+1 for the Foz. The calibration procedure takes about 2 minutes - most of that reading the directions. No more complicated than biasing your tubes. I still check mine out every few months when rechecking the turntable geometry, but it has not changed in more then a year - since I started keeping it in a location where it doesn't get jiggled around much. Use it a few times and the whole process will take less than 5 minutes, including mounting the test record. There probably are better azimuth tools out there, but none as easy to use. This is one of those rare audio gadgets that is actually an over-achiever. The calibration procedure is actually balancing the readings for both channels with a constant signal by using a small screwdriver until the meter indicates the same value for both channels. If the calibration step is not performed it is quite possible for one channel to be off enough to skew the result by a large margin, but common sense should dictate a point where one visually sees the madness in believing the instrument and reading the one-page manual to discover the fix.
Azimuth question
I was recently checking the azimuth setting on my cartridge with a test record in which track 2 should be left channel only and track 3 is right channel only. Well, I was trying to listen to each channel to see if I can hear any crosstalk and then I realized that my new VAC Sigma has 2 bias lights that light up for each channel when music is being played.
My question is,if I did not see any light on the right channel lights when playing track 2'of the test record and no light,on the left channel lights when playing track 3, can I conclude that my azimuth is properly set or is this just a very blunt indicator of crosstalk?
My question is,if I did not see any light on the right channel lights when playing track 2'of the test record and no light,on the left channel lights when playing track 3, can I conclude that my azimuth is properly set or is this just a very blunt indicator of crosstalk?