Azimuth 2020

roberttdid

Bit hard to follow the conversation to know if any conclusions were reached ...

That was the deliberate result of the two users who turned this conversation into ugly nonsense. They've since been given a temporary "time out" from the group.

If the pivot angle is perpendicular to the offset portion of the arm, the azimuth will not change as the cartridge is raised and lowered.

Exactly!

For most tone-arms, the pivot angle is perpendicular to the main arm.

You make a fair point and for those arms, azimuth will change slightly as the arm is raised or lowered. I don't know whether that represents "most" pickup arms or not, but it's arguably a design deficiency.

Ii don't think the korfaudio article says very much.  For example: "Consequently, any tonearm that does not have azimuth adjustment is severely deficient".  I would say that if it doesn't have an EASY adjustment it is defective.

In my experience that would include VPI pivoted arms.  It can be done with those arms but it is a major pain in the neck.  Adding the dual pivot makes the adjustment very easy, and IMO makes that accessory a necessity.  

Also I find the article incredibly naive in its expectation that a cartridge can be so correctly assembled (in the real world) as to not require an adjustment.  Not to mention the possibility of the slightest non-parallelism between the arm board and the platter.

I differ with the person who claimed he arrived at the same azimuth settings whether using the Fozgometer or the Feickert software. I have used both, and rarely has that been the case when you take the time. The Foz is easier to use since no computer is used but doesn't yield the same results and the same quality.

Quality for SQ? Or for vinyl conservation?
That IS the question.

Robert, You took my meaning wrongly, when I wrote that the best use of azimuth adjustment is to manage crosstalk, not channel balance.  In fact, I found the logic of the Korf article, when I first read it about a year ago, to be compelling.  He doesn't say to use azimuth adjustment to correct for channel imbalance but not crosstalk, as your response to me might suggest; he does say one is best off by seating the stylus in the groove symmetrically and not to fuss with azimuth, which is a philosophy I now follow.  I only wanted to add that azimuth adjustments have a much greater effect on crosstalk than on channel balance, if one wants to fuss with azimuth.