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  1. miglto

    New Avantgarde Duo Mezzo G3

    IIRC, Mezzo G3 without iTron is about $65K (actually about the same price as my Duo Mezzo when I purchased it).
  2. miglto

    New Avantgarde Duo Mezzo G3

    I was tickled by the possibility that there was another Miguel with a Kondo Ongaku and AG Mezzo’s!!! I am one of those Miguels: http://instagram.com/ongakumeansmusic But I see this is Ultimate’s setup. Beautiful. I DEFINITELY want to know how Ongaku and iTron compare!!! Thank you.
  3. miglto

    New Avantgarde Duo Mezzo G3

    The passive version still has powered basshorns. The midrange and tweeter are passive.
  4. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    If your pivot-spindle and overhang are correct, you only need to line up to one null point and the other one will be correct, in principle. It is useful to line up to both since “lining up” is prone to error.
  5. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Interesting separation of tracking error and zenith misalignment. I sort of blend them together because at the end of the day it is the cartridge angle and the “fix” for both (in terms of angle) is the same: rotate the cartridge to minimize distortion. But I get your point. Barring the use of...
  6. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    At the null points, the zenith error will be zero (assuming you used Wally Tools protractor to compensate for the stylus’s slight misalignment). As such, AT THE NULL POINTS (there are only two) the IMD will be the lowest possible your system can have. So it’s really a question of where you want...
  7. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Zenith error - that is how much the stylus contact edges are not perpendicular to the groove - affects distortion. The IMD (Inter Modulation Distortion) additionally increases (approximately) as 1/r. What you really want to minimize is IMD, that is: IMD ~= Zenith Error / r The various...
  8. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Thx. Did not realize there was a download option. I downloaded from this link, this book is amazing. Thank you!
  9. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Really interesting. Anyone has a link to the full pdf of the book (it is at this point public domain).
  10. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    In my experience it is useful to find good alignment targets but that is only the starting point. Most cartridge’s styli are not exactly square with the cantilever and/or body, and for this reason, once you have done a good alignment you need to fine-tune zenith (and azimuth) to get the best...
  11. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    You can see the Lofgren null points (as r- and r+) in this post on this thread: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/baerwald-lofgrenb-stevenson-the-math-behind-alignment-conventions.37508/post-909686
  12. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    To reiterate as succinctly as possible: The formula for zenith error requires only three quantities: effective length, overhang, and offset angle. First way to use this formula: Given these three geometrical parameters, it tells you exactly what the zenith error is everywhere and in particular...
  13. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    I have read the paper and done the equations. The very first formula in this paper is exactly the one I posted initially in this thread. Nothing here is in any contradiction to what I stated. The point here is: given null points and effective length you can determine everything else. And that...
  14. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Found this paper (the very first formula is the same as what I got): https://www.aes.org/tmpFiles/elib/20230925/21560.pdf
  15. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Indeed, but clearly getting zenith as good as possible is improving the sound. You will have other problems like wow&flutter from a non-centered whole etc, for sure. It's a matter of improving what we can to get as close as possible to the best sound we can get with the setup. Agreed. I would...
  16. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Here's another interesting point about having done the math: It shows that the zenith error function shape depends only on ra and rps. The value of tau is a constant that shifts this shape up and down. Now say I did all the geometrical setup for Baerwald. Now I use AnalogMagik to fine tune the...
  17. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Indeed music is the most important thing we are after. However, proper turntable setup will make a big difference in sound quality, which is why we bother with this. Arguably some of the nitty gritty of arguing about Baerwald vs Lofgren is not all that critical. The calculation I started off...
  18. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    QUITE simple: Say you drilled the hole for you arm, so rps is fixed. Say my design goal is err1 for whatever I consider the inner radius and err2 for whatever I consider the outer radius. My formula will let you determine tau (offset angle) and overhang. Or equivalently the two null points...
  19. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    I don’t disagree that a design goal could be either a max distortion between inner and outer grooves or a max average, that’s fine. The formulas above simply calculate zenith error from just three geometry components: ra, rps, and tau. And the key point is those are the only parameters that matter
  20. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Like I said previously, the “design goal” is where I want the least distortion - which would be exactly zero at the null points but non-zero elsewhere. There’s absolutely nothing magical here. If I change the null point slightly I will get a slightly different zenith error at a given radius. ALL...
  21. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    If you plug ra, rps, and tau in the formulas I posted you will recover the null points. What null points are used is an arbitrary choice based on preference. Notice you DON’T need inner or outter radii or anything else. To be clear: ra —> “effective length” rps —> “pivot to spindle” tau —>...
  22. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    It is correct. In most arms the headshell has slots, and the p2s is fixed by whatever you drilled on the armboard. In the SME V the pivot moves, and the headshell has two M2.5 sized holes so no adjustability on the headshell. That is what those comments mean. As you can verify in the math...
  23. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    You are wrong. Again explain why.
  24. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Yes you can. It is geometry. It is calculating angles. For the record, I know math (I have a PhD in Physics). If you can point what is wrong with the math - specifically - I will take a look. But you’re not giving me any factual argument. Null points and where to put them is rather arbitrary...
  25. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Check the math I posted. It is very straightforward. Please let me know if you find a mistake. Thx.
  26. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Yes these should be the official UNI-DIN null point locations. But using the formulas and a spreadsheet you can recalculate anything you want. The table in my second post only takes the null points and ra (in this case, you can change it to rps) as input.
  27. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    I don’t think this is right. The null points are: And this is literally just geometry that does not depend at all on inner or outter radii.
  28. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Got it. I hope the diagram makes it clear what I am talking about. As for distortion, I have looked at a simple model of that and what I find is that distortion from zenith error (I will keep using this term because there’s also azimuth error) is proportional to the frequency and inversely...
  29. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    Some numbers for the various alignment conventions (distances in mm, angles in degrees): miguelito
  30. miglto

    Baerwald? LofgrenB? Stevenson? The math behind alignment conventions

    I have always wanted to understand the math behind alignment conventions, and having found no source, I did the math myself. Consider this diagram: After doing the math (link below with full details) you get that: Full derivation and more details at: https://bit.ly/zenith-math What is...

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