To LP Listeners: Fozgometer Experiences...
I am considering purchasing a Fozgometer V2 to verify/improve my cartridge’s azimuth.
Questions:
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.
Dear Faustuss, Please note that I never entered into an argument with you or tried to “prove” that your method is wrong or unnecessary. Quite the opposite — I actually supported it and said that it may very well work. I simply mentioned that I would additionally verify it with something like a phase meter, just to confirm that it truly works consistently and can be used as another alternative way of adjusting azimuth. For some reason, you started picking apart my analogies and concluded that I “don’t understand photography” simply because I didn’t mention depth of field. Fine — if it makes the analogy easier for you, let’s expand it and say we are focusing on a pencil five meters away with a static camera at f/2 rather than f/16, where even a tiny movement of the focus ring becomes much more critical. But why dive into all these secondary specifics? Are we trying to build a philosophical debate full of layered abstractions, or are we simply trying to explain to people when a phase meter makes practical sense and when it may not? As I already said above: if a sensitive system reacts clearly to these small adjustments, then yes, of course it makes sense. If the system does not reveal such differences — even because of something as simple as speaker placement or room limitations — then the practical value becomes much smaller. As for VTA changes caused by thicker records: yes, absolutely, a 180g pressing changes the geometry slightly. And I can tell you that some extremely meticulous vinyl listeners with highly resolving systems do compensate for this either by using thinner mats or by slightly raising the tonearm if they have on-the-fly VTA adjustment, so that the arm maintains the same relative position as with thinner records. Personally, however, on my own system I never heard such small changes as dramatically significant — at least not significant enough to readjust the tonearm for every individual record. Perhaps I was simply less obsessive about this particular aspect. But yes, you are completely correct that the parameters do technically change. I just never felt the need to chase those tiny corrections myself, although some people certainly do — either with VTA adjustment or different mats. And in general, when it comes to vinyl theory, I’m much more of a practical person. For about ten years I simply experimented with all these things hands-on in huge quantities because it was literally part of my work. Right now, in my thread, I’m going to post several dozen high-resolution vinyl digitizations from different analog setups. They form a kind of scale — from more successful, better-tuned turntables to less successful ones. Many of the weaker-sounding examples are systems belonging to clients before they came to us, while the better examples are those same systems after setup, upgrades, tuning, and optimization. By comparing those recordings to each other people can get a rough understanding of the kinds of differences that appeared in the analog chain. It’s a small practical experiment anyone can do. Later on, I’ll also demonstrate some very specific point-by-point changes: how the exact same setup changes depending on what it stands on, what kind of platform is used underneath it, how the same cartridge behaves on different tonearms, and even how the same belt-drive turntable sounds with a regular belt versus a Kevlar thread drive. All of these things introduce subtle but real nuances into the sound. And the beauty is that you can simply listen and compare. Come and listen those DSD fies in about 2 hours: |
@kevemaher Thanks for sharing your experiences, I believe I have equipment to get started. |
