HiFi News Test Record Azimuth

Triplanar will not be for sale, except maybe from my estate.

By the way, the TP azimuth adjustment, because it’s achieved by twisting the arm wand, also affects zenith. This for me is another reason to set azimuth for 90 degrees and forget it.

The August issue of Stereophile Michael Fremer does a well written  article about cartridge setup. He uses Wallytools and oscilloscope.
It is a good read. I’m getting ready to purchase the Wallytool and get a new oscilloscope. My oscilloscope is very old. Be nice if a few people in your audio circle would go in together to buy needed tools. There not cheap but not outrageous in price What we do to get a micro small diamond to sound great. Joenies

+1 rdk777

"I use the  Analogue Productions - The Ultimate Analogue Test LP and measure test tone with the Fozgometer."

Cut and dry

I have the HiFi News test record, the bias tracks are a waste of time but I use the resonance tracks and I’ve tried the azimuth track, mono button depressed, but it’s very hard with a pure tone to gauge its relative volume to that you heard even a few seconds ago. There is a lower level tone just before the main tone and this is possibly more useful if adjusted to barely audible on that but it’s very hard to be sure when you have it minimised even so. I have a threaded azimuth weight inside the counterweight on my arm so I do the best I can with the test record then put a stereo disc on with good depth to the image, deselect mono on the pre and try either side of the setting from the test record, judged by the angle of the screwdriver blade in the adjuster, and listen for any change in soundstage. This has helped finalise my setting but you need to be close or there’s nothing to hear. 
I should get an oscilloscope I suppose, and one of those USB microscopes rather than use the cartridge body if Framer’s right about the QC levels of some of the cartridge manufacturers and he may be, as I found a Transfiguration Proteus I had for 5 years, and thought I had set pretty well, beaten by the SPU Royal N that replaced it in my system even when I didn’t have enough antiskate set. (This latter I know from the skewed cantilever it developed after a year.)

As lewm suggested the important issue is record wear. To minimize this it is important that the stylus be perpendicular to the record. With well made cartridges this will also optimize crosstalk. The easiest way to get the stylus perpendicular to the record is to look at it. You can increase your accuracy dramatically by putting the stylus down on a mirror the thickness of a 180 Gm record. With two lights aimed at the sides of the stylus you will see a distinct hourglass shape. If it is leaning to one side or the other adjust the azimuth until it is perfectly upright and symmetrical which is painfully easy to see, even for somebody who listens to Tekton loudspeakers. This method is more than accurate enough in regard to record wear. If the geometry of the cartridge is off it will not optimize audio performance. The solution to this dilemma is to get a better cartridge or maybe get a warranty replacement. 
The one tool that really makes this easy is the SmarTractor. With the stylus down on the mirrored surface you can use it's special magnifier to give you the big picture. Brilliant if expensive tool.