antiskate disc

@willy-t “Here’s what l do…”

You have thought of something alternate here.

Normally there are three ways of doing something.

1. The recognised right way

2. The wrong way

3. A new better way   Possibly your way? (and more accurate with a mono record?)

Agreed 

Antiskate force is, was, and always will be controversial.  'Twas ever thus.  For the last 2 or 3 weeks as I have been immersed in learning how to setup my turntables using AnalogMajik, and of course setting antiskate has become a part of this process.  AnalogMagik, in their tutorials, says that for 12" tonearms antiskate probably isn't necessary.  On my VPI HW 40, which has a 10" tonearm, it proved unnecessary.  On my Technics SL1200GAE, which so far has been my focus with a Ortofon 2M Black LVB, I have found that varying the antiskate setting over a fairly wide range makes only small changes in distortion.  Therefore, I decided to just settle on using the factory setting, which as I understand it is approximately 10% of VTF.  Again, though, the setting could be +/- 0.5gr of that point with only small changes in measured IM distortion.  I am certain, too, that the results would be different for a different cartridge.  In conclusion, don't assume anything as YRMV.

billstevenson

Antiskate force is, was, and always will be controversial. 

That's likely true. It's probably complicated by the fact that some users, and some manufacturers too, advise against using antiskate force altogether.

One thing to keep in mind is that the skating force will vary from record-to-record (depending on the level at which they're cut) and it will vary as you play the record as well. So the best anti-skating setting can be no better than a best approximation. That's probably part of what drives some users to linear tracking arms. (Although, as I look at how some are propelled, I'm not convinced that all of them avoid skating force completely.)

Always entertaining, sometimes educational