Azimuth 2020

I think what can happen, if azimuth is set at any angle different from 90 degrees, is that as you raise or lower the VTA. the contact points of the stylus, depending upon stylus shape, might alter their contact with the groove and certainly the distribution of forces on the groove walls would shift a bit.  But this effect, like very small changes in VTA, is tiny.  If azimuth is set at a perfect 90 degree angle to the groove, none of this would happen.  You'd have only the effect of VTA per se on groove contact.

Cleeds you are smoking too much pot and like usual you have no idea what you are talking about and are only confusing others who are trying to understand this. You should be ashamed of yourself. When you have no idea what you are talking about we would all be better served if you would just shut up.  edwyun in no way is phase affected by azimuth. Fortunately, phase shift between the two channels is frequency sensitive. Only high frequencies suffer significant phase shift with tracking error. Bass frequencies are not significantly affected. 
Melm, absolutely correct. 

mijostyn"Cleeds you are smoking too much pot and like usual you have no idea what you are talking about and are only confusing others who are trying to understand this. You should be ashamed of yourself. When you have no idea what you are talking about we would all be better served if you would just shut up.

Cleeds is like an oozing infected boil he is wrong almost all of the time and does not even own a Music Reproduction System I believe he should be banished from this group for infecting us with error, misinformation, propaganda and deception. Mijostyn I think you may be correct that cleeds is hopelessly stoned, intoxicated or drugged beyond his ability to think, reason, and  articulate with any value, meaning, or substance at all he is a hopeless, wasted, useless member of this group.

@cleeds,
"Your claim can only be accurate if the pickup arm (or turntable) itself is not "true." That is, the arm cannot be raised or lowered while also remaining absolutely perpendicular to the turntable platter.
Or perhaps, like mijostyn, you don't understand what these angles define."

Often wrong, but never in doubt.

In the first place, the arm perpendicular to the platter?

Let me make it easy for you.  Make believe that instead of the usual offset, the cartridge had a 90 degree offset from the arm.  Of course this would never be, but play along for a moment.  Surely then if you raised the arm the azimuth would change.  Right?

Now consider changing the offset angle a bit towards a reasonable one.  Then the arm being raised would change the azimuth, but a bit less and would continue to do so less and less until the cartridge was lined up with the arm, no offset.  Can you see it now?