****I haven't had to be really concerned with azimuth since that parameter is fixed with my SME tonearm***
It could very well be that your azimuth is spot on just by installing your cart and tightening the bolts. Equally so, it could very well be that your azimuth is "off" simply by just installing your cart and tightening the bolts.
Its not that you arent concerned about it, its just that your arm has kinda forced you to ignore it because to address it is going to be tricky and difficult because you have an arm that does allow for it.
Cantilevers get twisted, diamonds are installed sometimes slightly off, etc, so in an imperfect world experimenting with azimuth is important. Especially i think, with high performance cartridges which operate optimally within a very narrow window. This is one thing that frustrates me a bit on some days. You would think having shelled out alot of money for good playback would allow and guarantee you to just sit back, relax and enjoy your music when actually your given more grief, work and head aches and unknown variables! (ha ha! i am laughing! and shaking my head)
Good quote... " the easiest thing to do in the world is to playback an lp wrong!" (smile)
Opus, the breuer arm has no azimuth adjustment either but i still try to incorporate some method of azimuth adjustment. Whether its compressing one side of the panzerholz shim more than the other using the cart bolts or installing something larger on one side of the cart and not on the other i can at least get a radar fix (through listening) if in fact i'm close or not, to operating the cart within its optimal range of performance. If the playback suddenly sounds alot better than obviously something wasnt quite right.
The problem arises [going about it this way] as to discerning whether it was in fact the azimuth that brought about the change, the resonant relationship between cart and arm, the path the stylus travels along the record or something else? In the end i mostly by experimentation, by trial and error find the sweet spot where the sound snaps into "focus". In other words, i dont really worry too much what brought about the change but rather, more importantly that the change that comes is HEARD and IS good!
To add to this...through experience i have noticed that yesterdays perceived success in dialing in the cart to the sweet spot was in fact yesterdays failure since more experimentation, dialed in the cart even further. In other words yesterday experimentation was a "relative success" since we have no reference point for how good the cart can sound, until the sound is in fact improved upon the last improvement do we ACTUALLY realize what is possible!
I usually do this by playing a favourite well recorded track over and over and then when i've got it sounding real good i try it out across several different kinds of records. This way i eliminate the variable of different records being cut by the cutter at slightly different angles and skewing my perceived improvements.
Later, i only have to worry about vta from record to record as the other parameters should be pretty good now.
With the allaerts mc1b mk II i have noticed a "greying" of timbres, a slight mechanicalness and hash when azimuth ,vtf or vta is out. The richness, tonal density and silkiness is lost.
Its a poor return on our time and money invested to leave azimuth to chance by just hoping its correct. Hope this helps.
