Anti Skating adjustment

Agreed. I do it by ear. With no AS at all, I hear a dominance of the R channel output and some distortion in that channel. I add AS to the point where the image seems to centralize and the distortion disappears. That endpoint usually requires only very little in the way of AS.

Tobes, I was reporting what I actually did hear. But you have reminded me that on the day I made that observation, the tonearm leads may have been crossed. I just read the Vacuum State reference you kindly provided. What I hear is not quite like what they describe but the endpoint is the same. The sad message from Vacuum State is that one needs to be fiddling with AS all the time for all LPs, if the sweet spot is as elusive as they say it is.

Dear Pojuojuo,
I recently did some internet research on this subject. Most mathematical calculations of AS show that the force applied needs to be but a fraction of the VTF, in agreement with what Nrenter says. If you found otherwise with your cartridge in your tonearm, other factors may be at play. For one thing, you might want to check that your tonearm mounting board is level and plane parallel to the surface of the platter.

However, in my house, in my system, I do find there is some benefit to applying some low amount of AS. Usually I just set AS to the bare minimum above zero and forget it thereafter.

Pojuojuo, I agree with you, a test LP with no grooves cannot generate any skating force that is like the skating force we are trying to cancel. Skating force is due to friction between the stylus tip and the groove walls, which is why it is a moving target (variable) throughout the course of playing an LP. No groove, no skating force. So, we all agree on that.

Dear Maclogan, I really don't know what you are talking about. The fact that the cartridge seeks the spindle on a rotating ungrooved LP does not in any way disprove my statement that it is not a good idea to set anti-skate using an ungrooved LP. The skating force is due first and foremost to groove friction (acting in concert with the lack of tangency between the cantilever and the groove). If you don't have grooves, you don't have the skating force that we are interested in canceling. I did not say that there is NO force, just not skating force. On a smooth surface there is still some friction between the vinyl and the stylus tip, and the tip/cantilever are still not perfectly perpendicular to the radius of the LP (what I meant by "tangent"), so yes, there is a centripetal force present. But no groove walls. So, what's the problem? (In fact, skating force is also a centripetal force, just different in magnitude from what you get when there are no grooves, which is my whole point.)

I would not wish to misinform anyone, so if someone sees an error in what I wrote, I am more than happy to acknowledge that and glad to be corrected, if you can convince me.