setting the azimuth

If you go thru turntablebasics.com they have mirror alignment protractor where you can see angle more presicely including certainly azimuth.

i use a carpenter's folding ruler that has the slide out on it, my vpi 10.5i came with a 6 inch rod and the arm is made with a grove in it for the rod to lay in, i sit the arm down on a lp and use the slide out to get the same fit on both sides of the rod, the area where the slide out meets the ruler is wide enough for this use, and it works very well. when i first setup my arm i used a 12 desk ruler, when i thought of this way of doing the azimuth adjustment i was off by almost a heavy sixteenth of a inch, when finished the ruler just touches both sides for the rod,

If your tonearm doesn't have a means to adjust the azimuth (e.g. Origin Live), how do you do it? Add shims? That sounds quite intensive and difficult.

Yes, in arms with no azimuth adjustment, shims are one of the only ways, and this scares people off from even trying. And, it is too bad because azimuth adjustment is imperative for a completely "true" setup. This is one reason, among others, that I will never buy another Rega-based arm (though I own a couple). But that is another story.

Peter_s,

Go to this site and scroll down to the fourth photo for one pretty simple way to shim for azimuth:

http://www.simplyblack.net/WVC/Technical_F_wally.htm

The tape makes azimuth adjustment quite simple. Just alter the tension on the mounting screws. I used this method on my OL Silver.

Of course any shim will alter the coupling between cartridge and headshell. Whether the sonic improvement from optimizing azimuth will outweigh any possible negatives would vary from cartridge to cartridge, and probably from rig to rig, system to system and even listener to listener.

Like 4yanx, we spoiled ourselves by moving up to perhaps the most adjustable arm in existence. It would be hard to go backwards, but workarounds like Wally's are often effective.