Analogue Studio Cartridge Alignment Protractor

Analogue Studio Cartridge Alignment Protractor

An alignment protractor is used to find the correct distance from stylus tip to tonearm pivot.

When aligning a cartridge for tangency using an alignment protractor, it's crucial to focus on aligning the cantilever (and, by extension, the stylus), rather than the cartridge body. The cantilever may not be perfectly centered within the cartridge housing, so relying solely on the cartridge body for alignment may lead to inaccurate results.

Additionally, many cartridge bodies have non-parallel sides, making it nearly impossible to achieve precise tangential alignment using the body alone.

This alignment protractor is a plastic template printed with null points and tangency lines, which serve as reference points for proper alignment. The protractor is placed over the turntable spindle via a spindle-sized hole and positioned on the platter.

The goal is to adjust the cartridge until the cantilever is parallel to the printed guide lines at both designated points. When the cartridge’s longitudinal axis aligns with the horizontal lines, tracking error is minimized.