by Golear » Sat Mar 10, 2018 11:03 pm
Took me a while to get the question. I think there's no difference, since, no matter what the starting point may be, we're going to set the final position by ear.
But if we consistently start from level, then one may just have to fine-tune by ear. And I know the final position will be a little lower, or most likely, a little higher. Also, it may be obvious which way to turn when one goes from a thin LP to a 180 gram LP. However, it's not entirely obvious when going from a thin LP to another thin LP.
By the way, going back to the original post, how about permanently attaching a long bubble level to the counterweight? The mass of the bubble level would be accounted for by moving the counterweight closer to the pivot. There's already a threaded hole in the counterweight on my arm, and the distance of the bubble level from the tonearm pivot will amplify any departure from level. I'm still not sure that the bubble level will be sensitive enough, though. My previous tonearm needed frequent adjustments, and one method of doing them involved a bubble level. It was a pain. The bubble seemed to have some "inertia" - may be it was very cheap, or the bubble was too big for the tube that it was in.