What Almarg said, and to a certain degree, what Stringreen said.
Your dealer has a right to his opinion, but he should have made it clear to you that his is just an opinion. No matter what one does, there IS a skating force present when using any pivoted tonearm in which set-up the stylus overhangs the pivot, which is nearly all of them. The problem is, as others mentioned, the skating force is a moving target across the surface of the LP. Moreover the vectors of the forces that combine to generate the skating force also change direction. My approach is to start with the most minimal amount of AS permitted by the mechanism and then listen for signs that you might need more, most notably distortions that localize to the R channel. (Usually, I find that the minimal setting for AS works fine.) Like Al said, the idea that AS should equal VTF in magnitude is preposterous.
Your dealer has a right to his opinion, but he should have made it clear to you that his is just an opinion. No matter what one does, there IS a skating force present when using any pivoted tonearm in which set-up the stylus overhangs the pivot, which is nearly all of them. The problem is, as others mentioned, the skating force is a moving target across the surface of the LP. Moreover the vectors of the forces that combine to generate the skating force also change direction. My approach is to start with the most minimal amount of AS permitted by the mechanism and then listen for signs that you might need more, most notably distortions that localize to the R channel. (Usually, I find that the minimal setting for AS works fine.) Like Al said, the idea that AS should equal VTF in magnitude is preposterous.