Azimuth and a RB700

[lakeallen]

I just traded my Rega P3-24 for a P7 and installed my Benz Micro H2 wood. I had this same cartridge on my RB301 arm and using the Fozgometer dialed in azimuth perfectly. I tried the same with my RP700 arm and even after "turning" the cartridge all the way inward it still shows a much stronger right channel reading. I've tried realigning with no better readings on the Fozgometer. Could the RB700 arm be causing this or could the cantilever be way off? Ideas or thoughts?

[Cyreg]

How can you adjust Cart Azimuth on a Rega arm?
IMO if the armfronthead is not horizontally level > pitty > no adjustment or....?
Maybe just a little grinding with sandpaper to level out horizontally?

[lakeallen]

See the angel of the front of the cartridge relative to the front of the headshell. The cartridge is angled all the way inward. I question if this is proper and/or if anyone else has had to angle so radically to get a semi-good reading on a Fozgometer?

PS: I spent a year in Rotterdam while in the military, loved it.

[Cyreg]

Hi, yeah Rotterdam is a nice town

I see what you mean by azimuth (I thought so too).
But installing your cartridge like that is IMO a part of getting the right offset angle for a certain alignmentprotractor, for example Baerwald?

Here's a TT install site, what is meant by Azimuth adjustment is that trick with the little mirror, but than much more precise?
So not the azimuth versus elevation in the military usage?

http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/ttadjust.html

And maybe if all other alignments are spoton, it could help a bit with the "Azimuth" adjuster?
But after an adjustment, like you mean, you'll have to align the whole setup again for the alignmentprotractor of your choice?

So I am a little lost Any knowledgeable members in this matter?

[Alec124c41]

See the angel of the front of the cartridge relative to the front of the headshell. The cartridge is angled all the way inward. I question if this is proper and/or if anyone else has had to angle so radically to get a semi-good reading on a Fozgometer?

PS: I spent a year in Rotterdam while in the military, loved it.

Your cartridge is turned too far. Use a protractor to get it right.
I think you have too much anti-skate. Try 1/2 g.

Cheers,
Alec

[tomytoons]

I was going to say the same, too much of an angle.
You really cannot adjust the azimuth on a Rega arm. I never tried or needed to.
Use an arc protractor from the "tools" area. Try the KWillis protractor , that is what I use.

[lakeallen]

Alec & tomytoons,

I started out with the cartridge aligned using the Rega protractor just for a start point. After aligning and setting tracking force I checked azimuth with the Fozgometer azimuth meter and found the right channel much higher. The manual says to turn the cartridge counter clockwise when facing the cartridge for a stronger right channel reading, which I did incrementally. I never did get equal readings even after arriving at the point in the photo- the cartridge turned as far as it will go inward. Could I have bent my cantilever somehow and now it's totally misaligned? I have a Best Tractor on order and will set overhang/alignment once I get it sometime this week.

[tomytoons]

Well, look at it straight on, is the cantilever skewed?
That alignment is off in the pict. I would not pay attention to the Foz at all at this point.
That cartridge body and or cantilever must align to the grid on the protractor as close as possible when the stylus tip is on the mark.

Check this out and look what the azimuth adjustment entails. These are some good instructions. Twisting the cartridge in the headshell like that is not the azimuth adjustment.
http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm

I hope this helps, this is a bit hard to explain.

[lakeallen]

That's good reading tomy. I put the meter away and inspected the cantilever, looks OK to my eye with maybe a miniscule outward/right bend. I realigned the cartridge body back to "straight" (away from the radical inward turn I had) and am playing a mono record with my preamp mono switch on. The music is a little left dominate so I'm going to try small adjustments to equal it out. If that don’t work then @#!%$^&*&!! I'm going with what I have until next weekend.

[Alec124c41]

The foz is not for use in that plane, but in the vertical plane.
Use a protractor, lower the antiskate.

Cheers,
Alec

[lakeallen]

Check- will do Alec, thanks for the input.

[socketman]

Alec , although i am no expert i am pretty good at reasearch. After lakeallen has done as you suggested and he still wants to get that perfect reading with the fozgometer he will have to rotate the cartridge on teh vertical plane. Some methods i found include shims under the cartrige itself, or shimming the tone arm. Not trying to step on any toes here, just hopefully getting the OP on to audio nirvana. More listening less fussing i say.


Richard

[moon unit]

That's good reading tomy. I put the meter away and inspected the cantilever, looks OK to my eye with maybe a miniscule outward/right bend. I realigned the cartridge body back to "straight" (away from the radical inward turn I had) and am playing a mono record with my preamp mono switch on. The music is a little left dominate so I'm going to try small adjustments to equal it out. If that don’t work then @#!%$^&*&!! I'm going with what I have until next weekend.

Whoa! You were adjusting the ZENITH angle, not the azimuth. They have nothing to do with each other. Many tonearms allow you to rotate the tonearm itself to adjust the azimuth, unfortunately Rega arms do not. As socketman says, you can do this with a shim between one or the other side of the headshell and the cartridge, although this is not ideal imo. This is what the instructions for the Fozgometer refer to as clockwise and counterclockwise rotation. If you are showing a much stronger right channel reading you would need to rotate the cartridge clockwise (looking directly at the front of it) with a shim under the right side of the headshell. A minute adjustment can make a big difference in the readings you get

Get the Zenith angle right and then worry about the azimuth adjustment. Break in the cartridge first and decide what anti-skate setting you will use as this can and will affect the azimuth setting. Once this happens you can then worry about the adjusting the azimuth. It's best that you read up on this until you completely understand what is going on here.

[tomytoons]

Whoa! You were adjusting the ZENITH angle, not the azimuth.

That's what I was trying to think of when I referred "lakeallen" to the setup article.
The wrong plane is called "zenith". Gotta remember that.