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Alignment Begone! Nasotec Swing Headshell 202A1

watchnerd

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Surely, it can't be this simple....

That all the angst of trying to align a cart/arm, and picking the "least bad"option amongst various null point choices, can be rendered moot by a pivoting headshell?



The infamous HFR super killer anti skate track:


Surely somebody would have thought of this decades ago and it would have become a standard by now if it really worked?

I'm having to dig deep in my recollections of mechanical engineering vector math, but....

At a constant lateral stylus pressure, it would be trivial to make a swinging headshell that rights itself.

But the lateral pressure shouldn't be a constant across the entire LP, as the changes in linear velocity across the disk should make the pressure variable, right?

Or maybe it works at super high VTF such that the downward / perpendicular force is so high that the lateral forces can't deflect the stylus left or right?

If it wasn't >$300 I'd buy one to just to try it out and see what happens....
 
OP
watchnerd

watchnerd

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I wonder (as it wanders) how it deals with off-center records.

AKA 80% of all records?

I'm assuming that you're thinking that an eccentric record would lead to it having to track an ellipse?

It seems like this would lead to some sort of sinusoidal pattern.....
 

TBone

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Oh here is the WBF thread on the topic for those interested in such reading:

Just as well read fairy-tales.

my bet is they sell lots of these, and that many review will sparkle with subjective narratives ... despite the fact it's just another "fix" to a very much overstated problem - one which is of far less importance compared to the host of potential issues these "fixes" add to the mix - all of which have far greater potential to further color the sound than tangency error.
 

Fitzcaraldo215

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Surely, it can't be this simple....

That all the angst of trying to align a cart/arm, and picking the "least bad"option amongst various null point choices, can be rendered moot by a pivoting headshell?



The infamous HFR super killer anti skate track:


Surely somebody would have thought of this decades ago and it would have become a standard by now if it really worked?

I'm having to dig deep in my recollections of mechanical engineering vector math, but....

At a constant lateral stylus pressure, it would be trivial to make a swinging headshell that rights itself.

But the lateral pressure shouldn't be a constant across the entire LP, as the changes in linear velocity across the disk should make the pressure variable, right?

Or maybe it works at super high VTF such that the downward / perpendicular force is so high that the lateral forces can't deflect the stylus left or right?

If it wasn't >$300 I'd buy one to just to try it out and see what happens....
You are right. Save your money. It is a grossly oversimplified solution that ignores the real complexities and technical issues. So, it's just perfect for the WBF boys and their golden ears. No doubt it changes the sound. No doubt also it was thought of and rejected hundreds of times by serious tonearm engineers over the decades.
 

DonH56

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I have a vague memory of the general idea being proposed long ago. How compliant to make the "swing" was a Big Deal -- you don't want it so loose that it is susceptible to airborne vibrations and too much influence from the record ("floppy" with resonances that are dependent upon the traces/signal in the grooves) or so stiff that it does not do anything. Think of the arm/headshell/cartridge/record grooves (including any undesirable lateral or vertical movement caused by record warps or eccentricity issues etc.) as a system than must work together. Adding another variable, and a dynamic one at that, seems... challenging... to optimize.

I used to have a CDL though didn't use it much, but think of driving and backing a double- or triple-trailer configuration. Can be hard to control when everything moves...
 

Thomas savage

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WJG

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I think this is interesting. The Question “why hasm’t this been done before”. Having researched this, I think it has.

This is a very comprehensive guide to all the pivoting turntable arms which aim to keep the cartridge tangential. Included is a unipivot design from Japan with a pivoting head shell but I don’t think it has a parallel link to move it. It’s called the RS Labs RS-A1 arm.

Test of arm with pivoting headshell

http://enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0701/rslabs.htm

Historical run through of tangential pivot tone arms.

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/165878-angling-90-tangential-pivot-tonearms.html
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I think this is interesting. The Question “why hasm’t this been done before”. Having researched this, I think it has.

This is a very comprehensive guide to all the pivoting turntable arms which aim to keep the cartridge tangential. Included is a unipivot design from Japan with a pivoting head shell but I don’t think it has a parallel link to move it. It’s called the RS Labs RS-A1 arm.

Test of arm with pivoting headshell

http://enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0701/rslabs.htm

Historical run through of tangential pivot tone arms.

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/165878-angling-90-tangential-pivot-tonearms.html

So why didn't this take off?

My guess: nobody cared

My recollection from my childhood is that most people just slapped records on cheap turntables without any thought to alignment, or probably even VTF. I certainly doubt my father knew anything about VTF....he just used whatever cartridge came with the cheap Sanyo turntable we had.
 

WJG

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So why didn't this take off?

My guess: nobody cared

My recollection from my childhood is that most people just slapped records on cheap turntables without any thought to alignment, or probably even VTF. I certainly doubt my father knew anything about VTF....he just used whatever cartridge came with the cheap Sanyo turntable we had.


It was 2001 - nobody cared about vinyl THEN! Today however...
 

WJG

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It was 2001 - nobody cared about vinyl THEN! Today however...
So why didn't this take off?

My guess: nobody cared

My recollection from my childhood is that most people just slapped records on cheap turntables without any thought to alignment, or probably even VTF. I certainly doubt my father knew anything about VTF....he just used whatever cartridge came with the cheap Sanyo turntable we had.



My childhood (in the 1970's) was spent listening to a Goldring Lenco GL75 and then a Linn Sondek with Naim Aro Unipivot arm, and my uncle certainly knew how to setup his turntable! :)
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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My childhood (in the 1970's) was spent listening to a Goldring Lenco GL75 and then a Linn Sondek with Naim Aro Unipivot arm, and my uncle certainly knew how to setup his turntable! :)

Your uncle was an audio dork. :)
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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If you are not, what are you doing on here? :)

My point was what *most* people did.....

It's pretty hard to support a platform without enough users and only what audio dorks will buy, e.g. air bearing linear tracking tonearms.

The economies of scale would seem to dictates iterations on an existing design; like 2 wheel steering vs 4 wheel steering in cars, there may be better ROI on improving the defacto standard as opposed to creating a new one.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I actually click on that, damn you!

This is like vintage audio porn:

"with my laser engraved protractor specific to my SAEC WE506/30. Prior I was using SAEC ULS-3x, sintered aluminium oxide which is exremely hard material and very very stiff."

It's practically Letters to Penthouse Forum.
 
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