Anxiety help needed. New instal of Hana ML

you want it ’right’ not only for sound, but for proper contact down in/with the groove walls, reducing wear to the grooves and the stylus.

buy yourself one of these mirrors which is the thickness of an lp

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T31MRZ9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

now, for azimuth, simply carefully lower the arm/cartridge down onto the Mirror.

View from the front, ANY deviation from straight will be shown/doubled in the mirror. adjust for straight reflection, tighten.

tighten what? various solutions:

either the stylus is straight to the cartridge body, then you can view/use both the cartridge body and stylus.

or, stylus is slightly deviated from the cartridge body, in which case you view only the cantilever and stylus.

fixed headshells in fixed arms

may need a shim above the cartridge top on one side to adjust the cartridge for proper azimuth. PITA.

some fixed cartridges in arms, the arm itself can be loosened, rotated, tightened. tedious, but easier than shims. mine, but they put the allen set screw in a difficult to reach location, tedious, PITA.

does your arm have a removable headshell?

is there a bit of play/rotation in the fitting you can use to rotate left or right a bit before you tighten the headshell in the socket?

some arms like micro-seiki have adjustable fittings in the arm end, loosen, rotate fitting, tighten. some have a small screw in the bottom of the fitting, loosen, rotate, tighten

some headshells allow azimuth adjustment: you rotate the front body of the headshell relative to it’s own fitting, loosen, rotate front headshell portion, tighten.

 

OP,

could you select a photo or two, show us what yours looks like:

do a google search ’crooked stylus’, select images

select/enlarge appropriate image(s)

right click, copy image address, insert the images (top bar, 6th icon)

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or, your cartridge, take photos, get the photos on the web (not your computer). one way is to create a virtual system on this site, and upload the pics there. then open them, copy image address, back to your post here, 6th icon, insert (box waiting for image address, paste it in).

doyle, others

to post images:

select any photo on the web

right click the image, copy image address

back here, click on 6th icon top bar

box opens, waiting for URL

paste the image address,

magic

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In this case, the photos below are smaller than when viewed in OP’s Virtual System

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/11232

 

Looking closely (larger ones in virtual system), I would say the cantilever is not bent sideways, it’s the shadows that make it appear so,

the reflection on the LP of the cartridge body appears a bit off vertical. a reflection in a mirror would be better/easier to see than the reflection on the lp.

this shows you the advantage of using the mirror method to ’see’ off vertical.

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this is a case that shows you align azimuth using the stylus tip’s verticality, not necessarily the cartridge’s body.

because the stylus is mounted in the cantilever a speck, just a speck off perfectly vertical, the body is a bit off, but the stylus is straight into the grooves, thus leave it alone.

In this case, IF you make the cartridge body perfectly straight, then the stylus will be a speck off vertical into the grooves.

Get a light, a magnifying glass, view the difficult to see stylus for final decision.