I(...) Wrt to the phase angle, my first notion was: is this out of phase, as if the cartridge was wired incorrectly? But I don't know enough about the tool to know.
Yes, this is what I alluded to above. I've seen a few cartridges approaching -40 dB crosstalk.To be honest, I'm not so sure I trust the tool. Again, I've never seen such wild phase variations on an oscilloscope within just 0.5 degrees of each other. Secondly, one of the channels shows -40 dB crosstalk. But there's no MC cart on Earth capable of that.
On the crosstalk imbalance, that's ok in my opinion. You could use this cart at +3.5 or so. But that's a bit unusual and extreme so the other parameters should be re-checked. I suspect zenith should be readjusted for minimum phase offsets with azimuth at zero, and then you should redo all azimuth measurements again. Lastly, is anti-skate set properly? I could see too much or too little anti-skate force also affecting these measurements.
For MC, anything greater than 25dB is superb and anything exceeding 30dB is a unicorn cartridge. To accurately measure, you need to probe right at the cartridge pins with a calibrated AC millivolt meter. This is how cart manufacturers do it. A couple measurements, a little math, and you get the answer.
Adjust+ is not giving the right answer. It might be fine to get relative measurements. That is, if Adjust+ says a particular setting is better than another, that's probably going to hold up after any measurement. But the absolute value (e.g. 40dB of channel separation) is simply not accurate. I really don't know what to make of the phase measurements out of the tool. I'm going to talk to a buddy who is a tech at Soundsmith, and find out what he's seen with the hundreds or maybe thousands of carts that have come through for retipping, etc. He's measured more carts than all of us combined, and uses accurate methods.
It's too soon to return this cartridge. @tima if you redo some of the other setup parameters and then come back to azimuth adjustment, let us know how it goes.
If we measure a cartridge that Adjust+ says has 40 dB of channel separation using accurate measurement methods employed by cartridge manufacturers, then the same "40 dB" cart will probably measure less than 30 dB. No MC cart has 40 dB of separation.
Considering that you are just looking at the phase of a crossover residual, coming from a mechanical movement relative to the "other side" that should not exist, I am not astonished that the signal from this coil is out of phase. But my comment is only intuitive (with an asymmetrical condition if the magnet approaches one coil it moves away from the other) , I am not analyzing in detail how the signal is generated - I am not an expert!
Edit - two minutes with google after dinner increased my expertise - picture taken from View attachment 50259https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...setting-azimuth-with-a-pc-and-soundcard.1905/
Did you note who posted that picture?
Recommended anti-skate = .2g. Cartridge tried within recommended VTF range. Regardless of possible further adjustments, an azimuth at 3+ degrees is a physically extreme angle (1.5+ imo) and, despite electrical properties, I would not want to play my records with it? Would you?
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