I bought a cheapie turntable tonight at a thrift store. Hitachi Direct-Drive[Hey, what do you expect for $3.00? Actully, for $3 it is pretty darn nice.] Anyhow, this has an S-shaped tone arm. If I were to install a new cartridge on this table how would I do the alignment? Would I just use my regualar alignemt tool?

Want a copy because it has the Triangle Celius 202 review

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It would be interesting to have someone compare some recent Class A componenets with those of 5 or even 10 years ago. it would be interesting to know how much the industry has evolved, what they old componenets might be reviewed at now and where the biggest/smallest advances have been.

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It seems that in most (notice I didn't say all) TT reviews, especially relative to budget units, the reviewer doesn't switch arms or cartrdiges much. As such how can one tell what contribution the table makes? What is the pecking order of contribution to sound quality in a TT? Seems to me the cartridge is first, arm second and the TT itself is third? IF this isn't true what is the order? While I understand one buys an entire package - especially with budget units - it would be nice to know how each piece affects the sound.