setting azimuth on VPI turntables

You are right. Setting up the table correctly is critical. I have a VPI Aries 2 Extended table with a JMW 12.5 arm and a ZYX Atmos cartridge. I am lucky to have friends who are very knowledgeable about turntable setup. One of them has been helping me fine tune my table. The sound I am getting now is amazing! Extreme dynamics, huge soundstage, precise placement of instruments in the soundstage, plenty of "air" around the instruments, and fantastic sense of attack and decay of instruments. Vocals also have a "you are there" feel to them. Don't even bother setting up your VPI with the jig that comes with the table. The only way to go is to set up with the Feikert protractor.

You guys are absolutely correct. Turntable setup requires a lot of patience and careful adjustment to reap the benefits of that big money outlay. Also, we usually put a new cartridge in the new turntable/arm. The cartridge will be in constant flux...mine was for over 150 hours. What store is going to have that kind of time to put in no matter how much they charge you. Its really not that difficult to set up an arm/cartridge if you are careful and do it yourself. Regarding the JMW arm. When you set it up, don't tighten the Allen screw on the counterweight very tight...this enables you to "coax" the counterweight to accomodate azimuth and VTA without the counterweight moving. Tighten it when satisfied...much easier than trying to do each adjustment seperately. The method SNS used is fine...the rod thing works as well, and the JMW alignment gizmo is fine if done with care..as with all of this. Regarding azimuth adjustment... It is difficult to judge the distance from the rod to the record and have it be equal on both sides. I took two Cardas Myrtle blocks and placed one on each side, then took other wood block of slightly narrower height and put them one on top of each of the Myrtle blocks. The combined blocks both just fit under the rod edges when the arm is perfectly level and sitting on a non-moving record. This enables you to set the arm absolutely level, but in a poorly manufactured cartridge, the stylus may not have been mounted square to the cartridge body. I double check the azimuth by using a top silvered mirror (get it at a camera repair center). Put the arm on the mirror, and carefully look closely down the front of the cartridge. The cantilever and stylus must sit perpendicular to the reflected image. If the stylus is leaning in either direction, I personally would replace the cartridge/stylus.

How low does the A/C voltage scale on the Digital Multimeter need to be?

And where do you measure it?

Thanks, Jerry

Jerry, the ac voltage scale should be at the 2 scale, the 20 scale is not low enough for precise readings.

You measure at the speaker binding posts on your amp.

Stingreen, it would be interesting to measure your crosstalk with a DMM. I contend the DMM method is by far the most precise method because of production variations in tonearm mounting pads, cartridge mounting surface, cantilever, flatness of record, and in your case the Myrtle wood blocks. In the case of VPI's method you also have the possible variations in straightness of rod, ruler precsion and reading it.

My initial reading after having set azimuth according to the VPI method was around 20% deviation in crosstalk between channels. I also found that inperceptable movement (with the naked eye) of the counterweight resulted in quite different crosstalk measurements, ie., what may measure equal using any physical means may still not be within the 5 to 10% crosstalk tolerance level. Also, there may be added value in getting it down to about 1% vs. 5 to 10% tolerance level(I didn't listen to musical passages at different crosstalk valuations).

Your suggestion of tightning up the counterweight set screw close to its stop could be very helpful, I had the screw set loose which may have resulted in counterweight moving about too easily. Also, I wasn't setting VTF and azimuth in discrete steps, I already had the VTF set correctly. It was in trying to move counterweight about it's axis that I was inperceptably moving counterweight forward and backward which changed VTF, your suggestion of pre-tightening some may help in keeping this from happening.

Slowhand, I took it for granted the VPI allignment jig was correct. In the Fremer DVD he does allignment with the Wally tracker and it jibes perfectly with the VPI jig. I will have to go back to my DB protractor and double check allignment.

Almost forgot, another thing that may result in azimuth error is how tight each screw is. At one point in the midst of doing my measurements I had gotten crosstalk deviation within specs, I decided to retighten the cartridge screws just to be sure, this changed crosstalk deviation beyond specs.

To reiterate, my experience teaches me no physical measurements protocol will result in proper azimuth settings. One may get lucky and find the mark, but for proper azimuth it is absolutely necessary for an electronic measurement.

With practice this method is actually quite easily accomplished, not rocket science here. Purchase or borrow the Fremer video, the PDF files alone are worth the price. Actually, now that I think of it, it may be necessary to buy that video as it has the Wally azimuth voltage to decibel conversion chart that is absolutely necessary. It may also be available elsewhere on the web for free, I haven't checked. You also need a record with 1kz test signal for both left and right channels, I used the Cardas record.