For VPI Unipivot Owners, do you use antiskating?

I have tried with and without, and without is better. Putting pressure on one side of the groove, is like damping the cartridge. Not for me.

YogiBoy...absolutely wrong. Skating force happens and is variable upon frequency, signal level, where the sylus is on the record (beginning, end, middle,where in the middle, etc.). Blank discs tell you very little about skating.
Test records? Once the stylus chatters in the groove, the test record is gouged and worthless. PEOPLE>..Just LISTEN. The placement of instruments, the ease of the sound, the ambiance,....all better w/o antiskate.

I am simply relaying the information as I know it...I don't profess to be a guru...I certainly don't retip cartridges. I just listen to what a/s does and doesn't do for my cartridges. Clearly when I listen, I hear a stability ..a definition of instrument outline, etc., that I don't hear with a/s. I don't care if anyone uses a/s or not. These pages are for audiophile interest. As for the wearing of the stylus, I don't care. I'm after the best performance I can get from my system. If I wanted the tires of my cars to wear less, I would flatbed the cars from place to place.

Bill_K If indeed my 3D printed arm has a built in a/s mechanism in it, then so be it. I don't twist the wires at all (Discovery, not the Nordost...Discovery sounds better to me)..and don't use the provided A/S mechanism that is for the arm, although I've used it to compare with and without A/S. ..just a comment about the VPI A/S mechanism. I think its the best of its type, because the greater force of the weight can be manipulated to occur at the beginning, med., or end of the playing LP. I don't know of any arm with A/S that can do that.

The 3D arm and the classic arm uses the same basic gizmo, however the 3D device is slightly different from the Classic. When setting up the gizmo, the most pressure against the arm is when the outrigger is fully extended. When it is not, the weight of the outrigger is supported by the attachment. By manipulating (rotating) the gizmo itself, you can get the fully extended position wherever you want it...some say the most beneficial position is near the end of the record.

Doug...beautifully put. I just wonder if those who don't use anti-skate have found that one side of the groove is noisier, than the other. I have records that are 40 years or more older, and play beautifully. I too have removed the a/s gizmo from my arm, and others, and too have found that the gizmo itself is deleterious.

Moonglum...surely the sound will change with an increase or decrease of a/s....you're dragging the stylus closer/farther to the magnet or coil. No one can control the a/s that's needed or preferred because the force is constantly changing. Why don't you listen to your cartridge without a/s and let it breathe. If you don't like it, put your a/s in play again.

My wife says the same thing about me Yogiboy. Actually, all I urge people to do is try it. ,,You can always put it back.... Zei Gazundt.

A much more beneficial adjustment is making sure the azimuth is as close to perfection as can be made. Poor azimuth adjustment will give the listen no indication anything is wrong...but the magic happen with it is done correctly.

slaw....If I did say that, I must have been posting very late at night.  To me, correct azimuth is very, very, v,v critical.