Alignment Calculator

A pivoted arm swings on an arc, and an arc can only be truly tangent to the groove at two radii, the null points. Everywhere else the stylus sits at a small angle to the groove, and that angle is what alignment schemes argue about. Enter your arm's three geometry figures and this plots the error across the record, finds your null points, and works out what Baerwald, Löfgren B and Stevenson would ask of the same arm.

Tonearm Clear Wave — 211 / 18 / 24° Another arm

Pivot to spindle (mm)

Overhang (mm)

Effective length minus pivot-to-spindle, if the spec sheet gives length instead.

Offset angle (°)

Groove span IEC — 60.325 to 146.05 mm DIN — 57.5 to 146.05 mm

Maximum tracking error

1.93°

Null points at 65.7 and 120.6 mm, effectively Baerwald (Löfgren A) alignment.

Error at the outer groove -1.93°, at the inner groove -0.73°, worst 1.93° near 146 mm. Effective length 229 mm.

The standard alignments, for your mounting distance

Alignment	Null points	Overhang	Offset	Max error
Your arm	65.7 / 120.6	18 mm	24°	1.93°
Baerwald (Löfgren A)	66.0 / 120.9	18.13 mm	24.07°	1.90°
Löfgren B	70.2 / 116.7	18.59 mm	24.02°	2.10°
Stevenson	60.3 / 117.4	16.17 mm	23.03°	2.32°

Overhang and offset shown for each alignment are what this arm would need at its 211 mm mounting distance.

The three standards are different answers to the same trade, because the error can be moved around the record but never removed. Baerwald spreads it evenly, Löfgren B lowers the average at the cost of the extremes, and Stevenson protects the inner grooves, where the music is most crowded, by giving away accuracy everywhere else. The numbers here agree with any accurately printed Baerwald protractor. We don't offer a printable one because home printers can't be trusted to hold scale, and a protractor that is 2 percent off is worse than none.

Check the arm and cartridge match too — resonance calculator →