Right channel bias in analog setup

Thank you both for your quick responses. Gosh this forum is amazing. I will set the azimuth back to 90 degrees as certainly there was no way that was the correct setting. As far as anti-skate, unfortunately the VPI Scout does not really have a great solution for that. Their way of providing anti-skate adjustments involve adjusting the coil wire connecting the tonearm, which doesn't really provide for fine adjustments. Regardless, I've tried coiling the wire more and less tightly and it didn't seem to have any effect on the right channel bias. I don't have the mechanical anti-skate mechanism as that was added in the Scout v1.1., though I may be able to purchase it from VPI and add it to mine. 

As for horizontal tracking angle, I'm not sure exactly what that means. I seem to have misplaced my alignment jig that came with the turntable so I just printed an alignment diagram and used that to align the cartridge if that's what you mean. If there is a good cartridge alignment instruction page you can recommend, I'd appreciate it. The VPI manual is lacking and difficult to follow. Thanks.

I seriously doubt its alignment. Odds are your "obvious right side bias" means the center image is a few inches, to maybe a foot, to the right. If that is the case then my question is does it shift as you play a record? Because the way the twisted wire thing works it causes anti-skate to change as the arm moves across the record. Honestly don't even know which way, that's just how messed up a thing VPI has made here. No idea how much torque the wire puts on the arm, or if it increases or decreases as the arm sweeps across a record. Oh, I can see what it would seem to do. But so many people have had so many different problems with it I seriously doubt anyone really knows. Anyway, one thing I am pretty sure of, it is not consistent across the record. So you should be able to hear the image shift and be different at the end compared to the beginning of a side.  

Oh my god. @millercarbon, you are completely right. I have noticed that when the last track of the record is playing, the right channel shift is noticeably less pronounced. Though has anyone else mentioned this problem? It's so clearly obvious that anyone with a Scout or similarly built turntable should be reporting it? How the heck can you correct for something like this. Crazy,

Which VTF do you use - 2,5g ?

henrus:

Oh my god. @millercarbon, you are completely right.

Heh.

Savor.

I have noticed that when the last track of the record is playing, the right channel shift is noticeably less pronounced.

Right. Because the solution VPI came up with is inconsistent. Now again I never used one of these so not really sure if it works the way I’m thinking. But it looks like as the arm moves inward it changes the twist in the wire. Not even sure which way the darn thing twists! But now you know what is going on you can figure it out and fix it.

Though has anyone else mentioned this problem? It’s so clearly obvious that anyone with a Scout or similarly built turntable should be reporting it? How the heck can you correct for something like this. Crazy,

Yeah it is crazy. Actually the anti-skate problem does come up, at least often enough a guy like me who’s never even seen a VPI knows all about it. Usually though people don’t seem to notice until its off enough to cause actual mistracking and breakup. The level of anti-skate error you are noticing, slight center image shift, is actually quite small.

You might be able to tweak it out with patient persistent wire twisting. Or get it down to where its not worth the bother. One thing you may notice, the center image shift is but the most obvious sign. Because if the center image is shifting then really the whole stage is a bit weak compared to what it could be. Fine tuning and tweaks is where its at with vinyl. Its the difference between being a lot better than digital and OMG why does anyone ever even want to listen to anything else!?!
It would be real simple to make your own anti-skate, if it weren’t for your JMW-9 arm being uni-pivot. It can still be done, just a little trickier to implement. Can you use the VPI option?