Yet another audiophile discovers that the mirror can lie. Is that a new wrinkle?
But seriously, if you paid the dough for a Triplanar or the like, you are cheating yourself if you don't also set azimuth electronically, at least initially. THEN you can fine tune by ear. Good to know tha the Foz works. |
Dear Mike, Did you set your azimuth using the Feickert stuff? I ask, because I have seen that done, and phase-matching is used as a criterion for the optimal setting. However, at the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I would point out that music (or anything besides a pure sine wave test tone) is a complex mixture of many, many frequencies, each of which will have its own phase characteristic. It would be impossible to match them all truly between R and L channels (except possibly with state of the art digital intervention, which we don't want). So we have to settle for some average setting that makes the brain most happy. Then too, there are the unpredictable vicissitudes of one's room reflections, speaker crossover, speaker drivers, etc, to alter phase again, even the phase angles for each frequency were to emerge perfectly matched from the phono stage. But I do take the point that there may be some setting which is found to be most pleasing due to its average effect on all frequencies. |
This is just a stab at the question: To set azimuth with my Signet, you first have to set the meter to 0 db for the channel that directly receives the signal from the test LP, so you can then measure the crosstalk in the opposite channel. When you do that in both directions, you have to have balanced the signal each time in that way in order to compare the crosstalk numbers (which are in terms of negative db, down from the 0 db reference). Perhaps that is what is going on with the Foz. |
I for one would not quibble over the price of the Foz. I was trying to find out from owners how it works is all, so I could decide for myself whether it works as I would like it to do. I want my $250-instrument to take me where I want to go. Setting by eye would be OK, if you knew for sure that the transducing mechanism inside the cartridge body was completely squared away with respect to itself and to the cartridge body.
Setting VTF by ear could get one in a lot of trouble. Obviously you need to have a known measured starting point else you may crush your cantilever or damage an LP. |
I don't quite understand your post, Dan. It would seem that if you own a Talea or any other tonearm with easy, accurate, and repeatable azimuth adjustment (Triplanar, Reed), then the usefulness of a device that provides an electronic method for setting azimuth is all the more merited. This is not to say that the Foz is the one and only good choice for this purpose. Once you get it electrically "right", you can fine tune by ear. IOW, I agree with the last sentence of Tom's post, in essence, altho I'm still in the dark re the Foz per se. |
Capnbob, As Larry inferred. There is no doubt that one could do the measurements done by the Foz "manually" with a proper test LP, a fine quality voltmeter, and/or a 'scope. The Foz is a matter of convenience and rapidity, plus you can be uninformed and still get it right, electrically at least. Also, good 'scopes and meters are not exactly cheap. Nor are the brains to use them correctly common among us audiofools. My only questions about the Foz are like those stated by Larry; I really would like to know exactly how it arrives at its "correct" azimuth setting, because there is more than one opinion on the definition of correct azimuth, even in the electrical sense. |
Rich, I don't think anyone has used the SoundSmith device except Peter Lederman and his alpha testers. |
Dear Madfloyd, You are the umpteenth person to be stumped by the operation of the Fozgometer. I have not even seen one first hand, but I wrote above and elsewhere that the instruction manual must be sorely lacking, if indeed gave you one when you buy the Foz. My point: have you read and re-read the owners manual, assuming there is one? Does it address your issue? If not, call the maker. None of us here will know as much about this product as they do (or should). I think that to assist you properly, one must understand how the Fox is supposed to work, how it arrives at what it calls proper azimuth adjustment. There are several electronic methods and several endpoint goals one could aim for. The best set of tools I ever saw for azimuth is the Dr. Feickert kit. Unfortunately, it is even more expensive than the Foz. |
Left out a word; should have written "if indeed they gave you..."
Frankly, I am a bit suspicious of the Cartright, because it claims to do so many things in a package that is not much larger than the Foz. But I have an open mind, and I do respect Peter Ledermann. (I respect Jim Fosgate, too, but I wonder what he was thinking when he marketed his product.) |
Just sayin' that when I saw the actual size of the Cartright, I was surprised since some of its announced capabilities normally require a bench full of equipment. But, like you, I have an open mind. |
Thanks, Ecir, for that insight about quality control. That plus the lack of a good owners manual goes a long way to explain all the consternated owners who have posted here and on Vinyl Asylum about problems with the Foz. |
