What is more accurate , the fozgometer or the diplay of the oscilloscoop

folk freak,  "Sounds best" or measures best?
Because THAT much tilt indicates rather poor quality control during cartridge manufacture or inaccurate measurement of crosstalk.  Since Air Tight cartridges are hardly in the budget category, if I owned one that needed that much tilt to deliver decent crosstalk figures and assuming the measurements are accurate, I would send it back to its makers.

When you tilt by 10-15 degrees, you are putting seriously uneven wear on the stylus tip and you may also be damaging grooves, depending upon the shape of the stylus tip.

I've written this before, so please forgive me for being redundant, but in setting azimuth, one might choose to go for equal amounts of crosstalk in both directions, L to R and R to L.  Or one might choose to go for the least crosstalk, regardless of whether the db are equal in both directions.  I've been setting azimuth electrically for years, using a Signet Cartridge Analyzer and their test LP, plus my Triplanar tonearm which permits very easy adjustments.  In all my experience, those two possible goals are never coincident with each other, which is to say that if you want equal crosstalk, the absolute db of crosstalk will be higher (more crosstalk) than if you just go for the least amount without worrying about equalizing.  I believe the Foz is designed to equalize crosstalk.  Sometimes going for equal crosstalk requires a lot of tilt, which I don't like to live with, for reasons mentioned above.

lewm -- turns out I’m lousy at estimating angles in my head, taking a quick measurement (using my iphone level app) it’s clear that the tilt I was seeing on my headshell is more of 2-3 degrees at most -- odd how small deviations from horizontal seem much larger than the same deviations from vertical -- must be something to do with how we are wired to examine the horizon?

Anyway as what we are trying to do is get the stylus exactly vertical and given how probably difficult it is to be sure you’ve mounted a tiny bit of diamond into a shank of boron/aluminium at exactly the right angle it’s not that surprising that even $15K cartridges can be off.

I do agree however that it’s disconcerting to see and part of the reason I’ve recently moved away from this brand of cartridge

@lewm no one is suggesting that the cantilever is off, the issue is with the stylus. Here's a clear explanation of the difference from Mikey (paragraph 8)

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/crazy-little-thing-called-azimuth-part-1#x6kLUutKlRvolsZM.97

Neither Mikey nor I are perfect.  He wrote (among many other words):
"Were the stylus perfectly aligned with the cantilever, cantilever perpendicularity to the record surface would guaranty minimum crosstalk and correct setting of azimuth."

He left out what is going on at the other end of the cantilever.  As I said, if the magnets are not correctly aligned around the vibrating cantilever/coil assembly, then too, the cartridge will not achieve best crosstalk when the stylus/cantilever are perpendicular to the V-shaped groove.  So, in sum, he left out the bit about the magnets; I left out the point that he makes above and elsewhere throughout his paper.  Put us together, and you've got a more complete story.


Read more at http://www.analogplanet.com/content/crazy-little-thing-called-azimuth-part-1#VtqFlkIgexQq2XZJ.99