Cartridge Alignment

HiFi Guy said:
Looking at this, I’m definitely going Loefgren B, especially considering that’s what MoFi uses.

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I wonder if the notably higher distortion at the very end of the sides would drive me up a wall. Baerwald/Lofgren A are a compromise, certainly, but not a bad one. And I can't say I've ever had complaints about distortion mid-record with Lof-A.
 
kvetcha said:
I wonder if the notably higher distortion at the very end of the sides would drive me up a wall. Baerwald/Lofgren A are a compromise, certainly, but not a bad one. And I can't say I've ever had complaints about distortion mid-record with Lof-A.
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I don’t have IGD with Loefgren A except on the rare occasion I buy an old (50s-60s) used record that’s been played on God knows what. In other words, groove damage.

I’ve never liked Stevenson. It seems nuts to me to sacrifice performance over the majority of the playing surface to get the inner grooves “right”. The only purpose I see for Stevenson is it should be theoretically better for 7” discs. If I had an arm with a removable headshell (I don’t) and was into 7” discs (I’m not) I could see having a dedicated headshell and cartridge to play them.

Of course, if your arm has less than 9” effective length, you are stuck with Stevenson.

Another point- the Pioneer PLX-1000 aligns to Stevenson per the factory. The arm is long enough for other alignments, but the slots in the factory headshell are too short to allow them. Get a Jelco (or equivalent) headshell with longer slots and other alignments are possible.

I’ve used Lof A for 30 plus years with great success. But it looks to me like Lof B will reduce distortion over most of the playing surface by a third, which isn’t insignificant. That’s what Allen Perkins used when designing the MoFi decks, and he’s forgotten more about the subject than I’ll ever know.

I didn’t originally plan to change alignments. The idea was to get absolutely perfect, which is difficult (if not impossible) with the MoFi arm. You need to sight the pivot point (which you can’t see, but there’s a workaround) and put the stylus in the middle of the small circle. The new protractor will eliminate all possible error and gives options as far as which alignment to use.
 
I had something that may be a slight hint of distortion on an Joni Mitchell record, but it was there both with Baerwald and Loefgren B. So i guess its baked into the recording.
Sibilancewise, all clean and no breakup
 
Fixxman32 said:
I had something that may be a slight hint of distortion on an Joni Mitchell record, but it was there both with Baerwald and Loefgren B. So i guess its baked into the recording.
Sibilancewise, all clean and no breakup
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Which Joni record? Might be interesting for others to see if it can be duplicated.
 
Fixxman32 said:
Use headphones. And i have the german released Reprise. But i guess its the same master as the US variant.
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Actually it might not be. If it’s the same as blue the US was done by some name dude and the European was done by the fella HL who is the in house mastering guy at optimal.
 
Gave a listen to the wife’s early Reprise A1A B1B pressing and didn’t hear any strain on those two cuts. But it is, after all, Fat Tuesday, and my ears may be a bit tainted from the Modello and tequila so…. Time to listen to the Dutch pressing of Black Sabbath Sabotage as it much better suits the mood. Yee haw!!
Will listen to the Reprise Years box set reissue of Ladies of the Canyon tomorrow. If my head can handle it. Happy Fat Tuesday!!!!
 
I have a bunch of early German pressings from the 60s and 70s that an Air Force veteran friend who was stationed in Germany during Viet Nam collected and gave to me a decade or more ago. I think the Germans originated the smiley face eq that many equate to mofi’s early sound. They especially loved their bass. If you want to hear some bottom on the Beatles releases look for early German copies.
 
OMC said:
I have a bunch of early German pressings from the 60s and 70s that an Air Force veteran friend who was stationed in Germany during Viet Nam collected and gave to me a decade or more ago. I think the Germans originated the smiley face eq that many equate to mofi’s early sound. They especially loved their bass. If you want to hear some bottom on the Beatles releases look for early German copies.
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I’ve read that the German Magical Mystery Tour is the bomb.
 
OMC said:
Gave a listen to the wife’s early Reprise A1A B1B pressing and didn’t hear any strain on those two cuts. But it is, after all, Fat Tuesday, and my ears may be a bit tainted from the Modello and tequila so…. Time to listen to the Dutch pressing of Black Sabbath Sabotage as it much better suits the mood. Yee haw!!
Will listen to the Reprise Years box set reissue of Ladies of the Canyon tomorrow. If my head can handle it. Happy Fat Tuesday!!!!
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Not really sure how best to explain it. Its not vocal distortion, nor spluttering sibilance.

Ill see if i can come up with a recording of it 🙂
 
Had to readjust my phonoamp as i heard on Battle for evermore (2014 LP) which was really sibilant. Not raspy, but just too sharp.
100ohms was too low. 550ohms was alot better.
 
Fixxman32 said:
Had to readjust my phonoamp as i heard on Battle for evermore (2014 LP) which was really sibilant. Not raspy, but just too sharp.
100ohms was too low. 550ohms was alot better.
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Willy and The Arrangement sound fine to me today on the US Reprise copy. Her vocals, at times do sound like she really leaned into the mic and could be construed to sound a little hard while not sounding distorted. Maybe what you are hearing?
As for settings on your phono pre are you talking cartridge loading resistance or capacitance?
 
OMC said:
Willy and The Arrangement sound fine to me today on the US Reprise copy. Her vocals, at times do sound like she really leaned into the mic and could be construed to sound a little hard while not sounding distorted. Maybe what you are hearing?
As for settings on your phono pre are you talking cartridge loading resistance or capacitance?
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Indeed, cart resistance loading ( i sat it back to 100ohms and readjusted the dB amplifcation, to 40db. )
Perhaps that yes.
What do you think?
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Willy.wav

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Let me know what you think - sounds like leaning?

And Battle for evermore - its a 2020 reissue. Narrower runout compared to 2014. From 01.32 and 2.07 mark
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Battle.wav

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or ar my ears just sensitive to sibilance hehe?
 
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Listened on headphones through my PC. The Joni Mitchell "Willy" sounded fine to me.

Zeppelin's "Battle" sounded normal. Sibilance is present, but natural. FWIW, I compared yours with the Amazon's "Ultra HD" version and found sibilance present there as well, (maybe a bit more), but again, natural. If I had to nitpick, I'd say it sounds like the treble was mixed a little hot, but not overly so.

In all fairness, my headphones are cheapies and don't do either of these recordings justice. My 2¢ opinion(guess?) - You may be sensitive to sibilance, but these 2 tracks, esp. "Battle", would probably have anyone with borderline sensitivity grimacing. I wouldn't declare them as benchmarks for concern.
 
budley007 said:
Listened on headphones through my PC. The Joni Mitchell "Willy" sounded fine to me.

Zeppelin's "Battle" sounded normal. Sibilance is present, but natural. FWIW, I compared yours with the Amazon's "Ultra HD" version and found sibilance present there as well, (maybe a bit more), but again, natural. If I had to nitpick, I'd say it sounds like the treble was mixed a little hot, but not overly so.

In all fairness, my headphones are cheapies and don't do either of these recordings justice. My 2¢ opinion(guess?) - You may be sensitive to sibilance, but these 2 tracks, esp. "Battle", would probably have anyone with borderline sensitivity grimacing. I wouldn't declare them as benchmarks for concern.
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Thanks for the feedback! Got a slight hint of panick when i first listened to Battle For Evermore, and when Robert sings the sky is filled, it sounded a tad raspy the first time. But, if i apply som EQ to the needle-drop, it sounds clear.
I have no EQ for my TT, it goes strait from the Phono-pre to my headphone-amp.
 
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