Doug,
Congratulations on advancing to "adjusting by listening", and on learning to hear the difference azimuth adjustment makes.
Like Teres I used to use electronic equipment to adjust azimuth. After sessions with several cartridges I realized I could adjust just as accurately while listening to music, not to mention faster and with less fuss. You described EXACTLY what to listen for, IME.
Good that you discovered levelling the headshell doesn't help much. No one plays grooves with a headshell, we play them with a stylus and few styli are vertical to the necessary degree of accuracy. Levelling the headshell's usually a time-wasting distraction. Roughing in by eye is best done by making the stylus look vertical with a mirror and magnifier. After that the fine tuning is by ear and the headshell ends up wherever it ends up.
VTF, VTA/SRA and antiskating are also all best adjusted by listening to music. The more practiced we get the fewer measurements and test records we need.
Good post,
Doug
P.S. Hiho is correct. I described his observation by analogy many years ago on VA. Azimuth changes with vertical arm angle on any tonearm with an offset headshell. It's unavoidable.
Congratulations on advancing to "adjusting by listening", and on learning to hear the difference azimuth adjustment makes.
Like Teres I used to use electronic equipment to adjust azimuth. After sessions with several cartridges I realized I could adjust just as accurately while listening to music, not to mention faster and with less fuss. You described EXACTLY what to listen for, IME.
Good that you discovered levelling the headshell doesn't help much. No one plays grooves with a headshell, we play them with a stylus and few styli are vertical to the necessary degree of accuracy. Levelling the headshell's usually a time-wasting distraction. Roughing in by eye is best done by making the stylus look vertical with a mirror and magnifier. After that the fine tuning is by ear and the headshell ends up wherever it ends up.
VTF, VTA/SRA and antiskating are also all best adjusted by listening to music. The more practiced we get the fewer measurements and test records we need.
Good post,
Doug
P.S. Hiho is correct. I described his observation by analogy many years ago on VA. Azimuth changes with vertical arm angle on any tonearm with an offset headshell. It's unavoidable.