Fozgometer

I thought I'd enter another installment in my saga. The Foz is back, and I set up the azimuth for my new cartridge. From the beginning, I didn't think much of the new Ortofon Windfield. I came from a Benz LPS and the Windfield was not even in the same league. As it broke in it got better and better, but even after a month or so (waiting for a new Fozgometer) it didn't capture me. I have a VPI 3D arm..and Harry gushed over this cartridge who really made be get it. I reviewed every parameter of setup, but loading....today, I worked on that. Harry told me that 500 ohms is what he uses and recommends, so naturally that is how I set it up. I was uneasy about something, and didn't know what. I called Ayre and spoke to Michael...a guru with this stuff. He told me that he would try 4700 ohms....no resistor in place. Ok, I did that and although it sounded better in many respects, it didn't have the magic I was looking for. OK...opened the Ayre preamp, and got in a 1000 ohm resistor and OMG what a difference. Here is magic in spades. The sound changed with the addition of resistance much like an arm reacts to damping. When you have too much damping, the sound just lays there....too little, and there is too much fuzz...not enough instrument placement...spaces between the notes are filled in. I Suspect that the Ortofon is still waking up, but I encourage you vinyl fanatics, to experiment with loading and not just select a value on a whim. Every system is different and you must experiment to find your prescription.

I love my Hagerman Piccolo step up. Just a simple twist of the knob and I can select from 6 different loadings. So much nicer than soldering and de-soldering resistors inside a box, and the sound is transparent and musical too. Thanks for a great design Jim,

I was having problems with the accuracy of my Foz, which was still very new (purchased from LP Gear). I tried to calibrate the unit using the test tones provided on Musical Surroundings web site, but couldn't get it correctly adjusted and sent it to Musical Surroundings for service. The service manager, Mike Fajin, told me that my unit was severely "out of whack", but he was able to accurately calibrate the unit using a special signal generator built for MS by Jim Fosgate. So, if you have a Foz that's not accurate, or you have problems with calibration, you might want to send the unit to MS.

Sdcampbell, that's great information. I used the Musical Surroundings test tones to calibrate my Fozgometer and it went smoothly and the Foz works well for azimuth adjustment. But if the unit ever seems to be "out of whack" and the test tone recalibration method doesn't work I'll know to just send it in for service. It's nice to know that the unit is so easily restored.

Regards,
Tom

How do you define "whack" and whether your Foz is in or out of it? It's based on a subjective impression, is it not? Unless the azimuth is so askew as to be impossible.