HiFi News Test Record Azimuth

The mirror method will properly orient the diamond and if the cartridge is well made the
coils also.

What is the mirror method?

If the cartridge is well made then the stylus is aligned with the cantilever is aligned with the generator is aligned with the body. Therefore we can look at the body. So what do we need a mirror for? 

Audiophiles always making things unnecessarily, illogically, complicated.

All fear aside, the wonderful thing about analog is that if it sounds good, it is good.

 I whole heartedly agree on eliminating unnecessary setup tools. A trusty metal Dennison & a few other pieces, bits and records can get me as far down the road as any system will allow. I must say though, access to a real microscope can be a big plus if things don’t come together from a way off microscopic stylus alignment.
After 200x viewing of enough cartridge styli under the big lens, I fail to see the importance of many procedures which promote intense alignment to objects that simply don’t matter.

Like driving, we must be aware of the contact patch.

A straight forward setup is the best place to begin the combing-through process. The more serious the stylus profile - the more work you’ll have to comb through.

What is a good and easy microscope that you would recommend?

The electron microscope. By far the best images are obtained with electron microscopy. What is especially lovely about this is it only works with metal. So the record is cut up, the stylus and record and everything vapor deposition coated with metal. The beauty of this is you have a super clear image that totally absolutely destroys the cartridge and record. Which is pretty much what you do when you start dissecting anything this obsessively.

Audiophiles can suffer, because only Flat Profile from the lead-in groove to the run-out groove can guarantee there is no pitch to the profile, allowing your stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center.

For better understanding we have to cut the vinyl in two pieces in the middle and look at the profile thickness, conventional vinyl record profile is thicker under the label area and thinner on the edge. In this situation (if you don’t have azimuth adjustment) you stylus is is not perpendicular to the record surface, because the thickness of the record is different from lean-in groove to run-out groove.

Conventional records does not have a flat profile like those flat profile pressing of the early Blue Note from the ’50s for example. If you cut such record in the middle you will see the profile is absolutely flat (same thickness everywhere).

Who else nowadays can press a flat profile and UHQR except for the Quality Record Pressings and Anlogue Productions?

Probably most of us have been listening to our records with cartridge azimuth slightly off, did you noticed that by ears? Or does it change anything in your enjoyment with vinyl over the last 20-40 years?