Again, 9-11% of VTF is the consensus of the best average anti skating force. Tonearms that have calibrated anti skating use this figure. However, many tonearms are not calibrated. In this case the OP has to make his own weight so he needs to have a way to figure out what exactly he is doing. The WallySkater is one way to test for this. The other has not been marketed yet but if someone wants to copy it for themselves I have no objection. I call it the Gizmo. ( My wife wanted to know what I was doing. I told her I was working on a gizmo.) You can see it on my system page. It has been updated with a permanent digital gauge. It takes a direct measurement of the anti skating force just like you measure VTF except horizontal. 10% worked well according to all my test records which are supposedly overmodulated. The degree of modulation is less important than VTF as a contributing factor. This is also measured at the rim of the record where skating is at it's highest. Good anti skating devices diminish force as the arm moves towards the center of the record. The OP could use a test record to set his arm up. The Hi Fi News Analog Test Record has three anti skate tracks. Use the one that is less modulated. Use the highest modulated track to get the idea of what you are listening for. Defeat the anti skate and listen to this track. The right channel will distort like crazy. The idea is to add anti skate until either the distortion stops or becomes about the same in both channels using the lowest modulated track. This is the cheapest way to get in the ballpark.
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- 14 posts total
- 14 posts total