What's the tell for azimuth? The tonearm designer I mentioned above gave me his. "A good record to test azimuth is [Barbra] Streisand's The Broadway Album (Columbia LP CK 40092): On 'Send In The Clowns,' Barbra's voice ought to come across as well-focused, as should the French horn in the background, with the reverb/hall acoustics even on both sides in terms of high frequency content and decay time."
VTA/SRA
Too many people think setting VTA/ SRA is like a tone control: Up is sharper and brighter, down is darker and duller. But how does one know when that sharper/duller balance is just right? Michael Fremer uses a USB microscope to answer that important question as precisely as he, and probably anyone else, can. In my humbler, lower-tech practice, setting SRA is not complicated or time consuming. It's about getting the time domain right—getting the leading edge of a string pluck to connect fully with the body and tail of the note. As with all aspects of hi-fi, when the time domain is right, the listener perceives wholeness.
I start by leveling the cartridge by eye; then I study the attack on solo guitar recordings like my favorite album this month, An Andrés Segovia Recital (Decca Gold Label LP DL 9633). When the string-snap, body, and decay of Segovia's notes become a single, solidly focused energy unit, I'm home dry. Piano notes work, too, but their leading edge is, for me, more difficult to identify.
Zenith
Aligning an angled-in-space cantilever with a flat line on a protractor was never my best talent. Worse yet: Precisely aligning a microscopic faceted diamond in a jagged slot seems impossible, or at best a dodgy proposition. Conical styli are naturally forgiving in this area, and consequently, they play string plucks and piano notes well consistently. I am told, though, that my line-contact/MicroRidge profiles need zenith to be aligned to as close as ±0.25°. Without that precision, distortion gets high fast.
Fortunately, I've found a tell that works for me. When the stylus's contact patches are not contacting the groove walls equally in both channels, the cartridge exhibits audible low-level mistracking. With small amounts of zenith error, this consequence of mistracking is most audible at highly modulated high frequencies, such as the harmonics spewing from Miles Davis's trumpet. I use the MoFi reissue of Miles Davis's In a Silent Way (MFSL LP 1-377), but most any Teo Macero–produced Miles LP will work.
If the high notes from Miles's trumpet sound glary or flary, I try nudging the zenith no more than a degree clockwise or, if that doesn't work, counterclockwise. This method is hit or miss, but sometimes the tiniest nudge makes a huge sonic difference.
Once I get Miles's trumpet sounding clean, solid, and whole, I final-check zenith (and all other parameters) by listening for distortion through the outer, middle, and inner grooves of a simply miked acoustic recording. My go-to favorite substitutes antique flutes for Miles's trumpet: René Clemencic: et ses flûtes (Harmonia Mundi LP HM384). On this exquisitely recorded album, I can listen to Renaissance songs played with 21 wind instruments from the flute-recorder family. These instruments' complex harmonics extend with some power above 5kHz, making all types of tracing distortions impossible to miss. If I play this whole record and hear no glary, scratchy, or muddy distortions, I feel satisfied that I've done my job well.
But what about measurements?
While I was reinstalling my Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge, another of my German brothers came over, wanting to try out his AnalogMajik All In One Cartridge Setup Software & Test LP (footnote 2). The Koetsu was almost dialed in; all that remained were listening checks for azimuth and zenith. While we listened together, we both thought the cartridge sounded good and very Koetsu-like, but we agreed it was showing some flare'n'glare on the highest notes of Miles's trumpet on In a Silent Way. Using an AnalogMajik test track combining a 60Hz and a 7kHz tone in a 4:1 ratio (SMPTE standard RP120-1994), we measured intermodulation distortion at 10% in one channel and 11% in the other. I freaked! My friend reassured me, saying, "I've measured many systems with over 30%." He then asked, "Are you sure your azimuth is right?"
A few minutes later, while rechecking azimuth, I checked the Fozgometer's accuracy by reversing the tonearm cable leads. It was then I realized that the meter is not perfectly balanced and my azimuth had been set incorrectly.
After recalibrating the Fozgo (with downloaded Fozgo test tones) and after a not-so-slight azimuth adjustment, IM distortion for both channels dropped below 5%. Not a bad reading. But then the slightest zenith nudge—I mean the tiniest, like 0.5°—lowered distortion for both channels to a hair below 2%. My friend said that was excellent, so we stopped nudging and went to lunch. The Koetsu now sounded less Koetsu-like but more solid and stunningly clear than it had ever sounded before.
When I quizzed my friend about AnalogMajik's setup software, he replied, "Herb, this program is not intuitive. It has a steep learning curve and only works on a PC." He added, "I'm trying to master it because it clearly shows how the most minuscule change in one parameter can have a profound effect on the sound and how closely sonic changes correlate with measured distortion."
At the end of my setup process, when I think everything is set the best I can get it, I tighten the mounting screws to their final working tightness. Most cartridges seem unaffected, but with some, tightening the mounting screws affects how the music sounds. I'm a retired union pipefitter (Chicago Local 597), so I aim for tighter than snug and looser than too tight. It's in my blood (footnote3).
I and my cadre of turntable setter-upper friends all agree: A precisely aligned low-priced cartridge will outperform a poorly aligned, expensive cartridge. These same friends also agree: Cartridge alignment is an evolving, still imprecise craft, one whose ultimate success can only be verified by listening.
Footnote 2: See analogmagik.com. The $750 AnalogMajik kit includes the AnalogMajik software plus two LP discs with test tone tracks and an interface box that goes between the PC and the tonearm cable.
Footnote 3: On the topic of tightening screws, see this Listening column, by Art Dudley. It includes one of the best subheads ever seen in Stereophile's pages (and there have been some good ones): The sirens of tighten.
VTA/SRAToo many people think setting VTA/ SRA is like a tone control: Up is sharper and brighter, down is darker and duller. But how does one know when that sharper/duller balance is just right? Michael Fremer uses a USB microscope to answer that important question as precisely as he, and probably anyone else, can. In my humbler, lower-tech practice, setting SRA is not complicated or time consuming. It's about getting the time domain right—getting the leading edge of a string pluck to connect fully with the body and tail of the note. As with all aspects of hi-fi, when the time domain is right, the listener perceives wholeness.
Aligning an angled-in-space cantilever with a flat line on a protractor was never my best talent. Worse yet: Precisely aligning a microscopic faceted diamond in a jagged slot seems impossible, or at best a dodgy proposition. Conical styli are naturally forgiving in this area, and consequently, they play string plucks and piano notes well consistently. I am told, though, that my line-contact/MicroRidge profiles need zenith to be aligned to as close as ±0.25°. Without that precision, distortion gets high fast.
Fortunately, I've found a tell that works for me. When the stylus's contact patches are not contacting the groove walls equally in both channels, the cartridge exhibits audible low-level mistracking. With small amounts of zenith error, this consequence of mistracking is most audible at highly modulated high frequencies, such as the harmonics spewing from Miles Davis's trumpet. I use the MoFi reissue of Miles Davis's In a Silent Way (MFSL LP 1-377), but most any Teo Macero–produced Miles LP will work.
Once I get Miles's trumpet sounding clean, solid, and whole, I final-check zenith (and all other parameters) by listening for distortion through the outer, middle, and inner grooves of a simply miked acoustic recording. My go-to favorite substitutes antique flutes for Miles's trumpet: René Clemencic: et ses flûtes (Harmonia Mundi LP HM384). On this exquisitely recorded album, I can listen to Renaissance songs played with 21 wind instruments from the flute-recorder family. These instruments' complex harmonics extend with some power above 5kHz, making all types of tracing distortions impossible to miss. If I play this whole record and hear no glary, scratchy, or muddy distortions, I feel satisfied that I've done my job well.
But what about measurements?While I was reinstalling my Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge, another of my German brothers came over, wanting to try out his AnalogMajik All In One Cartridge Setup Software & Test LP (footnote 2). The Koetsu was almost dialed in; all that remained were listening checks for azimuth and zenith. While we listened together, we both thought the cartridge sounded good and very Koetsu-like, but we agreed it was showing some flare'n'glare on the highest notes of Miles's trumpet on In a Silent Way. Using an AnalogMajik test track combining a 60Hz and a 7kHz tone in a 4:1 ratio (SMPTE standard RP120-1994), we measured intermodulation distortion at 10% in one channel and 11% in the other. I freaked! My friend reassured me, saying, "I've measured many systems with over 30%." He then asked, "Are you sure your azimuth is right?"
Footnote 2: See analogmagik.com. The $750 AnalogMajik kit includes the AnalogMajik software plus two LP discs with test tone tracks and an interface box that goes between the PC and the tonearm cable.
