Feel Silly Asking This Question Alignment Parameters

When I recommend a procedure or tool to a customer, I try to get a read on their aptitude and willingness to learn. Needless to say, mechanical and cognitive skills span quite a broad range and with them, so do my recommendations.

If someone is willing to recognize how alignments are established (and the reason I published that blog post linked to, above), then we have vanquished yet another demon. I look at that as a good thing.

As far as anti-skate is concerned, it is "accidentally correct" at a few points along the stylus’ path, and of course, if you’ve set any anti-skating force at all, it’s wrong at the null points ;-)

I endorse the method espoused by both Frank Schröder and Peter Lederman of Soundsmith (click here for Peter's comments).

Don’t get too cute with anti-skate. AJ van Den Hul once told me that the vast majority of cartridges he receives for inspection show signs of vastly too much anti skate (wear on the outer / lead-in groove side of the stylus).

When you understand that anti-skate is is the vector sum of the forces which in turn vary with groove friction, you’ll realize why any attempt at anything more than a minimal setting is asking for trouble.

Groove friction in turn varies. It is a function of the cleanliness and condition of both the stylus and record, the shape and polish of the diamond, and the signal level encoded in the grooves.

In other words, what works for one record at 87mm from the record spindle may be too little or too much force for another record.

Wally M was a charming, quirky fellow and he has done some amazing work for the vinyl community, but his one product which I strongly disagree with is his Wally-Skater. I did a favor for him at one show, and he offered me any Wally-tool as an expression of gratitude. Thinking that I was missing something, I chose a Wally-Skater.

Read Peter Lederman’s comments on the topic and focus on getting your zenith correct. You may well have been misdiagnosing poor zenith as incorrect anti-skate.

... Thom

@lewm - With all due respect you stated that "AS is constant in magnitude" which is not true. As Peter Ledermann confirms: "A properly designed anti-skating is non-linear, as it should of course increase A-S automatically as the cartridge approaches the inner grooves."

+100 re:WAM Engineering ("Wallytools"). J. R. Boisclair is one of the most knowledgable engineers in the country, maybe in the world, when it comes to optimizing the performance of cartridges and tonearms. His site & online channels are packed with tutorials, reference information, research results, etc. Buying a full set of Wallytools isn't cheap, but it's a one-time investment and in my own first-hand experience, JR's microscopic analysis service & toolset made a more dramatic improvement in my vinyl reproduction than did upgrading to cables that cost far more -- and I experienced consistent results with MM & MC cartridges ranging from $700 to $2800. Before making a decision based on well-intentioned, often well-informed, but outsider-looking-in advice from fellow members, you owe it to yourself to at least browse through WAM's online resources (and Michael Fremer's excellent WAM overviews in Stereophile). In my opinion, NO ONE who is serious about vinyl reproduction should try to fool themselves into thinking that they can accurately and precisely align a commercially manufactured cartridge without WAM on their side. Even the best "standard" protractors only get you partway there.

@thom_at_galibier_design Welcome Thom.

I am a big fan of Frank Schroeder. I currently run a CB. The method of setting AS recommended by Frank and Peter is useful for people who have no better way. The problem is defining what a "slowly drift" means. One person's slow drift may not be another's. From a tracking and record wear perspective too little AS is just as bad as too much. The determinants of the skating force are VTF, contact patch size, groove velocity and modulation density. The skating force increases towards the center of the record because the modulation density increases. For any one particular set up VTF and Contact Patch are constants. With a reasonably compliant cartridge like a Lyra or Van den Hul you can determine the correct AS force by careful observation of lateral cantilever deflect as the stylus settles into the groove at the midpoint of the record. Bright light and 10X loops help. The cantilever should not move laterally from its resting position. This corresponds to a Wallyskater reading of 12 % for really acute styluses like the replicant 100, Gyger S, Soundsmith MR and Jico SAS. More conservative line contact styluses, like Lyra and My Sonic Lab use, correspond to a WallySkater reading of 11%. Even though groove velocities can vary from one record to another, there is little difference in the AS required from one record to another. This problem exists for any method of setting AS. 

Having gone through the above process many times I have no problem trusting the WallySkater. It is a rapid and easy way to find a reasonable, average AS setting and definitely more accurate than a "slow drift" towards the label in the run out position. I know exactly what 11% means. 

@thom_at_galibier_design 

I forgot to mention, the cure for improper zenith or any other stylus orientation problem is a new stylus or cartridge. IMHO every cartridge should be examined before it is mounted for the first time. If the stylus is not mounted correctly it should be covered under warranty and usually is without argument. Under optimal circumstances the examination should be done before the cartridge leaves the retailer. A file of the pictures should accompany the cartridge. Most individuals are not going to spend $1500 on a usb microscope and proper staging.