A new way of adjusting anti skate!

Audioguy, the problem with that method is, what is slowly.
 
Clearthinker, I agree in theory using the term tangential tracker. Every "parallel" tracker I have ever seen is compromised usually severely to the point that the best of the light pivoted tonearms sound better. However, Reed and Schroder figured out how to do it right. My next arm is going to be a Schroder LT and I will be done with anti skating forever.

My thinking exactly wolfie62. There is something satisfying about working to a number vs haphazard ways. The people who are complaining probably do not have a digital VTF gauge. There is general agreement that the anti skating force should be 10% +-1%. This certainly beats listening to a test record and a lot faster:)

I will only go so far as using my $14 azimuth/overhang protractor when I swap carts. If I am tracking at 1.5 grams, I set my AS to 1.5 grams. I know I must sound pretty barbaric to true audiophiles, but after 45 years in the hobby, I found this amount of TT futzing to be adequite.

Probably why I stream 95% of the time. I'm tired of letting my equipment OCD to get in the way of listening to the music.

I own a WallySkater tool. I am not some novice. I have been setting up turntables for over 50 years. I have attended many seminars over the years, listening to many experts in the industry talk about setup and design of their turntables and tonearms. I find the WallySkater to be a very important tool in my setup kit. There is nothing on the market that can tell you what effect tonearm bearing and internal wiring have on your tonearm’s anti-skate when it is set to zero. Every tonearm is different and all have some percentage of anti-skate. The only way to check it is with a WallySkater tool. My present arm is a Graham Phantom II, at zero setting it has a little less than 1%. I had a Jelco 750 when set to zero had 2.5%. The last VPI JMW 12 I owned had 1.5% and that was with NO twist in the wire. So as you can see without that knowledge you would already be off when setting anti-skate.

Yes everybody is right that there is no perfect setting because anti-skate decreases as you go across the record. The WallySkater allows you to know what the percentage is at the beginning, middle and end of the record and you can adjust for those differences to be more consistent across the album. You can’t judge that by ear. When setting anti-skate on your tonearm, how accurate is that dial you are turning or when you move that weight and string to a certain position. Do you really know what you are setting it at. Without a WallySkater tool you are just guessing.

Some people are happy with setting up a cartridge with a printout from a pdf file. Some set VTF with just the scale markings on the tonearm weight. Some set the Azimuth by ear and some set anti-skate by a dial or a weight or by sight. That is ok, if you are happy doing things that way good for you, enjoy the music. But if you want to optimize the performance of your turntable, get maximum life from your cartridge and put minimal wear on the record groove, invest in some good setup tools.

I have a question, would you want your mechanic to align your car’s front end with a flashlight taped to the front tire pointing at the garage door and a yardstick to measure or would you rather him use an alignment rack with lasers, precision scales and levels to do the job ?  Which do you think would give the better outcome?

Isn't the aim of anti-skate to prevent the mistracking that would occur if unequal groove-wall contact was applied during highly modulated passages? Isn’t this solvable by a small increase in downforce such that the “weak side” never fell below the trackability needed to negotiate the passage?  That was the opinion of Edgar Vilchur of ARXA fame.  The mania for low tracking forces has passed into dimly remembered history and with it the fear that 2.5mN was going to wear out your vinyl.  

@benjie
Totally agree with you post.  Without the setup tools I have acquired including my WallySkater, SmarTractor, and Fozgometer, I would not be near the setup precision that allow my tonearms and cartridges to perform at their peak.