A simple procedure for setting anti-skating that I’ve found to work well, at least with cartridges having medium to high compliance (which would include the Ortofon 2M Blue, although I have no experience with that specific cartridge), and which I’ve found to generally require little if any subsequent fine tuning by ear, is as follows:
1)Observe the cartridge from the front while it is in the groove of a rotating record and positioned somewhere in the middle of the record, on a musical passage that is lightly modulated (i.e., one that has relatively low volume and consequently does not have wide groove excursions).
2)Adjust anti-skating until deflection of the cantilever to one side (left or right) becomes barely perceptible, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Note the setting.
3)Adjust anti-skating until deflection of the cantilever to the other side (left or right) becomes barely perceptible, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Note the setting.
4)Set anti-skating to the mid-point between those settings.
5)Verify that no perceptible left or right deflection of the cantilever occurs near the beginning and near the end of the record.
As I mentioned earlier, after performing this procedure I have found that little or no subsequent fine-tuning by ear is usually necessary. And I have typically found that the procedure results in a setting that is in the vicinity of 50% to 60% of the tracking force.
This procedure might not work with low compliance cartridges, btw, with which I have no experience.
Regards,
-- Al
1)Observe the cartridge from the front while it is in the groove of a rotating record and positioned somewhere in the middle of the record, on a musical passage that is lightly modulated (i.e., one that has relatively low volume and consequently does not have wide groove excursions).
2)Adjust anti-skating until deflection of the cantilever to one side (left or right) becomes barely perceptible, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Note the setting.
3)Adjust anti-skating until deflection of the cantilever to the other side (left or right) becomes barely perceptible, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Note the setting.
4)Set anti-skating to the mid-point between those settings.
5)Verify that no perceptible left or right deflection of the cantilever occurs near the beginning and near the end of the record.
As I mentioned earlier, after performing this procedure I have found that little or no subsequent fine-tuning by ear is usually necessary. And I have typically found that the procedure results in a setting that is in the vicinity of 50% to 60% of the tracking force.
This procedure might not work with low compliance cartridges, btw, with which I have no experience.
Regards,
-- Al