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In Reply to: RE: I'm not using the anti-skate. posted by John Elison on September 22, 2015 at 21:11:19
I am no expert on such things, but I know this; Peter Lederman is one smart guy and on top of that, he knows about such things as antiskate. His take; it is critical. He has his own method that now comes printed out with each retip-carefully drop the stylus between two lead-out grooves and in the one to two seconds or so that you have to observe before the stylus inevitably falls into the groove, watch for the tonearm/cartridge to gently glide inwards. What I learned with my Prime using his method is that the wire twist alone is not sufficient for optimum AS. You need to use either both the wire twist and counterweight or just the counterweight. One of the regulars here used to take a jab or three at VPI for being so slow to offer an AS counterweight on it's tables and continuing to espouse the unnecessary nature of AS. I now sympathize with that person's viewpoint.
Follow Ups:
If you can see the stylus assembly swing on a blank section of the leadout, whether inward or outward, then the swing must necessarily affect the sonic balance. I find that the only means for me to adjust a/s is by ear. If the system is set up properly, then the smallest swing inward or outward is noticeable on complex musical passages. If the system is not set up properly, then you will likely not be able to hear any difference in a/s adjustment.
Setting up the cartridge properly is a pain, involving a spiral micro-adjustment procedure : vtf, vta and a/s. Small adjustments in vtf will require compensatory adjustments in vta and a/s. I use complex musical passages to detect variations in distortion. The problem and pain are that improper levels of vtf, vta and a/s each produce somewhat different kinds of distortion, and the trick is to determine which kind of distortion is attributable to which cause.
Compounding the problem and pain is that in my setup using the Origin Live Illustrious mkiii, the skating force varies as the stylus tracks from the outer to the inner edge of the lp. I suspect that skating force may also vary with the complexity and loudness of the musical passages, or that the skating force becomes more noticeable during the tracking of these passages because the stylus spends more time in the air during loud passages.
If possible, stick with redbook or hi-res digital, which I consider to be plug-and-play compared to vinyl.
Looking directly in front of the cartridge as it tracks a record, I only see a left/right deflection when the arm is lowered to the spinning record. While the record is playing/in the groove, there is none ...maybe hardly perceptable. If you see a deflection, perhaps there is too much friction in your arm bearings or similar. You are correct Mlee, a/s varies within each bit of the playing record...loudness, frequency ...everything changes the skating force. All one can do is guess ...however, my records from 1960 sound better than the best current CD's I have ...even without a/s.
I agree, SgreenP@MSN.com, that 1960s classical records were miked differently from today's CDs. CD strengths include bass extension, bass definition, transparency, detail, macro-dynamics and absolute speed accuracy. To play to these strengths, recording engineers appear to use different microphones for different orchestral instruments, and the resulting mix made to sound transparent and detailed, with varying tonalities for each, individual instrument or instrumental section, assembled together like colorful paints on an artist's canvas.
Unfortunately, this is not what I hear at Carnegie Hall, or in any other indoor orchestral concert hall. There, the sound is chaotic and absolutely not detailed or transparent, with random harmonics bouncing at you from every which way, even when sitting close to the stage. Such a sound is inviting, exciting and at times thrilling. I generally do not get that with digital music, which to me sounds more measured and artificially constructed and arranged.
In deference to the OP, congrats to the VPI Prime, volunteer. That turntable should serve you well, with or without a/s.
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