Anti-Skate Weight …. Better sound without it?


Hello,

I have a Music Hall 9.1 turntable, and I recently changed my cartridge to an Audio Technica AT160ML, moving magnet. It sounds lovely! 

 

BUT… it seems to sound better when I take my anti skate weight off my turn table arm. 

 

One record in particular seems to have Left channel distortion with a female vocal, but when I take the weight off, it disappears and sounds lovely. 

 

It all seems to sound slightly better and more resolved, open, without the weight. 

The needle requires a very light 1 gram tracking weight. I have aligned it correctly, and the turn table is level. 

 

Any suggestions? Is there something incorrect with my turntable setup? Could it be this one record, as i do not notice left speaker distortion otherwise… (i think)… 

 

Or does the removal of the anti skate weight make sense when the needle has a very light tracking force?

 

thanks!

Richard

whyrichard

 

devinplombier

thank god for people like you, my imagined beneficiary!

 let us know how it goes!

let me know if you find alternate tools, other methods, any way I was unclear, I tried to be concise, keep it simple, I can always edit it.

E, you do realize that most styli are mounted with at least some zenith error. Dave Slagle says the industry standard is +/-5 degrees. Even a 1or 2 degree error can completely destroy alignment accuracy, no matter the instrument used to achieve alignment. Furthermore few of us have the equipment and judgement necessary to account for zenith error. So I would guess that the majority of us are under the false impression that our cartridges are aligned properly. So I’d say do the best you can but be aware of the problem. As regards azimuth, I have almost come to the conclusion that the capacity to adjust azimuth may be dangerous if the goal is seating the stylus squarely in the groove. (If you’re looking for minimal crosstalk electronically that’s even more fraught, since the end result may be that the stylus sits at an angle in the groove, which results in aberrant stylus wear.) And finally as regards AS, all the tonearms I know about apply AS in a manner that is oblivious to the ever changing angle and magnitude of the skating force. So AS is like the stopped clock that is nevertheless is correct only for two moments in a 24 hour day. So the best one can hope for is a value that reduces the distortion due to skating, if audible, most of the time. There is no such thing as an exact correct value so why bother with fancy gear to set AS which shouldn’t be any better than by ear. In that connection, why would a string and weight AS device be inferior to one that uses magnets?

lewm,

I've asked you twice whether you fixed your 7082 arm's counterweight sag, no answer?

A string and weight has notches, limited to the choices of it's graduated steps, a magnet is infinitely adjustable, which I like better. I do have trouble trusting that the magnetic force won't change, so I re-check by habit.

we are making a strong case for streaming, you have gone to the next level now.

Post removed 

@lewm 

Furthermore few of us have the equipment and judgement necessary to account for zenith error. So I would guess that the majority of us are under the false impression that our cartridges are aligned properly.

Likely true. In which case I'm in the minority as I know precisely what my zenith error is and have the tools to correct it. Makes for easy listening in that I don't worry about such things:)