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Is cartridge aligment with those protractors sheets necessary?
Absolutely necessary. Must align your cartridge or it will sound like a cheap toy.
And to really get an improvement w your vinyl experience, get a good quality, known for great performance phono preamp. Something like Mani, or Mani2 can be had for under two tank fulls of gas in your car. I highly recommend getting a Mani or Mani2 if you don’t have a phono preamp and use the built in phono preamp in your receiver or integrated amplifier.
There are many cheap options off various online sites that are garbage. Absolute garbage. Tubes, s.s., doesn’t matter. Don’t be fooled. Get something that has been highly reviewed and recommended. The Mani will provide great bass response with just about any cartridge. I can also recommend the Cornett by Hagerman. They also have a MC4 phono preamp that you can get, but if you get it, make sure to get the optional OPA 2210 opAmp upgrade. Those all will make any cartridge sound better than any internal or cheap Chinese phono preamp.
Now if you have an expensive Macintosh preamp or one of those $25k T+A preamps w optional internal phono preamp, disregard my suggestions. But if you’re just getting started, the Mani or Mani2 are the best options and best improvement that you can make for your vinyl experience. I have played this game many times and literally 40 different cartridges , some up to 5k cost, and the biggest gain and benefit was a fantastic phono preamp.
A premium phono preamp will make a cheap AT-3600 sound better than an expensive Ortofon Black w a cheap internal phono preamp or a cheap online tube phono preamp. I just helped a friend get set up w one of my self built Bugle2 phono preamps. A huge upgrade from his online Chinese tube preamp.
Back to your setup. An easy way to get started with your alignment is to use a cartridge alignment tool like the plastic one you can buy for Technics turntables. They set the distance between the back of the headshell insert w the washer included to the tip of the diamond at 52mm. The only difference is Tecnics uses 52 mm for total length versus 48 mm for your JVC.
So, I just use a pair of calipers to measure 48mm when using the Technics plastic jig to set up a new cart. Align the diamond to the centerline just about 3/16” back from the notch and you can measure it with a pair of calipers. Local Hardware w have them if you need to get one.
It also pretty much aligns the zenith to the cart and I have found that it is almost spot on w a protractor. Set your vtf around 1.5g for starters if you don’t know what the cart requires and the antiskate about the same.
You should get one of those inexpensive mirrored protractors online. Usually cheap as $8 or so and a cheap digital scale too.
For carts as you asked earlier and it was mentioned earlier, the AT 95e is a good choice or any of the AT carts in that price range or lower. The Nagaoka MP-110 is a great choice too. A really good sounding cart. Don’t be afraid to get a conical stylus. They will sound great with most choices. They just wear out faster than elliptical cuts.
I would avoid the Ortofon Red that seems to be so popular. They are really forward in the midrange/hf and are very fatiguing imo. A lot of the old vintage carts will do well with your table. Shure 91e, Empire 2000e, 66e, actually just about any Empire, any of the vintage AT carts, and any of the Staton or Pickering ones will do great.
Just make sure you get a decent new or non worn stylus. Good luck with your project and keep us updated on your progress!
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