Anti skate. I think something's wrong

I got my Cardas test record out and placed it in smooth section and it imediately gravitated to inside. I adjusted anti skate to where cartridge slighty pulls to inside .

If, as I assume, when you refer to the "smooth section" of the test record you are referring to the ungrooved sections it has, keep in mind that when "playing" an ungrooved surface the skating forces that would result when the stylus is in the groove of a rotating record are not present. Therefore I suspect that the amount of anti-skating force that is being applied is still too low. Although not being familiar with the arm I have no idea why that may be, given that you have set the anti-skating to max.

One thing I would do, if you haven’t already done so, is to view the cartridge head-on (from the front) while the stylus is in the groove of a rotating record, and see if the cantilever is visibly deflected (probably to the right, toward the outside of the record), relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record (presumably straight ahead, or close to it). If deflection to the right is evident it would confirm that for whatever reason your anti-skating force is still too low, IMO.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

P.S to my previous post:  To be precise, the last sentence of my previous post should read as follows:

If deflection to the right is evident it would confirm that for whatever reason your anti-skating force is still too low, or for whatever reason skating force is too high.  IMO.

Also, I've found over the years that optimal anti-skating force usually corresponds to about 50% to 60% of the tracking force.  Other opinions and experiences will differ.

Regards,
-- Al
 

Thanks, Fleib. Your post reminds me that I should have mentioned that the procedure I described should be performed during low volume musical passages, having minimal groove excursions.

Regards,
-- Al

A simple method for setting anti-skating that I’ve found to work well, at least with cartridges having medium to high compliance (I have no experience with cartridges having low compliance), and which I’ve found to generally require little if any subsequent fine tuning by ear, is as follows:

1)Observe the cartridge from the front while it is in the groove of a rotating record, and positioned somewhere in the middle of the record.

2)Adjust anti-skating until deflection of the cantilever to one side (left or right) becomes barely perceptible, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Note the setting.

3)Adjust anti-skating until deflection of the cantilever to the other side (left or right) becomes barely perceptible, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Note the setting.

4)Set anti-skating to the mid-point between those settings.

5)Verify that no perceptible left or right deflection of the cantilever occurs near the beginning and near the end of the record.

Regards,
-- Al

...what I say is that a/s can never be adjusted properly...

And therefore any anti-skating setting, including zero, is a compromise.  Which says nothing as to whether zero may be a better compromise or a worse compromise than any other.

As I mentioned earlier, I have no experience with low compliance cartridges.  But I can say that with cartridges having compliances in the higher parts of the spectrum setting anti-skating to zero would result in cantilever deflection toward the outer edge of the record that upon close visual examination is so severe that it would seem to me to be absurd to even try such a setting.

Yogiboy, thanks for the link.  Very informative article, from an unimpeachable source as you implied.  I note, btw, that in Mr. Ledermann's reference in the article to looking at cantilever deflection he limits its usefulness to cartridges having medium to high compliance.  Although he is addressing its usefulness as a check for gross error, rather than with respect to the adjustment procedure I described above.

Regards,
-- Al