Antiskating .... The last analog secret

Hey, Doug. It's me again. :)

I would definately agree that calibration with a blank surface is never precisely correct. However, I would presume it's a very easy way to set an initial anti-skate (assuming you have a tonearm that allows you to set anti-skate and you find it to be a sonically valuable offset).

If you haven't learned this about me yet, here's another clue - I like my processes and I like my lists. :) I would bet there a progressive set (each with greater acuracy) of approaches for setting anti-skate:

ASL 1 - Do not use anti-skate
ALS 2 - Use a proporotion of VTF as your anti-skate setting
ALS 3 - Use a blank portion of LP; increse AS until arm remains motionless
ASL 4 - ?
ASL 5 - Set anti-skate using oscilloscope
ASL 6 - Set anti-skate by ear

However, 2 questions come to mind:

1) Was the damage noted in the picture caused by too much AS, or not enough?
2) Which of the above listed Anti-Skate Levels is sufficient to prevent that type of damange?

There is a good summary post out on AudioAsylum by Rob Doorack on October 26, 2007:

Jonathan Carr, the auteur behind the Lyra line, once wrote that he tried to design an arm that varied AS compensation as the arm arced across the record; he abandoned the effort when the design got too complicated to be practical.

For me, it's get-it-close-and-call-it-good-enough.

Good thread, all. Good thread.