Azimuth: how critical is it?

Also, if you look on Soundsmith and study well you will see Peter Ledermann came up with an ingenious solution that enables all his cartridges to have azimuth adjustment regardless of what arm they are used on. When you see how it works you will realize you can do the exact same thing yourself. Simply place a round toothpick along the center line between the cartridge and the head shell. Then by adjusting the screws you will be able to rock the cartridge one way or the other and wala, azimuth adjustment! 

Looking at the headshell head on there is a slight visible tilt, maybe 3 - 5 degrees visually.  I do not have measurement devices to check cross talk, etc.

The sound is good to very good, with good imaging.  My particular listening situation is a little compromised by the use of the listening space also as a family/great room.  My wife tolerates it, kinda.

3 to 5 degrees is not trivial.  Take a look at MC's reference to Peter Lederman's tooth pick trick, and maybe try it. Perhaps you will enjoy your sound even more, by a tiny bit.

Correct azimuth allows you to have a soundstage that, for many recordings, extends well beyond the speakers and well behind them. Since I listen to classical music, I think the rewards of a proper azimuth are large and rewarding. YMMV.

The adjustment is very easy with my arm.  I find that with the proper records, I can adjust it by ear. Some people use expensive devices to do so. I have read about them and I would find them a pain, and expensive pain at that.

Though others may differ, playing a mono record with one channel out of phase will get you very close, perhaps close enough.

Playing a mono LP with one channel out of phase will tell you more about channel balance, as it pertains to the electronics downstream from the cartridge, than about azimuth, would it not?  At least that is my first reaction; I am thinking about it some more.  How do you define "correct azimuth", with respect to the placement of the stylus in the groove of a stereo LP or with respect to crosstalk (and phase, if you want)?  What do you hear when you do it?  Seems like with a mono LP, you have a mono signal with uniform phase off the LP.  The exact same signal is then fed to two channels in a stereo system. Then when you reverse the phase of one channel, you would still have signal out of that speaker and also you would have signal out of the other speaker.  To some degree the two would acoustically cancel, but not nearly perfectly, because phase is affected by room reflections.  Seems like you would lose SPLs and the tonal balance would be messed up.  I'm just curious.