"Straight" talk

@stringreen,

Why do you dismiss offhanded (setting azimuth by ear?)

With the 3d arm, this operation should be quick and easy. And an experienced music listener such as yourself, should be able to perform, no problem.

Forget the FOZ!

Lay a CD playing side up on your turntable. Put a very tiny bubble level (you can find them on Ebay) on top of the head shell just in front of the mounting screws. Set the stylus on the CD. Then repeat, to adjust the azimuth to "center" the bubble.

The diamond will be exactly vertical to the Lp, and the azimuth optimal.

Makes a very big difference in size and width of soundstage, and also improves detail.

@don_c55, you are assuming that the stylus is perfectly aligned and affixed to the cantilever with absolute accuracy, which rarely happens with a hand made component.

Slaw et al.....without looking at the speedometer...can anyone tell when you're going 56 mph....

@stringreen .... how do you tell your Foz , is actually "correct"? I'm guessing like those you shade, your final acceptance is with your ears. If it was off , your stance is no, its correct even if your ears tell you different ? Likely not , so that said if you know what correct is then how can you be so flippant that it can't be done by ear from the get go. Sorry I find the logic flawed to assume a meter is the metric of choice that your ears make the final decision on.
Your speedometer analogy,.....can you tell your foz is correct without hearing results after its set...........