DaVinci tonearm and azymuth

Dear Psag: +++++ " Would appreciate it if anyone could comment on the pros and cons of this design decision. " +++++

IMHO there is no single pro about. From a stand point of tonearm design one main tonearm target is to permit/accept the right cartridge set-up, a today tonearm that don't permit the right cartridge set-up can't honor the tonearm name.
All this tonearm customers/owners could think that they are hearing almost the best of the cartridges they mount on that tonearm but the reality is that they are far away from what is each one real quality cartridge performance in that tonearm.

IMHO there is no valid excuse to design a tonearm with out azymuth adjustment and I belive this does not matters if the tonearm price is low or high: it is by design principle, period.

The azymuth tonearm control subject is something like a car where you can drive it if you never want to turn to the right ( because in that car you can't. ), no one buy a car that only turn around the left!!!! ( a dramatization. )

I hate to talk about this kind of topics because IMHO there is ( one way or the other ) a total scorn to the un-knoledge customer and due to this non customer know-how an audio item designer/builder ( like that tonearm in this case ) makes money against the true audio customer necessities ( what we need. ), again: no excuse for that especially at that price!!!!

Btw, the subject of soundstage/focus ( as important as is. ) that " suffer " through a wrong cartridge azymuth set-up is not so important like both frequency extremes that " suffer " more ( and alter the whole tonal balance and increment distortions/colorations. ) because a wrong azymuth set-up preclude the tuneful bass range and the transparency on the highs ( between other things. ). If with some recordings your bass is not tight or comes with a high bass overhang then could be a wrong azymuth set up.
The azymut cartridge set-up is the difference between a very good performance and a great one and you can't enjoy this last till you can have the right cartridge set-up!!!!

Today I don't buy a tonearm with out cartridge azymuth control mechanism.

Btw too and like all posted here the " solutions/help " to non-azymuth tonearm mechanism like shims/spacers and the like these " medicines " are worst than the illness.
Dear friends an Aspirine does not heal/cure a Cancer.

Some one posted ( and I agree with ): change your tonearm!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Lewm is right. Correct azimuth is in the very first an optimized geometrical position of the polished areas (NOT the mere stylus...) of your stylus vis-a-vis the two walls of the record groove. Lets further assume, that hardly any cartridge on earth is blessed with two identical coils giving identical output millivolts. This leads to the cruel thought that "optimizing" the electrical figure "crosstalk", without determining the individual electrical output of each coil first, might not necessary give the geometrical correct position.
As tempting as computer-analysis may be (and we all (me too...) are long used to computer-generated convenience in many respects of our everyday life .... and even more to come..), it does not necessary give the correct result in adjusting phono cartridge azimuth on a electrical basis.
Here once again we have to "walk the distance" and should by all means trust that biological yet fairly complex device inside our brain - the hearing.
Take a purely acoustical recording - old Opus3 records do work marvels here... - with a solo voice accompanied by solo instrument with resonance corpus (a guitar, bass, piano - you name it).
You will hear it when azimuth locks in.

.. trust that biological yet fairly complex device inside our brain - the hearing.

The Danger Zone

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For clarity, I think we all agree that shimming is sub-optimal. The method Thom and I described and the link I posted are a band-aid for a problem that shouldn't exist, at least not on pricey tonearms. Shimming works for azimuth but it also has sonic side effects in at least two areas:

MOUNTING RIGIDITY
The more rigid the coupling between cartridge and headshell, the more accurately cantilever movements are translated into electrical signals. Looseness in the cartridge mount slurs transient responses, reduces amplitudes, adds overhang to every note and raises the sound floor - slop, slop, slop.

The solution is self-evident: if you must shim for azimuth, use a rigid, non-compliant material.

ENERGY TRANSMISSION
As Larryi already described.

The precise sonic effects of altering energy transmission between cartridge and headshell will vary with individual components. Nevertheless, inserting two new material interfaces increases the frequencies that will be reflected back into the cartridge. That necessarily raises the sound floor.

Shimming's a reasonable band-aid, that's all.

And what Syntax posted! ;-)