Well, I don't necessarily agree. If running unguided then, yes, the best possible alignment is best. But if running guided, a slight misalignment allows you to run the autoguide Dec corrections in one direction only and this can remove the problem of Dec oscillation. I have to do this on one of our mounts routinely. As for balance, like many people I like to run just a little heavy on the east to keep the backlash down. In perfect balalnce the payload can float around in the backlash. Frugal, if your stars are sometimes round then the problem is not PA. That would affect every single sub in the same way. It usually shows as a rotation in the corners. Olly http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=2266922474&k=Sc3kgzc