Ditching anti-skate?


Had some issues with the anti-skate settings on my Clearaudio TT. No matter how the weight was adjusted, the arm was always swinging back to the periphery of the record when I used the arm riser. So, I asked my dealer, who sent me to his distributor....what he said surprised me. Basically, he said that anti-skate is useless. A myth propogated by customers feeling that no anti-skate adjustment will make customers thing that the design is "incomplete." He says that anti-skate actually causes the stylus to "wobble" in the grooves, increasing wear to both record and stylus, as well as robbing the TT of bass, since most of the bass in records is at the bottom of the grooves. So, I bagged the anti-skate completely. Right or wrong?
afc
You are right. I broke the anti skating lever on my Grace 747 tonearm and it sounded better without it. I think its because it stays centered in the groove better without any anti skating applied.
I have a Pro-Ject 9.1 and I removed the anti-skate just experimenting around a bit. There were some good/bad trade-offs.

The sound did become fuller, more airy and open, and yes I did notice more bass. But there was less focus in the sound image - the instruments bled into each other more and they weren't as definitively located in the sound image. In the end, I went back to the anti-skate, probably because it is the sound presentation I have grown used to.
Also Afc, how are you liking your Clearaudio? I notice you have an EAR 868, which is what I'm using and I've been thinking about upgrading my TT to a Clearaudio Innovation. Do you find that they play nice together?
I've ditched anti-skate a while back and am enjoying the improved sound. It just has a more real and less "forced" sound without it.