antiskate disc

I agree with macg19. wppf, etc.  The most foolproof, most accurate way to resolve this issue is to invest in the new version of WAM Engineering’s WallySkater.  WallySkaters have been a trusted reference for me for years, with everything from a lowly Ortofon 2M Black to my new DS Audio optical. No other tool comes close.  Yes, there’s a learning curve (a lot shorter with the new model), but IMHO, it's the Gold Standard.  Period.

You might also want to review WAM guru J.R. Boisclair’s Youtube tutorials that discuss antiskating.  He makes a convincing argument, based in non-voodoo physics, that the blank-disk method produces incorrect results.  I’m generally a tough sell, but he sold me.

They also show that horizontal-bearing dynamic friction can contribute greatly to skating-force measurements, and that bearing quality has a great effect on skating forces.  The WallySkater, to its credit, measures & optimizes both.  This is especially important bc J.R. has empirically confirmed that one of the most significant sources of the worst types of audible distortion (as on sibilance), is not misalignment-related mistracking, not bad VTF settings, but  excessive bearing friction.  Again, these are not audiophile conspiracy theories or conclusory pronouncements by self-identified experts.  When J.R. makes an assertion, it’s based on high-precision (often microscopic) empirical measurements and a thorough vetting of a corroborating physical model. 

J.R., as most of you know, is an uncompromising, out-of-the-box thinker who has arguably advanced our understanding of cartridge/tonearm physics more than any other person in my lifetime.  And I’m not young. 

Hey, I have no financial interest in WAM, but I think that every vinyl fan owes it to themself to watch at least some of the WAM tutorials before attempting to align a cartridge or select a tonearm.  I have a degree in Physics and I gotta tell you, J.R.’s observations gave me a whole new level of understanding of the statics and dynamics of vinyl playback.

Thanks for the actual link, @junebug.  So much good stuff there.

Re: the sibilance/mistracking/tonearm issue, every one of my cartridges have suffered from excessive sibilance for many years.  But J.R., focusing instead on tonearm bearings, recommended to me the $2000 fixed-headshell Korf arm as a "budget reference" alternative to Kuzma-class models.  I installed one of these extraordinary tonearms last night per WAM’s procedures and, holy cow, for the first time, the level of sibilance and vocal distortion on my most challenging sibilance-test material (like Cat Stevens’s "But I Might Die Tonight") did not exceed that of Tidal’s remastered FLAC streams.  Jeez, I’d been listening to the wrong advice & chasing the wrong problem for years.

I realize that mileages vary, so here's what else was in the signal path: a George Merrill-built "GEM Dandy" Polytable Signature, DS Audio E3 optical cartridge & equalizer (no phonostage, of course), $19K T+A amp, Harbeth speakers, & decent four-figure cabling, with power supplied by an Audioquest Niagara conditioner & power cords. So not exactly Fremer-class XVX + Dartzeel, but still in a class with, I suspect, what many Audiogon users listen to.  On this system, the improvement in this area was dramatic, impossible to miss.