HiFi News Test Record Azimuth

I get @millercarbon because from the outside to the inside - particularly with a weight/screw-down there is a curve/dish to the record. That said the hi Fi news adjustment is quite useful. Dr Feickhert at a talk informed the audience that mc’s almost always have a sideways tension on the cantilever by their nature/design. Shame there is no cheap plug in to check - both fozgometer and feickhert software aren’t cheap😢

I recently set up azimuth on a new cartridge with a VTA/Azimuth block - output was unbalanced. Then used a Fozgometer and got equal output but no magic. Then an o-scope and found 75/150 mv crosstalk. Adjusted it to 65/80 mv. Slightly unbalanced output but Glorious sound. Lesson?  Measure the right thing and azimuth matters a lot.

If you are going to adjust azimuth "visually" (Chakster), then you really ought not to have a tonearm with azimuth adjustment capability, because in most tonearms, the default position of the headshell will already give you 90 degrees of azimuth... 

-On many tonearms without azimuth adjustment detachable headshell can be rotated a a bit in tonearm's bayonet. Correction always needed. 

-There are also headshells with azimuth adjustment. 

-There are also tonearms like Reed 3p with azimuth on the fly. 

But I adjust visually anyway (looking at the cartridge body and cantilever), I have the same Hi-Fi News Test LP.

  

Wlutke, just want to make the point that azimuth adjustment is not done to correct channel imbalance; it’s done to minimize crosstalk. Adjusting azimuth does have a small effect on balance but the resulting angle required to produce a small change in balance will be ridiculously to one side or the other of 90 degrees, thus endangering the stylus and the LP if used that way for any length of time, and it will be way off the angle for optimal crosstalk.

Adjusting azimuth affects crosstalk and relative phase of the two channels.

People can accept some level of crosstalk, particularly from speakers since you're hearing each speaker with both ears, but many cartridges (particularly less expensive ones) may have crosstalk in the -20dB range which isn't great. Getting crosstalk to at least -30dB is better. A digital system will usually have crosstalk better than -80dB across the entire frequency response. And I've read that -40dB is about the threshold at which people don't really care much or notice anymore. (Not sure how correct that number is.)

But more egregious phase differences can really mess up the sound. If you imagine a singer but their voice is coming out of your left and right speakers are slightly different times, it will sound really off and bad. And that is what will happen with all of the instruments.

That being said, you need to correct azimuth and phase electrically or using software. The actual physical location that needs to be calibrated is inside the cartridge, where the magnet and coils are, and their alignment is not perfect with the cantilever. Small 0.25° of change in the azimuth make a difference in the measured crosstalk and phase. But that's a very difficult angle of change to try and measure by sight. And every cartridge's internal alignment is slightly different, even of the same make and model.

This is why paying for a professional calibration can be worth it. You can of course learn how to do it yourself and purchase the necessary tools and/of software. Alternatively, don't worry about it too much and just enjoy your music if it already sounds good to you.