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RS-3 owners: Seeking anti-skate help

Hello - I recently acquired the RS-3 headshell and attached it to my SME 3009 series II (unimproved). I followed the directions from the dealer to the letter and the sound, to date, is nothing shy of riveting, honestly. I am curious, however, if anyone with a similar set-up can comment on whether or not you are using the anti-skate rig. It is not 100% clear that the headshell completely compensates for the table's wanton tendency to pull the arm inwards, so I have set it up currently with the anti-skate weight in place, yet was wondering about the protocol of others, or if there is an official word on this?

Thank you for your help
nycwine1

Showing 3 responses by lewm

lewm
13,476 posts
 
As far as I know, the whole rationale for the design of the RS3 is to eliminate the skating force. To the extent that there probably is some small amount of friction in the pivot point of the headshell, that may generate some skating force, but it ought to be very tiny, much too tiny to require you to use the AS mechanism of your tonearm. In considering my response, please take note of the qualifier: "as far as I know".

It's always wise to experiment for yourself; try it with and without anti-skate and determine which you like best.
lewm
13,476 posts
 
Thanks, Quiddity, for correcting me. I am guilty of believing the box that the RS-A1 comes in, rather than thinking about what is actually happening. It's good to know you're still out there somewhere. Would the pivoting headshell have any effect to ameliorate the skating force?
lewm
13,476 posts
 
I should add here that I heard the RS-A1 at Dave's house and was similarly impressed, since I was familiar with the sound of Dave's system as a baseline. Very lively and therefore life-like is the best way I can sum it up. To paraphrase what Dorothy Parker once wrote about the emotional range of the young Katherine Hepburn, the RS-A1 runs the gamut of sound tonearm engineering, from A to B. But the darn thing works.
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