Wally Tools to Offer a New Service.

The Terminology is not off importance, the need to investigate and carry out the additional alignments are the practices that have importance.

The World of Vinyl replay is governed by Multiple Disciplines that need to be adhered to, with the intent to achieve the best performance / presentation that can be acquired.

Working backwards with a Vinyl System from the mounting of the fully assembled system > mechanical and electrical interfaces > to the basics of the Geometry used for the Tonearm > Head Shell > Cartridge Assembly.

Taking into account the Products commonly used in the above System, there does not seem to be blatant failings being discovered by Producers that are akin to a very poorly aligned Stylus > Cantilever Assembly as offered by the Cartridge Part Suppliers and Producers of Cartridges. 

It seems from my research that in multiple cases when a Conventional Tonearm Design is set up with a Wand at 180 Degrees the Cartridge Manufacturer has been allowed to get away with their failings, and have been able to repeatedly offer a product that will not offer a almost ideal configuration for a Alignment of a Stylus Set on a Cantilever.

This failing from the Cartridge producer is now leaving doubt with the Cartridge End User and further measures that are being incorporated to achieve a basic geometry, with such ancillaries as,
i.e, Microscopes, Computers and Measuring Software.

It does not feel correct that such expensive products that typically cost 
$500 - $4000 are to be subject to the requiring expensive ancillary support to overcoming what are basic assembly defects.

The use of such additional ancillary measures would be best justified if used to ensure a already near optimised set up through a conventional set up, was fine tuned with a Technology to offer a assured final set up with the data produced to confirm. 

As said before I feel most Cartridge Users like myself have a user enjoyment satisfaction with a Cartridge set up in the conventional manner.
A careful use of conventional protractors for alignment and maybe a Test Record has sufficed.

The Cartridge Industry owes the End User of their Products a much more prioritised approach to how they align a Stylus on a Cantilever.

This failing to offer a consistent Geometry for a Stylus set on a Cantilever is the Antithesis of the 'Zenith',
and would be better referred to as the 'Nadir'             

         

@pindac, absolutely, but please don't get in a conversation with rauliruegas, the two of you will drive us crazy:-)))

If we get critical enough with our microscopes and such the deluge of returned cartridges will keep the manufacturers honest. In my recent experience the major manufacturers do quite well, Ortofon, Clearaudio, and Soundsmith for certain. It is the cottage manufacturers who can't afford to waste a lot of stylus assemblies Like the now defunct Transfiguration that would worry me the most.

pindac

The Terminology is not off importance, the need to investigate and carry out the additional alignments are the practices that have importance.

Actually the terminology matters very much, as it does in any pursuit. Only by mutual agreement of what terms mean are we able to then discuss the topic.

It seems from my research that in multiple cases when a Conventional Tonearm Design is set up with a Wand at 180 Degrees the Cartridge Manufacturer has been allowed to get away with their failings, and have been able to repeatedly offer a product that will not offer a almost ideal configuration for a Alignment of a Stylus Set on a Cantilever.

Your wand is at 180 degrees to what? It isn't clear what you're talking about, what research you've done, or what "failings" you've found.

It does not feel correct that such expensive products that typically cost $500 - $4000 are to be subject to the requiring expensive ancillary support to overcoming what are basic assembly defects.

Precise tools tend to be expensive and they're what's often needed if you want precise results. If you're willing to settle for less than that you can use less expensive tools. Many people do just that with their phono cartridge setups and they're perfectly happy.

The use of such additional ancillary measures would be best justified if used to ensure a already near optimised set up through a conventional set up ...

Are you saying that a phono cartridge should be aligned twice - first with cheap tools, then with more precise tools?

As said before I feel most Cartridge Users like myself have a user enjoyment satisfaction with a Cartridge set up in the conventional manner.

But you just claimed that phono carrtidges "repeatedly offer a product that will not offer a almost ideal configuration." So which is it?

Frankly I am a bit surprised that the three main players manufacturing cantilever/stylus assemblies even bother to do so anymore. This is a small market. But yes the manufacturer must grade the parts. Doesn't mean those slightly off need get trashed. Just that the top carts need the perfect ones. Seems obvious no?

Just to make this terminology a bit more complex, I was once informed that the azimuth adjustment on a triplanar tonearm is flawed, because as you alter azimuth you are also altering zenith. So, I thought about how the triplanar azimuth adjustment works as I tried to understand “zenith”. TheTriplanar allows you to twist the arm tube back at the pivot point. With that information, I thought of an analogy with a light plane landing on a airstrip. If you watch airplanes, you can see that when they get caught by a gust of wind the tail section can sometimes lean to the left or right and down, with respect to the direction of the plane. That seems like what would happen to the stylus when adjusting azimuth with the triplanar tonearm, because of headshell offset angle. So I thought that was zenith, with respect to a phonograph cartridge. It’s an aircraft analogy I think. Pilots talk about “zenith”.