than good. I wanted to get an advice but it appears it has opened the proverbial can of worms and for this I blame myself as well and I apologize.

As for your question, Istanbulu, if you have been happy with your system, continue enjoying your system! My Scout was set up with the VPI jig that is inferior to Mint protractor and without a magnifying glass. And guess what? I love it! I wanted to use Mint to make sure I'm getting the best out of my cartridge, but that doesn't mean I can't be enjoying my music without it. If it sounds good to you, it's all that matters.

Hi Actursreus... I agree about Yip and his professionalism and especially his protractor... it improved the enjoyment of my TT immensely, and in fact returned my interest in vinyl recordings. Buying his Mint Tractor was my last effort at asking myself if the expense and general labor of vinyl was worth it. When I used his Tractor to adjust my Scout and now because of the remarkable results of his Tractor, I upgraded to a Scout Master, and I was and am astonished at the musicality, etc. of what I was/am hearing. A tremendous improvement in many respects.

When/if you find out more about the issues that have emerged in the progress of this discussion, I would be very interested in how they affect the listening experience.

:) listening,

Ed

Istanbulu,
To provide you with an update:
-I contacted VPI and Mike informed me that the JMW-9T (and all JMW 9s) has the mounting distance of 223mm. So your protractor is spot on.
-I measured the distance on my rig again, and although it is very hard to measure it perfectly, it appears that it is indeed 223mm. It is rather strange as I was getting a consistent reading of 222mm before, but it might have been the height difference between the pivot and the spindle.
-My protractor will be sent with the April 29th batch and I am looking forward to using it.

Throughout this whole process, Yip has been extremely helpful, patient and quick to respond to any concern or question I had. I am very impressed with his level of customer service and professionalism.

Yes, Yip is one of the good guys in this business. Let me know how things progress, and thanks for the updates on the measurements.

:) listening,

Ed

I thought I'd provide an update as I received my Mint Tractor this past weekend and used it to realign the cartridge on my Scout.

I performed the initial set-up with the VPI-provided jig. When I checked the alignment with the Mint, the null points appeared to be aligned quite well, although I did not check it with the magnifying glass that came with the Mint. With bare eyes, the stylus looked to be pretty spot on on both null points. However, the cartridge DID NOT track the arc on the Mint properly; the stylus was about 1 to 2 mm in front of the arc close to the spindle. It is apparent then that the VPI jig does an ok job, but is definitely not precise enough to provide an optimal set-up. It took me over an hour to fix the position of the cartridge so that the stylus was sitting perfectly on the line along the entire arc drawn on the Mint, checked with the magnifying glass. And that was only half of the job!

The cantilever appeared to be pretty well centered and parallel to the two reference lines on both sides of the null points. I decided not to get into perfect alignment on the null points as I ordered the VPI Classic after I had ordered the Mint Tractor and will have to do it all over again with the new table. Also, the cantilever on my Soundsmith Aida is not perfectly parallel to the sides on the cartridge's body, so even though perfectly straight, I wasn't sure a perfect alignment between the two reference lines was even possible with the cantilever. However, it looked really good all things considered.

I then went through an extensive listening session. There was no doubt the realignment improved things. The separation of instruments improved, as did the depth and width of the soundstage. Music had a snap to it that it lacked before; it simply sounded more lively and more dynamic. Now, I'm not talking a dramatic difference; I loved the sound before, but now it became more refined. I had a sense that the Aida was also tracking better as I didn't hear distortion where I heard it before on some problematic passages on certain records.

I will no doubt be buying a new Mint tractor for the Classic tonearm. Now, if anyone would like to take this one off my hands, please let me know. It's a must-have tool for a vinyl lover.