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In Reply to: Splain me stylus to pivot distance and so what anyway? posted by Mushroom Soup on November 7, 2020 at 05:40:10:
I'll take a shot at your question, in the belief that I even know what is your question. The pivot to spindle distance is but one data point that does make a critical difference if you want to achieve the ideal of a pivoted tonearm designed to be mounted with the stylus overhanging the spindle. Around 80 years ago, a few engineers pointed out that this topology permits the cantilever to be tangent to the groove of a record (LPs were non-existent in 1940-ish), i.e., zero tracking angle error, at two points across the record playing surface. BUT you can only achieve that ideal (two points of tangency) if you use a particular set of parameters in setting up the tonearm. These are (1) pivot to spindle distance, (2) stylus overhang (the distance by which the stylus tip overhangs the spindle), (3) and headshell offset angle. (Tonearm effective length is important too, but that is equal to pivot to spindle distance + stylus overhang.) There are 3-4 major algorithms that use these parameters as a guide to set up, and all of them will result in two points of tangency of the cantilever to the groove on the playing surface. These different algorithms each give a different solution to the problem; each places those "null points" (zero tracking angle error) at different locations on the playing surface, comparing any one standard solution to the others. The user selects one of these algorithms in setting up any one tonearm, and therefore you need to know the P2S distance for that case. It is also the case that solutions other than the standard ones can be made to work, if you don't mind the associated headache. It's much easier to just choose a standard solution and work it.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Splain me stylus to pivot distance and so what anyway? - Lew 11/7/2009:32:18 11/7/20 (7)
- RE: Splain me stylus to pivot distance and so what anyway? - Mick Wolfe 11:36:48 11/7/20 (0)
- RE: Splain me stylus to pivot distance and so what anyway? - Mushroom Soup 10:12:02 11/7/20 (5)
- RE: Splain me stylus to pivot distance and so what anyway? - flood2 11:44:12 11/7/20 (4)
- Flood and M3 are right and - Story 14:48:51 11/7/20 (1)
- RE: Flood and M3 are right and - rivervalley817 15:07:40 11/7/20 (0)
- Said another way - - M3 lover 14:11:07 11/7/20 (0)
- RE: Splain me stylus to pivot distance and so what anyway? - Mushroom Soup 12:23:14 11/7/20 (0)