Zero Antiskate vs Stylus Wear


This article, based on a long term study, was “plagiarised” from another Forum. It’s quite an old article so apologies to “older heads” for whom this may be old news.
It comes from an era when light VTF = good, but was not necessarily true, however the basic principle of long term wear looks sound.
Styli were tested to destruction over their full lifecycle.

http://www.audiomods.co.uk/papers/kogen_skatingforce.PDF

Viewers may have to cut & paste but in the event of difficulty with the link I will give a brief summary :

Of 14 cartridge samples tested without bias, 9 of them suffered excessive wear on the inner groove. One was neutral and the remaining 4 were “outer wall”.
When bias compensation was applied to a group of 6 samples, the wear pattern that resulted was symmetrical.

Given the strong and logical argument that skating damages styli asymmetrically – and gives a skewed reading of the LP over time, the “deviations” are a concern i.e. why 4 of them behaved oppositely.
Poor bearings? Arm cable too stiff? Wrong geometry?

IMO most turntable enthusiasts considered it self evident that unilateral force would cause this type of wear pattern so we didn’t need to be told but documented study, even one as old as this, is always interesting.
The photograph of the spherical stylus is poorly resolved on this copy but it makes the point quite graphically.

Based on long term experience that the simplest things can affect the sound of a turntable, I cannot deny that the idea of “de-stressing” the cantilever by removing a poorly directed/located AS force IS attractive and may produce a degree of audible benefit…at first...(?!?!?!!!)
The doubter in me always asks the question : can a mechanical assembly successfully zero out all mechanical influence and give a pure result? (If true zero AS is the goal even arm damping might be prohibited?)

The principle of using excessive VTF (up to 50% more) to achieve the same “trackability”, without bias, it was suggested, merely accelerates the unilateral wear & tear with (presumably) commensurate damage to the LP(?)
The proposed compensation of up to ”50% extra VTF” sounded a bit excessive to me.
(I’d balk at applying more than 0.1g over maximum.)

Old as it is, I found this study mildly unsettling.
Comments and opinions are invited from both Zero-antiskate adherents and those who always use AS.
moonglum

Showing 3 responses by zenblaster

When you guys mention overhang (or underhang) what exactly is that. I guess I want to know what the overhang is in relation to.
Thanks Moonglum for the great information on AS. Between that and Raul's guidance to Graeme Dennes Geometry Analysis I have slept about 2 hours the last 2 days and didn't get a lick of work done. I never realised how interesting tonearm/stylus geometry and how such things shape what we hear. I'm fascinated guys, keep up the good work.
Thank you Moonglum for the very interesting article. Between this and Graemme Dennes article on Tonearm cartridge geometry analysis that Raul pointed me to, I've managed 2 hours sleep the past 2 days and zero work. I'm facinated and intrigued by this. My wife is ready to have me commited. Keep up the good work guys.
Nick Sr- Thanks, I'll take a peak, it's friday.

Raul- thank you

Lewm- That is very clear, now I understand when you you mention P2S and P2T.

Wow- this is like experiencing fire for the first time.