antiskate disc

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 

@lewm you are absolutely correct in your statement.  I am not sure how these forums get so testy and a lot of times someone disagrees it get this way.  Vinyl is so subjective and opinions vary.  We get new vinyl users or some with not a huge amount of skill in setup and we do them or these very forums a disservice for this type of behavior.  Setup is just that with small adjustments that mean the difference between a great sound or just OK sound.  I have use no anti-skate to a little anti-skate as I use what I hear first and also check how the stylus tracks in the grooves.  
 

@jw944ts I hope you get the answers you are looking for and let’s settle down some on the responses and try to give this member some useful information he can actually use to hone his setup skills with his table.

I read AR XA inventor Edgar Villchur’s “Understanding High Fidelity” as a young man, and his position was that antiskate correction was unnecessary because it’s not the skating force you care about, it’s the groove damage caused by mistracking that you should be concerned with. His suggested solution was to use the higher end of the recommended VTF range to minimize mistracking.  The contention that lower VTF meant less record wear was a commonly stated falsity, promoted by cartridge manufacturers Shure, and ADC that research done by Decca in the UK and Nippon Columbia in Japan found no support for, as I recall…hence their own cartridge models tracking above 2 grams.  
 

On the original topic, I used to use a copy of Johnny Winter’ Second Winter, an album with 3 recorded sides, to do rough antiskate adjustment, and yes, the stylus left a mark…but not enough to become a groove…maybe the FG has a pointier tip!