Azimuth 2020

Bit hard to follow the conversation to know if any conclusions were reached:

Magnified, the grooves in a turntable may look straight, but they are still curved with the record which causes the cross-talk from one channel to be higher than the other with perfect azimuth. Stylus shape will impact this hence likely why high end cartridges will exhibit this more. Tuning azimuth based on averaging cross-talk will not be ideal. I do optically with a first surface mirror with a graticule, and if I am ambitious, I pull out the test record and do a high frequency sweep to make sure channels are matched.

With an offset tone-arm, usually the azimuth will change as the cartridge is raised and lowered, but the change will be very small over the likely height differences that would ever be encountered while playing, or what you put under the stylus while setting azimuth optically.  Note, I said "usually". For most tone-arms, the pivot angle is perpendicular to the main arm. For some tone-arms, the pivot angle is closer to perpendicular with the offset portion. For some, it is somewhere in the middle. If the pivot angle is perpendicular to the offset portion of the arm, the azimuth will not change as the cartridge is raised and lowered. VTA of course will always change as the cartridge moves up and down.

Matched for output level on a high frequency test sweep. If the azimuth is off, you will get left to right output level variations as the frequency changes at high frequencies.

Azimuth has a significant impact on channel balance when you start looking at frequencies out past 10K, and especially past 20Khz, which you can get on the Ortofon test records (and Denon if you can find them).

If you balance the crosstalk, so it is the same on both channels, then your azimuth is likely off. The forces are slightly different for the left and right channels, even with perfect alignment and that contributes to slightly different crosstalk. If you balance the frequency response, then you are getting consistent groove tracking on both channels.

This isn’t true unfortunately,

my point is that azimuth is best used to manage crosstalk, not channel balance. If I were faced with channel imbalance, there are other ways to correct it.

I could spend hours typing, and never communicate well this topic, but fortunately, someone already went to all the trouble, and even has nice pictures: http://korfaudio.com/blog36

I can attest to what they surmise that the Ortofon test record does work (3rd blog post). I find the high frequency sweep is more sensitive, hence more accurate, but it is an easier test for me than it may be for others. A single tone THD may be easier for most.

Control of cutting heads is pretty accurate, and pressing would not impart angle accuracy. It would be highly unlikely the grooves would be out of alignment by more than say 0.05 degrees, and likely less.  I don't know all the inner workings of the Foz, but based on the stated method of crosstalk, I can tell you it is not optimizing azimuth, which means it is not optimizing what the needle can extract from the record.

catcher10, the problem with the cross-talk method is it is really only accurate if the cartridge is manufactured properly, and even then works best with simpler stylus designs.

Fozzgometer does not work properly for azimuth especially if the cartridge has internal alignment issues. 1 degree out will make a bigger difference than any high priced cables.

I think by eye you can do better than 1 degree if you have any magnification. Used one of those Intel USB microscopes before and it looked perfectly aligned, so perhaps 1/10 degree or less?  Does it have to be that perfect?  I doubt it. It takes me little time to test, and it needs to be done so rarely.

That's not really true. "Crosstalk" is not a matter of being accurate. You can maximize the minimum crosstalk, i.e. lowest in each direction, or maximize the total cross talk. Neither is going to optimize azimuth which is accurate orientation of the stylus w.r.t. the groove.
Optimizing the left and right channel frequency response at high frequencies, i.e. >20KHz, appears to be the best measure of accurate azimuth. This is not the same as low frequency channel balance.

There is no RIGHT or WRONG setting or answer.

Not sure why I would give a company free consulting. Fosgate device is just one method. Not my fault it does not properly set azimuth for cartridges without perfect manufacturing.
Lewm, I linked an article with graphs that show high frequency response with and without proper azimuth alignment.

Looks like the same concept, minimize cross-talk.