Unstable Imaging - Causes?


I've been listening to my Music Hall MMF-5.1 through a Bellari VP129 phono pre for about 1.5 months now, and the whole time I've noticed that the imaging in the trebble likes to shift to the right channel every now and then. The entire soundstage will sound evenly distributed until there is a part in the song with a lot of trebble (i.e. sibilance, cymbals, higher octaves of instruments, etc.) at which point the treble shifts slightly to the right. I've suspected that part of the cause might be that the table and tonearm itself are positioned slightly right of center, and I may be getting some "needle cross talk" (or whatever they call that). I may experiment by putting something in front of the turntable to see if that's the problem, but does anyone else have any ideas as to what may cause this?

Thanks
jwglista
I'm not saying it *is* azimuth in your case because there are so many variables, but azimuth isn't a bad place to start.

I had a similar problem, and when I got a headshell with azimuth alignment (for a Technics DD TT) and adjusted it, the channel balance and imaging snapped into place.
From what I've read in the manual for the MMF-5.1, adjusting the azimuth can be a pain. What is a "headshell?" Is that a particular tool for measuring azimuth? Cause I'm wondering how anyone could get it perfect without some kind of tool to tell you if it's out of adjustment...
I am certainly not an expert, but I have noticed profound imaging differences between digital and analogue. Analogue is (for the most part) deeper and more spacious in its effects. It sounds like your room is posing reflections off of surfaces that only the deep analogue imaging gets at. I have noticed this too, betwen my Meridian 24 bit CD and my Linn LP12, both are very good, but sound very very different. If I were you before I spent any $$$ I would simply play around with speaker placement and the furniture in the room, including pictures on the wall (beware of glass!)
have you taken care of your first reflections? can you post a pic at your listening position
A headshell is the unit to which the cartridge is mounted. Some tonearms have detachable headshells, allowing for quick cartridge swaps using mutliple headshells.

-RW-