Anti-Skating it is important

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kach22i

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If you suddenly find your turntable ultra sensitive to footfalls and skipping around for no reason check your anti-skating setting.

I think that the last time I removed my dust cover or dusted my table that I accidentally moved the rotary anti-skating disc dial surrounding my tonearm base.

I used my trusty Cardas record to set it right, it was racing towards the center like a racehorse.
 
If you suddenly find your turntable ultra sensitive to footfalls and skipping around for no reason check your anti-skating setting.

I think that the last time I removed my dust cover or dusted my table that I accidentally moved the rotary anti-skating disc dial surrounding my tonearm base.

I used my trusty Cardas record to set it right, it was racing towards the center like a racehorse.

Kach, do you feel that Anti-skate has a definite sweet spot with your current Cartridge?
My last MC, although moving towards the end of it's usable life, tended to respond to minute adjustments, even to the extent of just touching the dial (not actually moving it) to get the final Nth increment.
The latest one (Moving Iron) is by contrast is a better tracker and slightly more compliant but less responsive to small adjustments - which is the opposite of what I expected.
There seem to be varying opinions within the industry on bias requirements (Rega, for example, maintain that as long as you are roughly in the right ball
park then it's ok - which so far is not my experience at all !:D)

Cheers..........Victor
 
I consider Roy Gandy a friend, but he still claims you shouldn't clean your records either!

I agree with Kach, get out your favorite test record, a mulitmeter and whatever else you need and adjust anti skate to the best of your ability.

Michael Fremer said in his first DVD that "his disc will get you 80% of the way there..."

Unfortunately, that's not where the analog magic lies. It's getting as much of the last 20% that you can without driving yourself to insanity.
 
Kach, do you feel that Anti-skate has a definite sweet spot with your current Cartridge?
I have not played with it on purpose, I assumed hovering in the middle was desired. Darn it, now I'm curious.

The final adjustment was indeed just a tap/nudge. It took four or five back and forths, then two nudges to get it centered to neutral.
 
George.....I'll take that as a "yes" :D :D

I'm inclined to agree with Roy's assessment of VTA adjustment though.... (..."VTA is not an adjustment - it's a neurosis"...) :D :D
Kind regards........................Victor.
 
Useful info George - as that procedure sums it up quite well. :)

But.....once the different cutting VTAs of production discs are factored in, VTA adjustment becomes a constantly moving target (also variable in warped discs - and even the flattest vinyl is imperceptibly warped).... :D.

Life is short...if you have a sound which works....don't worry... :)

Best regards...........................Victor.
 
Unfortunately, that's not where the analog magic lies. It's getting as much of the last 20% that you can without driving yourself to insanity.

I received a bit of a shock the other day. Now that I'd finally run in the MMIII (30 hrs on the clock) I decided to review the downforce and bias settings. Originally, I'd set the downforce somewhere between Len Gregory's specific Linn Ittok orientated recommendation of 1.5g and the 1.58g "magic figure" as recommended by the Reviewers. (I admit I balked at such a lightweight force as past experience with MCs suggested a bit more security was needed so erred on the heavy side of midrange as a reference for burning in. Given the marginal inaccuracies of the Ittok's calibration, the actual force was measured at 1.585g - still less than the 1.6g MAX)
At this force the cartridge sounded distinctly "sat on". Centre vocal in front of an orchestra was LOUD by comparison to the orchestra itself and all the ambience seemed to have been suppressed. (This is one of the perils of relying on test discs without fine tuning by ear with real music!)

I decided to throw the test disc away temporarily and re-tune by ear at a much lighter force, going beyond my sensibilities and dropping the downforce by over 50 milligrams to 1.53g approx. The transformation was astonishing! All the air, texture and ambience was restored but most importantly, the vocal now took it's place properly in context beside a much louder orchestra....
Moving the force upwards as an experiment, an additional 10 milligrams killed those benefits !!!

Getting back on Thread :D I decided to re-check my new settings against the Test Disc to see what the "damage" to tracking and bias was. Surprisingly, the tracking was virtually unaffected by the lightweight force, because the (approximated) bias was still ok on bands 1 + 2. Only Band 3 revealed a slightly coarse reaction in one channel and forced an adjustment. This proves that mid-heavy is not necessarily good....even in the depths of Winter !
Cheers .......................................Victor.
 

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