Hopefully not hijacking this thread, but what did you guys notice if you had the set screw on the counterweight at dead center, thus the azimuth not "perfectly" set? I currently have a Scout with the JMW 9 arm and a dyna 20X-L cart tracking at 2.3 grams. Thank you.
VPI Scoutmaster - Anti-skate again..
Hi,
I'm sure this has been covered, but I couldn't find it...
As we all know, the coiled wire of the JMW-9 tonearm provides anti-skate force naturally, and is seen by VPI as preferable to any mechanical implementation.
VPI now provides a mechanical anti-skate with the Scoutmaster turntable. It is supplied but not installed. VPI still stands by their original position on anti-skate.
Now, for my experience.
I started without the use of the mechanical anti-skate. Listening, backed up by the Hi-fi+ test LP, convinced me that more anti-skating force was needed. I twisted the lemo connector counter-clockwise to apply more force, but I didn't notice any difference.
I then implemented the mechanical anti-skate. I found by visual inspection and confirmed with the test LP that, even at the lowest setting, far too much anti-skating force was now being applied.
Listening tests with the mechanical anti-skate engaged were a mixed bag. I found the image to be more centered, rather than leaning to the right, but I also noticed a loss of fine detail. For instance, when a fast sequence of plucked guitar notes were played, each note stood out more independently WITHOUT the mechanical anti-skate. With the anti-skate engaged the notes smear together slightly.
Has anyone had a similar experience? I am hoping to find a solution that will enable me to focus the image better and not lose any detail. It seems to me that I need a way to provide a little more anti-skate, but not a lot more. (and I am slightly baffled as to why the lemo twist method seemed to have no effect whatsoever.)
Cheers.
Tom
I'm sure this has been covered, but I couldn't find it...
As we all know, the coiled wire of the JMW-9 tonearm provides anti-skate force naturally, and is seen by VPI as preferable to any mechanical implementation.
VPI now provides a mechanical anti-skate with the Scoutmaster turntable. It is supplied but not installed. VPI still stands by their original position on anti-skate.
Now, for my experience.
I started without the use of the mechanical anti-skate. Listening, backed up by the Hi-fi+ test LP, convinced me that more anti-skating force was needed. I twisted the lemo connector counter-clockwise to apply more force, but I didn't notice any difference.
I then implemented the mechanical anti-skate. I found by visual inspection and confirmed with the test LP that, even at the lowest setting, far too much anti-skating force was now being applied.
Listening tests with the mechanical anti-skate engaged were a mixed bag. I found the image to be more centered, rather than leaning to the right, but I also noticed a loss of fine detail. For instance, when a fast sequence of plucked guitar notes were played, each note stood out more independently WITHOUT the mechanical anti-skate. With the anti-skate engaged the notes smear together slightly.
Has anyone had a similar experience? I am hoping to find a solution that will enable me to focus the image better and not lose any detail. It seems to me that I need a way to provide a little more anti-skate, but not a lot more. (and I am slightly baffled as to why the lemo twist method seemed to have no effect whatsoever.)
Cheers.
Tom