Setting Azimuth

Wow! You got a lot of response in a short time. I am too lazy to read them all, but the answer, as far as I am concerned, is that azimuth is NOT a way to change channel balance, if you are talking about the output of each channel. Azimuth has very little effect on output, as you have discovered. Azimuth affects crosstalk, the amount of information in the R channel that leaks into the L channel, and vice-versa. And adjusting azimuth is done to minimize crosstalk. Period.

I recall looking at the display on your computer and seeing how adjusting azimuth affected the relative phase of the two channels. I know you prefer to say that adjusting azimuth affects phasing. Most of us do not have the equipment to monitor phase whilst adjusting azimuth. However, I am fine with your correction of my bald statement; obviously azimuth affects both phase and crosstalk. But I don't think it's wise to confuse the OP. His issue seems to be channel output. My basic point is that adjusting azimuth is not a way to cure a difference in output between the two channels. Are you arguing with that point? I still say it is NOT a good way to do that. Nor is it even wise to correct channel balance by adjusting azimuth, since that may throw off the phase relationship, in your parlance, or result in suboptimal crosstalk, in mine.

Dear Brian,
Doug Deacon and I agree: Azimuth does not have much effect on channel balance. But I am just a shlub. Don't take my word for it, although I did experiment with this just to prove to myself that it is true. Using the suitable test track and my Signet Cartridge Analyzer, I was able to demonstrate to myself that changing azimuth from one extreme to the other, using my Triplanar tonearm which has easily adjustable azimuth, had a less than 2 db effect on channel balance, and to get that much difference, you have to go to ridiculous extremes with the azimuth setting, as much as 10 or 20 degrees off the vertical. Also, if you go to Vinyl Asylum and search the archives, you will find white papers on azimuth by both Victor Khomenko (chief engineer at BAT) and by Brian Kearns; these make similar statements vis a vis channel balance. Those two treatises plus the experiment I personally conducted are the bases for my statement. Please tell me why you disagree, with some supporting data or a reference, if possible. I am willing to be proven wrong, but not by a mere assertion from you.

By the way, it would seem that the OP's own results support my thesis. He admits that he made large changes in azimuth, and it had little to no effect on channel balance. For this he blames the Fozgometer. My point is that he should not have expected azimuth to affect channel balance. Thus the Fozgometer may not be defective at all. I think this is Doug's point, too.

"How does one adjust channel balance?" When all else fails, you need a classic balance control on your preamp/linestage. Modern equipment frequently omits such a control. The two channels may be different in output for any one of a number of reasons. All you have to do is think about the signal chain. Anything in the chain where gain is added to the signal could be creating the imbalance you perceive. Starting with the cartridge itself. Then we have the phono section and the linestage, if you are using two boxes. But even one-box preamps have a phono stage feeding a hi-level or linestage. Both sections add gain to the signal, so either could be at fault. If you have tube gear, it would be a simple matter to swap tubes between L and R channels, and see whether the problem follows the tube swap. If tube swapping does not reveal that the problem resides in either the phono section of the linestage, then one has to blame the cartridge.

Dear Arnold, Last night I realized that the suggestion I made re tube swapping to localize the source of your channel imbalance, in my last post, was needlessly laborious. Whether your phono and linestage are tube or transistor type, all you need to do is swap L and R channel leads, between tonearm and phono and then between phono and linestage (if you have a 2-box system). If the problem resides in the cartridge, the louder signal will move from one channel to the other when you swap leads between tonearm and phono input, etc. If the imbalance is unaffected, etc.

Oh yes, forgot that you were reading off the tonearm cables. Just out of curiosity, does your system SOUND like there is a channel imbalance in the same direction as indicated by the Foz, when you connect the tonearm to the phono stage? If not, then the Foz is back in the soup.