Azimuth 2020

mijostyn

Cleeds, Lederman is a business man and obviously his approach has worked on you. Everything he belches is common knowledge ...

I’ve met Lederman several times and never heard him belch. Whether you care for his products or style or not, his accomplishments in audio probably dwarf yours.

As you raise the VTA of an offset tonearm the stylus leans towards the rim of the platter. As you lift the head shell the stylus leans toward the spindle.

Wow, you obviously either have some seriously defective or misaligned gear, or you’re confused about basic geometry. VTA and azimuth are two completely independent angles. Offset is independent of azimuth. Perhaps you are confused as to the definition and measurement of azimuth.

@cleeds,

"VTA and azimuth are two completely independent angles."  Only with a tangential tonearm, not with a pivoted, offset, one.  The effect may be minor, depending on the degree of offset, but it's there.

melm

"VTA and azimuth are two completely independent angles." Only with a tangential tonearm, not with a pivoted, offset, one. The effect may be minor, depending on the degree of offset, but it's there.

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.

"Cross talk is affected by azimuth. Phase is affected by tracking error."
And phase between the two channels is also affected by azimuth.  All the adjustments on a TT are interrelated to some degree.  And these changes can be measured and heard.

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.