Dear Rauliruegas: ++++ " well, I think that that (save time. ) is very high trade off/"price " to pay against the cartridge quality performance level adjusted with the right azymuth: don't you think? ++++
No, not necessarily, Raul, and here is why. First, I don't really care about saving time. I clean my records with a Loricraft and 5 step fluids, so that is not the tradeoff that matters to me. Second, you are assuming that my cartridge quality performance is being compromised without this adjustability. How can you be certain?
I have compared the sound of my analog to that in many other systems over the years. When azimuth is adjusted on other arms with other cartridges in those systems, I hear improvements in areas like focus, tonal balance, and midrange weight, only when azimuth was not properly set in the first place. I don't hear those issues in my set up. If the stylus, cantilever and headshell are all straight/level/correctly manufactured, they will not need to be adjusted.
Of course, I can't be sure that some azimuth adjustment would not improve the sound of my arm, but nor can you be sure that it can. When I owned the SME 309 arm with a detachable headshell, I did adjust azimuth from the factory setting (which I assume was straight) and the sound did not improve, so I set it back to how it came originally. It sounded better that way. I guess in that case, it did not need to be adjusted.
I think it does make sense for some cartridges and some arms, particularly those that are not straight. And I agree that most people find it a worthwhile feature. I have heard demos in which an azimuth adjustment improved the sound. But SME has decided that the trade off is not worth it in their top arms and they make the arm with no adjustment. Many SME V-12 owners have also decided it is a worthwhile trade off. Some of those owners have compared the SME 312S to the V-12 and preferred the latter with no adjustability.
It may be different for some other arms. I just adjusted the azimuth in a friend's TriPlanar arm. It was visibly slightly canted to one side. Of course the sound improved when I straightened it. But I can not be sure that if the arm did not have this adjustment that it would have sounded worse, assuming it is manufactured straight and true. The owner, not the manufacturer put it out of ideal alignment. I did notice a lot of other stuff on that arm that some owners do indeed remove to improve the sonics. What does that tell us about that design? There certainly is an adjustability/sonic quality trade off for the TriPlanar arm.
In general, I don't think it's bad to offer azimuth adjustment, but it is a tradeoff, and it is one that in my case, with my cartridge, I would rather not make. I just dont' think you can make such a definitive statement.
Sorry to highjack the original topic.
