Anti-skating question


I recently installed a new phono cartridge (DynaVector 10x4 MkII on Origin Live modified Rega RB250 on Planar 3 table). At first, I set the anti-skating force so that on a spinning grooveless record surface the tonearm would pretty much stay where it was set down or drift slowly outward. That, I assumed, was a pretty good and direct way to set the level of anti-skating force needed. Then, I put on HiFiNews&RecordReview’s test LP and used the anti-skating tracks – basically, you adjust the anti-skating until you hear no tracking distortion of the test signal in either channel. This procedure gave me a very different setting – one that does not counter (not nearly totally, anyway) the inward skating of the tonearm when set on a grooveless record surface. I would have thought the two methods would have produced more similar results. Any explanation for this? (I’ve stuck with the sonically-based setting for now.)
jayboard
Sean, the record I mentioned in my original post covers the setup bases. One source for the record is MusicDirect. As for vinyl wear, I wouldn't consider anything up to 2 g to be a problem at all if your stylus is in good shape and the arm is tracking well.
A bit off topic, but does anybody know of a website with turntable setup help/advice?
Arcmania, Laura Dearborn's article on turntable setup shows up several places on-line, including The TNT-Audio site has an article that describes the HFNRR test LP i mentioned earlier. It's a good record for those who don't have testing equipment. A post at Vinyl Asylum has some more links on the subject.
Hmm, lost some info in my previous attempt to post this..... Arcmania, Laura Dearborn's article on turntable setup shows up several places on-line, including www.gcaudio.com/Archives/ttsetup.htm ..... The TNT-Audio site has an article that describes the HFNRR test LP i mentioned earlier. http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/hfnrrdisc_e.html It's a good record for those who don't have testing equipment. ..... A post at Vinyl Asylum has some more links on the subject. http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/32767.html