Alignment of pickup cartridge
Only a painstakingly aligned pickup is able to compliment the outstanding sonic capabilities and potential of this record player. If you consider the
ATTENTION: when aligning the cartridge great care is once again obligatory in order to avoid that the delicate stylus or sensitive parts of the tonearm are being damaged. If you are a new- comer without any experience it is better to leave this work to an expert who knows the specific characteristics of most pickups and tonearms. A badly aligned pickup will be well on the way to yield bad sound and to damage your precious records!
Azimuth: this is the angle between cantilever/stylus as- sembly and record groove. It should be exactly 90° (ex- cluding those cartridges in which the cantilever has pur- posely been installed with a slight tilt).
Offset: this is the angle between the longitudinal axis of the pickup and the tonearm‘s longitudinal axis. In all piv- oted tonearms (like the ones from Thorens) the optimum value is to be found between 21° and 24°. We recom- mend to adjust the offset to 23°.
Overhang: this is the distance between the stylus tip and the centre of the platter spindle. Depending on the indi- vidual effective length of the tonearm, overhang should be adjusted between 19 mm and 12 mm. Please refer to the specifications respectively instructions supplied with your tonearm.
Special pickup alignment gauges are required for the pre- cise adjustment of the above parameters. They are avail- able from your Thorens dealer. When you are through with the alignment you can finally tighten the cartridge screws.
35
