Azimuth 2020

mijostyn

Peter Lederman is the last person I would take advice from ...

Really? Lederman has a decades-long track record as a designer of speakers, electronics and phono cartridges. He and his team at Soundsmith also provide expert service on audiophile equipment - including tricky things such as Tandberg TD20As - and I’m saying that from firsthand experience. So I’d be inclined to consider his advice, even though I may not always heed it.

The vast majority of us have offset tonearms. Because of the offset as the arm goes up the stylus leans toward the spindle. Azimuth in offset tonearms is elevation sensitive.

Huh? For that to be true, you’d have to have a horrible misalignment between the turntable platter and the pickup arm. If the platter and pickup arm base are both level, azimuth cannot change as you change VTA, even if you want to call that "elevation."

I suppose it’s possible that the pickup arm itself could be defective, such that the arm could not be raised in a perfectly vertical fashion. I’ve never encountered that, though.

Cleeds, Lederman is a business man and obviously his approach has worked on you. Everything he belches is common knowledge except for the stuff he makes up like "jitter." When he says "jitter" just replace it with "miss tracking."
 As you raise the VTA of an offset tonearm the stylus leans towards the rim of the platter. As you lift the head shell the stylus leans toward the spindle. Everyone, imagine your arm sticking straight up. What position is the stylus in? Now imagine you arm straight down. What position is the stylus in? Nuff said.

Cross talk is affected by azimuth. Phase is affected by tracking error.

mijostyn

Cleeds, Lederman is a business man and obviously his approach has worked on you. Everything he belches is common knowledge ...

I’ve met Lederman several times and never heard him belch. Whether you care for his products or style or not, his accomplishments in audio probably dwarf yours.

As you raise the VTA of an offset tonearm the stylus leans towards the rim of the platter. As you lift the head shell the stylus leans toward the spindle.

Wow, you obviously either have some seriously defective or misaligned gear, or you’re confused about basic geometry. VTA and azimuth are two completely independent angles. Offset is independent of azimuth. Perhaps you are confused as to the definition and measurement of azimuth.

@cleeds,

"VTA and azimuth are two completely independent angles."  Only with a tangential tonearm, not with a pivoted, offset, one.  The effect may be minor, depending on the degree of offset, but it's there.