Aligning the Turntable Cartridge Body vs Aligning the Cantilever

Most turntable setup how-tos tell you to align the cartridge body, but message boards are full of "Guru's" proclaiming that the cantilevers must be aligned. Can we settle which practice is correct in this video?

[leon]

This is great, I remember alligning the cartridge body instead of cantilever so I was worried. But it doesnt look to make much difference as you show. I think Ill still try and re allign it and see if it changes for me. Thanks!

[gmjwtech]

Genius and simple solution! Thanx a lot! Which frequency you have used to check? And why you have choosen this frequency? Any reference available? Again, thnx!!

[leafyleafyleaf]

I recall another video by Audiorpheus that shows the Grado cartridge not performing well in the tracking test, whereas the Nagaoka MP-110 did well. Perhaps a test of the different alignment methods with the Nagaoka would be more conclusive. Then again, maybe the Nagaoka would track so well as to mask misalignments (not a bad thing).

My hunch is that an aligned cantilever would perform better that an aligned cartridge body. It would be interesting to see how any misalignment would sound at an inner null point, with a real record having 's' sounds in a vocal, for instance.

[eurobeat]

to me, it only makes sense to adjust the cantilever. unless the cartridge body is parallel with it, it might not be that much different, but cartridges like the shure m97xe that come with a skewed cantilever should always be aligned via the cantilever position.

[RockfordRoe]

I'm not sure if it was the way I adjusted it, but when I aligned my Ortorfon Omega & 2M Red body to the protractor lines, it caused a grinding sound, but when I aligned it to the Red's cantilever, the grinding sound went away. My vote would be the cantilever then.

[brainache]

correct VTA tracking force and anti skating might help

[cuppadan]

Audiorpheus didn't mention what type of stylus he has here, however its always best to align to the cantilever because the tip of the stylus is mounted and aligned to it, not the cartridge body. Its especially critical if you have a Shibata or Line Contact Stylus. The test record is misleading because it's only playing a single or narrow frequency. Music has sound throughout the entire range of frequencies humans can hear. There you will notice a misalignment issue. And beyond that, if its misaligned what you won't hear is the edge of the stylus chewing up the grooves of your precious and expensive vinyl. And all of this is just one part of the alignment process as brainache555 mentioned.

[ColoredBars]

But if the cantilever isn’t straight with the cartridge body and I try to align the cartridge as best as possible won’t that affect the sound? Doesn’t it depend on getting the cartridge perfectly aligned?

[ColocasiaCorm]

Tracking angle error is so stupid. Overhang and antiskate are the emperor’s new clothes