As Doug pointed out no cartridge is 100% perfect so going to great lengths to get the cartridge body perfectly aligned is a waste of time.
I my opinion the best instrument for adjusting azimuth is our ears. I find that dialing in azimuth is at least is important as VTA. It is interesting that there can be a huge difference in how critical this adjustment is depending on the cartridge. For some cartridges close is just fine, and with others some fine tuning can make the difference between just good and magical.
Everyone has a slightly different approach but what I find works best is to listen to a good stereo classical recording and note the sound stage. If things seem bunched up spatially one one side try adjusting so that the image is spread out more uniformly. I never know which way to go so I just try one direction and see if it gets better or worse. Once the soundstage seems balanced I make finer steps looking for a rightness and clarity to the sound. Be sure to start with the azimuth as close as you can get visually before listening. Differences tend to be easier to hear as you get closer to the correct alignment.
If this sounds confusing then just use the simpler question of what sounds best. You can usually ask yourself if you like adjustment A better than B and know what the answer is without needing to describe the sound. Just adjust until you get what sounds best. Correct azimuth always will sound better.
As I said before some cartridges will be more sensitive than others. I had a Shelter Crown Jewel that I drove myself crazy with trying to get the azimuth and VTA dialed in. I had a hard time hearing any difference and got frustrated. Then It dawned on me that if I can't hear the difference then it really does not matter. If you can't hear any difference then your done!
On the other hand my ZYX Universe is remarkably sensitive to proper azimuth adjustment. I had a funny experience while setting up our demo room at RMAF last year. I was fine tuning the azimuth on the Universe with a small group of people listening. I was making extraordinarily small adjustments and watching the faces of the listeners. I would go one way and there would be frowns then blank expressions and then when I hit the sweet spot it was all smiles. What was funny is that all of the expressions were the same and yet nobody was talking.
Chris
I my opinion the best instrument for adjusting azimuth is our ears. I find that dialing in azimuth is at least is important as VTA. It is interesting that there can be a huge difference in how critical this adjustment is depending on the cartridge. For some cartridges close is just fine, and with others some fine tuning can make the difference between just good and magical.
Everyone has a slightly different approach but what I find works best is to listen to a good stereo classical recording and note the sound stage. If things seem bunched up spatially one one side try adjusting so that the image is spread out more uniformly. I never know which way to go so I just try one direction and see if it gets better or worse. Once the soundstage seems balanced I make finer steps looking for a rightness and clarity to the sound. Be sure to start with the azimuth as close as you can get visually before listening. Differences tend to be easier to hear as you get closer to the correct alignment.
If this sounds confusing then just use the simpler question of what sounds best. You can usually ask yourself if you like adjustment A better than B and know what the answer is without needing to describe the sound. Just adjust until you get what sounds best. Correct azimuth always will sound better.
As I said before some cartridges will be more sensitive than others. I had a Shelter Crown Jewel that I drove myself crazy with trying to get the azimuth and VTA dialed in. I had a hard time hearing any difference and got frustrated. Then It dawned on me that if I can't hear the difference then it really does not matter. If you can't hear any difference then your done!
On the other hand my ZYX Universe is remarkably sensitive to proper azimuth adjustment. I had a funny experience while setting up our demo room at RMAF last year. I was fine tuning the azimuth on the Universe with a small group of people listening. I was making extraordinarily small adjustments and watching the faces of the listeners. I would go one way and there would be frowns then blank expressions and then when I hit the sweet spot it was all smiles. What was funny is that all of the expressions were the same and yet nobody was talking.
Chris