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Mission 774, alignment questions.

Chas B

pfm Member
Following on from my attempts to get the Shure V15 111 singing I now have a 774 tonearm which by all accounts should work beautifully with the V15. Setting the arm is proving a bit puzzling! With the correct S2P distance I can't obtain the 229mm effective length because the wires that exit the wand will be squashed by the clamp ( you need to be familiar with this arm to fully understand what I mean). So I seem to be stuck with approximately 234 effective length and to complicate things further the cartridge offset angle is pretty much set at 21 degrees ( I have checked this). So how on earth do I achieve a reasonable alignment? Hopefully I can get some useful info/insights from 774 users:).
 
The wires are squashed by the clamp :confused:on the correct pivot to spindle:confused:.
Yes the offset angle is really wrong - it was set at 20.5 on the original tubes:confused:.
Try different alignments from Vinylengine - I can't believe you are having to set the tube so far back.
Double ,triple and quadruple check your pivot to spindle distance.
 
Aligning the 774 is all very confusing, for the reasons laid out in the article Craig links to. When I had one I used a Dr Feickert protractor because the official measurements are so inconsistent. Bugger to locate the pivot though.
 
Cobbers & Craig B have been super helpful & knowledgeable with my 774.

Undo the CW. Then undo the arm clamp, gently remove arm (first undoing the red block, just prize this up & out). The good design bit, is it's super easy to remove arm.

Then you can A) swizzle your cart around very slightly, aiming for a tad more cart angle. And B) then when inserting arm tube again, you can get the wires poking out as close to the clamp as poss. Obviously wires shouldn't be caught in the clamp.

It's a slightly-compromised design, not perfect, but you won't hear any difference cart 21 to 22.5 degrees, nor with the optimal length pivot to stylus, vs this slightly compromised shorter length. You are not a bat.

[P.S, Captain's tip: whilst arm out, buy a (Lenco I use) finger lift & mount between headblock & cart.. without one it's an infuriation tbh! No sound difference.]

Capt.
 
I wish Mission wouldn't use the same model number multiple times - I have always used 215.4 spindle/pivot for the original and used alignment protractors from Vinylengine for either Technics or Thorens 215.0/215.6 pivot/spindle.
Very fortunate that I have a very late tube that is ready drilled and counterbored with the 22.5 offset.

Used a 8" vernier to set the spindle to pivot - could get it within 0.1mm with no problem.
 
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Have a read of John Wynn's blog on the subject of 774 alignment here...
Thanks for the input everyone. It appears that I have the same issue as John Wynn, thanks for pointing me in the right direction Craig. It makes you wonder how many people are using these arms with totally inappropriate alignment.
I will hopefully find time this weekend to reposition the arm and achieve a better result.
 
Love the use of a tank outlet to make the clamp for the new base. Proper lateral thinking and a good engineering solution.
I'd bet it is stiffer than the original.
 
Hi Chas B.! In my opinion you should have a protractor to set up your tonearm properly. I know this arm can be painful and seems your cartridge may ar not helping at all, and is "ruining" your effective length even more.
Why don't you try to ask for a custom made protractor or any advise how to deal with your problem The Vinyl Source engineer (you may need to research this UK based small company on Google, as I can't post any link). They produce different brands alignment components, but are ready to any particular and custom made request. Prices are reasonable. I tried by myself.
This can be a solution, but, of course, you don't need to follow this path, if you're not sure. Is good to ask whoever may know a little bit more about engineering. Cheeers, JoMa
 
Have you checked your pivot/spindle distance yet?
I didn't find anything really difficult on mine with the basic setup - setting the VTA can be a bit of a pain and so can rotating the tube when you are trying to get the overhang but nothing more than that.

Get yourself an 8" vernier to measure/set pivot /spindle accurately.
 
203 + 0.5 post diameter + 0.5 spindle diameter = 214 (you can get a bit more).

Use the outside measuring edges.
 


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