What is more accurate , the fozgometer or the diplay of the oscilloscoop

Neither Mikey nor I are perfect.  He wrote (among many other words):
"Were the stylus perfectly aligned with the cantilever, cantilever perpendicularity to the record surface would guaranty minimum crosstalk and correct setting of azimuth."

He left out what is going on at the other end of the cantilever.  As I said, if the magnets are not correctly aligned around the vibrating cantilever/coil assembly, then too, the cartridge will not achieve best crosstalk when the stylus/cantilever are perpendicular to the V-shaped groove.  So, in sum, he left out the bit about the magnets; I left out the point that he makes above and elsewhere throughout his paper.  Put us together, and you've got a more complete story.


Read more at http://www.analogplanet.com/content/crazy-little-thing-called-azimuth-part-1#VtqFlkIgexQq2XZJ.99

folkfreak,
Crosstalk will depend upon the angle that the distal end of the cantilever, where the coils are mounted in the case of an MC cartridge, makes with the stationary magnet structures that thus create the stereo signal.  That part of the cartridge, the business end, cannot be seen from without; we can't know what's going on there, in most cases,without taking the cartridge apart. (Maybe you can see it in a van den Hul; I never checked.)  If the magnets are not symmetrically arranged around the moving end of the cantilever, then that will affect crosstalk dramatically, in a negative way.  Since it is possible to build a budget cartridge that is nearly perfect (not absolutely perfect, but nearly) in this regard, I would posit that needing a significant tilt (optimal azimuth several degrees off horizontal) is not acceptable in any very expensive cartridge.  I guess one could argue over the definition of "very expensive", but $15,000 is off the charts.

folk freak,  "Sounds best" or measures best?
Because THAT much tilt indicates rather poor quality control during cartridge manufacture or inaccurate measurement of crosstalk.  Since Air Tight cartridges are hardly in the budget category, if I owned one that needed that much tilt to deliver decent crosstalk figures and assuming the measurements are accurate, I would send it back to its makers.

When you tilt by 10-15 degrees, you are putting seriously uneven wear on the stylus tip and you may also be damaging grooves, depending upon the shape of the stylus tip.

I've written this before, so please forgive me for being redundant, but in setting azimuth, one might choose to go for equal amounts of crosstalk in both directions, L to R and R to L.  Or one might choose to go for the least crosstalk, regardless of whether the db are equal in both directions.  I've been setting azimuth electrically for years, using a Signet Cartridge Analyzer and their test LP, plus my Triplanar tonearm which permits very easy adjustments.  In all my experience, those two possible goals are never coincident with each other, which is to say that if you want equal crosstalk, the absolute db of crosstalk will be higher (more crosstalk) than if you just go for the least amount without worrying about equalizing.  I believe the Foz is designed to equalize crosstalk.  Sometimes going for equal crosstalk requires a lot of tilt, which I don't like to live with, for reasons mentioned above.

Thanks for your response, Benjie.

Benjie, When you say you were "way off" doing it by ear, what do you mean?  Do you mean that the azimuth setting that sounded best to you was way off electrically, as determined by Feickert or Foz? Or do you mean that when you adjusted by Feickert or Foz, you got a better SOUNDING result than when you tried to do it by ear alone?  After all, your subjective impression is what counts, at least in my opinion.

Azimuth adjustment makes very little difference to channel balance.  Azimuth adjustment is done to minimize crosstalk.  In so doing, one can target ether of two goals: (1) Equal crosstalk, L to R and R to L, or (2) Minimal crosstalk without regard to whether the db of crosstalk is equal, L to R and R to L.  Both goals are valid.  But you can almost never achieve both of these possible goals at the same time with the same cartridge.

From your verbal description, I am not sure what it is you were measuring, output from each channel or crosstalk.