Adikt misalignment

[Mikeg]

I put the question below on the Linn forum but as yet have had no replies. I have at the back of my mind the impression that there was a comment here about the need to remove the lugs to get correct alignment even with Linn arms

I have a Kore and Adikt. Happy days I thought. No chance for cartridge set-up errors. No arm-board to move, cartridge lugs set right back in the Ittok's headshell. As a fail-safe I decided to buy a Linn protractor only to find the cartridge alignment is out. It looks as if the Adikt should be about 1.5mm further back in the headshell and the only way to do that is to cut off the lugs, which I don't particularly want to do.

Have I missed something?

Mike

[lejonklou]

Hi Mike!

Installing Adikts is a challenge on Linn arms. It takes at least an hour more than most other carts, so I charge extra for it.

Correct alignment requires you to 1) cut off the two plastic protrusions that are supposed to help you with the alignment (but are incorrectly positioned), 2) bend the lugs in the arm end, and 3) loosen the pin assembly in the arm, push it in and then retighten it. Now the Adikt can be pushed back to the correct position.

The two screws that hold the Adikt should be tightened very gently. Almost always I find these way overtightened, which makes the Adikt sound distorted.

There is an earlier thread about this, with exact torques etc. I'll post a link as soon as I find it.

[Mikeg]

On the Linn forum one of the dealers posted that Linn had sent the following to dealers

"IMPORTANT. When fitting the Adikt to a Linn tonearm, please note that the tonearm specification of 18mm overhang cannot be achieved. This does not however affect performance in any way and the Adikt should be aligned with - 20mm overhang".

It seems my choice comes down to leaving well alone. With the lugs possibly providing a better contact overall with the headshell.

or

Removing the lugs and having a more accurate alignment. For me it comes down to which provides the best sound quality.

Did you notice much difference in sound with the second option?

Mike

[lejonklou]

There is a clear improvement from correct fitting. That's the reason why there is a protractor in the first place. Even more important - and just as neglected - is using an optimal torque.

As I mentioned, it takes an extra hour to fit an Adikt correctly. Some don't want to spend that time and come up with explanations why they shouldn't.

[Freddy]

Are different Linn arms better or worse when it comes to alignment of Adikt?

[lejonklou]

Are different Linn arms better or worse when it comes to alignment of Adikt?

They are all the same except the latest version of Ekos SE, which has a longer headshell. This makes it easier to correctly position the Adikt.

The latest Ekos SE also sounds much better than the early Ekos SE's. I mean much better. It's like a completely different arm.

[Charlie1]

The latest Ekos SE also sounds much better than the early Ekos SE's. I mean much better. It's like a completely different arm.

:(
Any idea what they have done to improve it?

[ThomasOK]

Ittoks also have a longer headshell making the fitting less difficult (except for the Ittok LVIII Mk2).

[Linntek]

Here is what i did.
Yes, the lugs have to go.
Not difficult but be careful.
Be sure the surface is flat and clean after removal.
Then i used the protractor for overhang and then I used a HiFi test record with a frequence sweep from 20 - 20000Hz and aligned the cart so signals was in phase. Meassured with a picoscope at the output of preamp/MM stage or whatever you are using.

Then arm height by ear. I believe i came to a nice sounding result.

I have recently tried using the same record and feed the digital output from my DSI to my MAC mini's optical input and recorded the signal with Audacity and again checked the phase aligment. Same result but easier.

[lejonklou]

Any idea what they have done to improve it?

I only know about two changes to the Ekos SE:

The first is that the anti skating mechanism was changed. This was said to result in a musical improvement. How big I don't know.

The second is the larger headshell. This has been said NOT to be a musical improvement.

I used to have an early Ekos SE. It was a great arm. Changed to a new one last year and hoped it would be at least as good. To my surprise it was massively better. I thought it was perhaps just that specimen. Since then three people I know have changed their old Ekos SE's for new ones. All of them have reported the same massive improvement.

[lejonklou]

Ittoks also have a longer headshell making the fitting less difficult (except for the Ittok LVIII Mk2).

Ah yes, that's true. Thanks!

[lejonklou]

Here is what i did.
Yes, the lugs have to go.
Not difficult but be careful.
Be sure the surface is flat and clean after removal.
Then i used the protractor for overhang and then I used a HiFi test record with a frequence sweep from 20 - 20000Hz and aligned the cart so signals was in phase. Meassured with a picoscope at the output of preamp/MM stage or whatever you are using.

Then arm height by ear. I believe i came to a nice sounding result.

I have recently tried using the same record and feed the digital output from my DSI to my MAC mini's optical input and recorded the signal with Audacity and again checked the phase aligment. Same result but easier.

This is a good way to do it. But where on the test record is the frequency sweep? With correct alignment, you will have two points on the record where the left and right signals are completely in phase. Inside and outside those two points, you will get small phase errors even when the cartride is perfectly aligned.

Did you find that the rotation of the Adikt which you ended up with is perfectly aligned with the slots in the headshell? Or does the cart seem a tiny bit rotated when seen from straight above?

[Charlie1]

I used to have an early Ekos SE. It was a great arm. Changed to a new one last year and hoped it would be at least as good. To my surprise it was massively better. I thought it was perhaps just that specimen. Since then three people I know have changed their old Ekos SE's for new ones. All of them have reported the same massive improvement.

Thanks Fredrik. Mine is a very early one too, so this is food for thought indeed

[Linntek]

Here is what i did.
Yes, the lugs have to go.
Not difficult but be careful.
Be sure the surface is flat and clean after removal.
Then i used the protractor for overhang and then I used a HiFi test record with a frequence sweep from 20 - 20000Hz and aligned the cart so signals was in phase. Meassured with a picoscope at the output of preamp/MM stage or whatever you are using.

Then arm height by ear. I believe i came to a nice sounding result.

I have recently tried using the same record and feed the digital output from my DSI to my MAC mini's optical input and recorded the signal with Audacity and again checked the phase aligment. Same result but easier.

This is a good way to do it. But where on the test record is the frequency sweep? With correct alignment, you will have two points on the record where the left and right signals are completely in phase. Inside and outside those two points, you will get small phase errors even when the cartride is perfectly aligned.

Did you find that the rotation of the Adikt which you ended up with is perfectly aligned with the slots in the headshell? Or does the cart seem a tiny bit rotated when seen from straight above?

It was track 7 on HiFi news test record. That means innergroove, 78mm from center, I belive the Linn protractor have zero tracking error at 64mm and 120mm from center. I know this should give bigger tracking erros closer than 78mm from center than 64/120mm alignment.
On most of my records music stops at app. 70mm from center so I have zero tracking error in the last track. The "worst" example i have is 60mm.

The small adjustments i have done to get right phase by measurements I have not been able to detect by eye on the protractor and with the protractor it looks spot on.

It is in fact rotated a bit with the right screw a bit further back in headshell than the left (seen from front of the cart).

[ThomasOK]

Any idea what they have done to improve it?

I only know about two changes to the Ekos SE:

The first is that the anti skating mechanism was changed. This was said to result in a musical improvement. How big I don't know.

The second is the larger headshell. This has been said NOT to be a musical improvement.

I used to have an early Ekos SE. It was a great arm. Changed to a new one last year and hoped it would be at least as good. To my surprise it was massively better. I thought it was perhaps just that specimen. Since then three people I know have changed their old Ekos SE's for new ones. All of them have reported the same massive improvement.

I find this quite interesting as well. I changed over an old Ekos SE with a new one with the same hope as Fredrik - that they didn't mess anything up. Unfortunately there was a few weeks between the old one going away and the new one being installed so I wasn't able to do direct comparisons but I did have the impression that it was better with the newer arm.

As to physical changes, the anti-skating was changed before the SE/1 came out. It was noted by several dealers that the anti-skating was too low at the markings on the dial and needed to be raised about .3 grams to give proper performance. Linn discovered this was true and "fixed" it by adding a bit of bias at the "0" setting - essentially tightening up the string and spring that applies the pressure. This means you get a small pull to the side even at "0" just like with Rega arms - a bit of a hassle but not insurmountable. For the Ekos SE Linn claims there were only three physical changes: 1) the headshell was made 2mm longer to better accommodate larger cartridges and the structure was changed to avoid any loss of rigidity from the greater length, 2) the arm tube was made 2mm shorter to keep the same pivot to stylus distance and hence alignment procedure and 3) the paint on the cueing/anti-skating platform was changed from black to silver for a cleaner look. Linn did claim that there was no musical improvement from these changes. I would have to guess that the improvements suggest that they were exceedingly effective in strengthening the new headshell and may have made it stronger. It is also possible that the shorter arm has some effect although I would think that would be slight. Of course, there is always the possibility that Linn has improved other aspects over time like the bearings but, if so, they haven't admitted to it.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear I have the superior arm!

[Freddy]

I have noticed that anti-skating is around 2,1 on my Ekos 2 with Adikt when it sounds best to my ears. Is that normal?

[Linntek]

I have noticed that anti-skating is around 2,1 on my Ekos 2 with Adikt when it sounds best to my ears. Is that normal?

I have done some experiments regarding antskating. On the test record mentioned above there is som torture tracks.

Track 9 (inner groove) 300Hz tone at +18dB i have some distortion on one channel. Clearly visible via audacity. I have then tested different skating settings to where further increment does not make any difference. I ended up with 2.5 and it sounded nice too. I think I will try to reduce AS a bit and see how it sounds.
If i reduce antiskating to less than 1.5, distortion will appear on track 8 (+16dB) as well.

http://www.needledoctor.com/Hi-Fi-News-Test-Record

http://www.vinylengine.com/hfn-002-test-lp.shtml

Quote:
"It's interesting to note that advanced stylus profiles like the Gyger S on the Goldring 1042 have a smaller 'sweet spot' during bias adjustment"

Adikt is a "linnizised" G1042

I use Linn's recomended tracking force (I have a electronic scale)

[Mikeg]

I decided to go ahead and remove the lugs and align it correctly. To me, in my system the improvement is not small. Well worth the effort.

There is an interesting page on Vinyl Engine with an overhang shift calculator. I don’t know how accurate it is but changing the overhang from 18mm to 20mm increased the maximum distortion from 0.662% to 2.33%.


Mike

[lejonklou]

I decided to go ahead and remove the lugs and align it correctly. To me, in my system the improvement is not small. Well worth the effort.

Great to hear that Mike!!