I received mine on Thursday. I said I would be honest and open, so here it is.
First up, the packing, quality and german engineering excellence of the package is there for anyone to see. First class. You actually feel that you are purchasing something of class.
Issues for me first.
Giving out a bendy small ruler for P2S measurement is a bit of a joke IMO, regardless of .5mm accuracy. You will be more than .5mm out on the P2S measurement given the inadequacy of the ruler.
Given the entry price, a better tool should have been provided in the package like with the cheaper direct competitor, the Fiekert. It has an excellent P2S measurement device as part of the alignment tool.
This may be my oversight, however when looking initially at the photo's and given that the alignment devices in competition are Fiekert I thought the positioning arm was also the P2S measure.
Given P2S is measure is such a critical part of any alignment tool, that one was not provided is poor IMO.
back to the review
the instructions in the manual are very detailed and straight forward - excellent
This device will take you longer than the Mint or Feikert, however you IMO get much better precision than the Feikert.
The Feikert is poor with its generally fat lines painted onto steel compared to the Uni-tractor.
The Mint has always been a poor cousin to the Wally tractor and the uni tractor with its lazer etching is a lot better than the Mint's lines under the mirror approach.
It was easier to align the stylus point onto the exact lazer dot on the uni template compared to either Mint or Feikert. That is the beauty about the lazer etching.
I struggled a little bit with the two etched lines on either side of the middle line, in how they curve slightly due to the magnification. like anything, after a bit of practice it got easier.
Once that was done, you were complete. two points vs one point. Frankly, with the Mint. If you aligned the initial null point perfectly, I always found the 2nd one lined up as well. So the Uni-tractor having only one meassure point is no big deal, you just need to concentrate on getting it correct up front.
The Azimuth tool was cook and very good to use next to the tonearm to see how level the tonearm was.
- non standard uni-templates.
I guess a lot of people are interested in the specific aligment templates. to quote Daniel
Quote:
the EA-3 template is based on the EA-3's geometry, but a bit
"optimized" by myself - so kind of "my brew".
- same for Graham and Ortofon - very slight corrections, but better
distortion figures than manufacturer's specs.
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I used the Exclusive EA-3/10 alignment template to compare with the Stevenson alignment from Mint. Yes, I know, not really a fair comparison. The Stevenson vs Stevenson will come later.
I buy mostly modern LP's but many have music right to the inside label. I much prefer Stevenson/VPI type alignment than L or B. Mainly due to the fact that the inner 3rd of any LP(which is getting smaller and smaller with each revolution)to my ears has the most obvious distortion compared to the rest of the LP. Overall the slight increase in brightness on the 1st 3rd is more than compensated with the better sound of the last 3rd with Stevenson. Right, my listening bias are out of the way.
The EA-3 alignment was more relaxed in the first 3rd vs Stevenson and as good ads B or L from memory. It was better sounding than either B or L in the last 3rd to my ears. Not quite as good as Stevenson, but overall something I can live with. I'll go back to Stevenson in a couple of weeks.
My Mint tractors will be soon for sale on audiogon. The Feikert I am afraid cannot be sold ATM as detailed above. I believe the adequate P2S tool should be part of the Uni-Tractor price given its importance for correct alignment, not offered as it seems to be next week as an additional extra. I would be interested if anyone else shares my view on this or I am out of line.
Overrall a 1st class product is the Uni-tractor and oozes quality.