cantilever is not straight

Wallyskater is an excellent tool and as the good Dr says above check TT level first and periodically.

as to Lyra @jcarr checks in here now and then

I always have to visualize this issue.  Seems to me the skating force pulls the stylus toward the spindle (actually the vector is toward the space between the pivot and the spindle, but the stiffness of the arm wand creates a force directed toward the spindle, for practical purposes.). The anti-skate is usually applied near the pivot point, whereas the skate force is at the stylus tip. This kind of puts the cantilever in a vice; its being pulled outward at its base or fulcrum and inward at the stylus tip. So this can deviate the cantilever toward the spindle for sure, but it could be due to excess of either skate or anti-skate or friction in the pivot that is messing up the balance of forces. Or so I think.

And wire which is often a culprit in the application of undesired forces

I have had similar experience with higher end AT MM styli. Since it happened to two of these, I determined it was user (mine) error and focused on anti-skate settings. So far so good.

@lloydc I had the same issue with my Kleos. I posted here about it with close up pictures and Johnathan Carr himself responded. I suggest you do the same and include Lyra Kleos in the subject line, he may catch it and respond. He is fantastic to deal with and a true professional. Here is his response to me.

"Hi rushfan71: I haven’t received any email from you, but your photos suggest that one of the asymmetrical (IOW pointed or tapered) dampers in the suspension system has rotated away from where it should be, and the cantilever is being pushed away from its proper orientation as a result.

Please contact the dealer that you purchased the Kleos from, who will arrange for the cartridge to be returned to us so that we can readjust the suspension setting and cantilever alignment.

On a separate issue, I don’t necessarily agree that a cartridge should always be aligned to the cantilever instead of the cartridge body.

Frequently cantilever skew is caused by playing the cartridge with incorrect anti-skate settings for too long; in such cases adjusting to the cantilever without rethinking the anti-skate will temporarily make the issue seem to disappear, but aggravate the problem over time.

In situations like this, a wiser method is to keep the cartridge aligned to the cartridge body, but reorient the anti-skate setting slightly in the opposite direction from where it has been, which will over time push the cantilever back to the correct orientation. However, it is necessary to observe the cantilever orientation frequently, and revert the anti-skate setting closer to the original position once it has been verified that the cantilever skew has been corrected.

With cartridges made before the advent of NC or computer-guided machining techniques, it is conceivable that the main (rear) magnet structure does not align to the body structure.
But for more modern cartridges that employ NC or computer-guided machining techniques in their construction, the builder would have to work very hard to misalign the main (rear) magnet structure from the body structure.

On the other hand, the front magnet structure (aka front yoke, front polepiece) is usually deliberately designed so that its angle or position (relative to the coil formers) can be adjusted during the build and tuning process, and it is therefore not unusual for the front magnet structure to be slightly skewed from the rest of the cartridge structure.

hth, Johnathan"

It was sent to Japan and returned to me with perfect alignment. Very happy with the results and the whole experience with Lyra's customer service. Probably should have been your go to for the retip. They would have inspected the whole cartridge.

Good luck