To LP Listeners: Fozgometer Experiences...

I'm quite surprised at some of the responses here. I have to agree with @colossalsound 100%. Oddly enough I also setup my Lyra Kleos with a fozgometer and test record (after assuring perfect alignment with a MintLP protractor and a USB microscope) Johnathan Carr himself has instructed that Lyra cartridges are sensitive to even the slightest adjustments. I found also that the instruments came into better focus in the soundstage and the center image was locked as if there were three speakers in my two channel setup. Friends who have listened to my rig swore that there was a speaker somewhere in my audio rack located between my speakers and actually got up to investigate. Pretty comical.

If you look at the meter on the foz when measuring each channel separately it is obvious when the azimuth is not set correctly. Using a cheap tool to align the head shell or the cartridge body to the platter is far from accurate due to manufacturer tolerances as slight as they might be.

That's my experience anyhow.

I will cut to the chase

get the v1 or v2

this device is critical if you want the same level of information extracted from the left and right channel and you want the stylus tracking in the center of the groove 

I use the Analog Productions test record 

Works perfect and an easy way to check your alignment from time to time

I have the Lyra Kleos SL installed at the moment 

Good luck

@colossalsound 

"The best analogy is camera focus. If you take a DSLR and achieve perfect focus, then slightly rotate the focus ring even by a tiny amount, the entire image immediately loses sharpness. Vinyl playback behaves in a very similar way."

This a very good analogy for the effects of azimuth adjustment. It brings everything into focus, often in a way that you had no idea could even happen. 

I suppose one could say that it is "Not required with quality cartridges." But what, if any, of the goofy things we audiophiles spend our time doing is "required."

The whole point is to get our records to sound as good as they possibly can, is it not? To that end, not only is setting azimuth properly "required," it's absolutely essential.

I'm not a fan of using a fozgometer and a test record, or at least not the test records specifically made for this purpose. Instead I recommend using a well-mastered, well-pressed classical record and your ears, which are way more sensitive to changes in the sound that these tools.

Concertos are especially helpful in this regard as getting the azimuth set better will improve our ability to hear the soloist and the orchestra equally well.

colossalsound is right that when the azimuth is better set the bass improves, even increases actually. In fact, I've fixed a lack of bass on systems simply by adjusting the azimuth.

As for an increase in stylus wear as a result of adjusting azimuth, that doesn't make any sense as getting the azimuth adjusted properly aligns the stylus more accurately in the record groove, and that means the stylus will wear more evenly.

It’s been interesting to see that the seems to be two types of responses to this OP, basically 180 degrees apart.

One stating that the azimuth is not a big factor when it comes to sound quality (unless it’s way out of alignment) AND it’s not hard to get it visually in alignment, and at the other end of the scale, then the other camp stating it’s very important and tools are needed to get it right.

This is why I am a fan of Rega’s philosophy - the ability to adjust things is a recipe for getting things wrong, so Keep It Simple Stupid.

I.e., no separate/replaceable headshell and no tonearm VTA adjustment - lock it down so people don't mess things up.

I love it.

@faustuss wrote:

you can [adjust azimuth] visually with a $15 tool and it can easily be verified with a fixed frequency LP test track with each channel recorded out of phase. Simply throw your preamps mono switch and if the azimuth is correct, you'll have a complete "null" or silence.

@colossalsound 

@rushfan71 

@willy-t 

Are you all saying that the method faustuss describes does not produce satisfactory results? If so, why? Defects in test record pressing? Perfect channel balance being an imperfect proxy for azimuth alignment?

If the latter, logic dictates that optimizing azimuth beyond the point of perfect channel balance will degrade said channel balance, almost by definition, so which is more worthwhile?