To antiskate or not antiskate


Well that's the question,  as I'm evaluating the latest addition in my setup.

A dr feickert woodpecker with a clearaudio unify 12 inch tonearm and lyra titan cartridge. 

This is my first encounter with this kind of setup so any advice is welcome ! 

iseland

First of all,  thank you all for good advice and helpful input. 

I have used all the tools in my possession,  had another go with the protractor from feickert, digital scale from ortofon, larger libell from ortofon ( air bubble disc thing 😳) and mini air bubble thingy small enough to fit on the arm lift and adjusted every accordingly and it sounds fantastic without antiskate . The titan does anyway. 

Tomorrow I'm going to try my zyx 4d ultimate just for the fun of it,  that one might need AS but I will be back with an update 😃

You won't regret getting the WallySkater.

And while you're at it, if you don't already have one of these "azimuth / vta" blocks, I find them very handy for getting the azimuth setting into the ballpark.

Later, after the cantilever on your cartridge breaks in, I'd suggest adjusting the azimuth by ear (don't bother with fozgometer they are not helpful). You can find an article I wrote on how to do that here.

We went thru the anti-skate wringer in the other thread, I think worth careful reading, I put a list of simple tools and methods there.

First, verify all else is properly mounted, aligned, calibrated, anti-skate is LAST!

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/anti-skate-weight-better-sound-without-it

  1. Anti-Skate (one hand always on the arm lift lever)

 

  1. Use blank side of LP, raise arm, get platter spinning 33 rpm.
  2. Lower arm, it gets pulled into the center, that is natural skating force
  3. add a little anti-skating force, lower arm, a bit more. Check it at various distances from the outer and inner grooves. Find a compromise, if any allow a speck of inner skate, avoid outer skate.
  4. Final, by ear, using the LP, last 2 tracks, 3 guitarists play, imaging reveals their placement, verify you can hear John in the middle and the others left and right.

finishing by ear, with an LP with no sounds except 3 guitarists, and excellent imaging, no golden ears required, anyone can hear when Paco/John/Al are distinctly L/C/R.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night_in_San_Francisco

  1. Use CD version to confirm all system connections are good for L/R Balance
  2. AFTER 1 above, Use LP version to refine anti-skate by ear

.................................

I had a 12.5" effective arm, it needed some anti-skate. Every arm is unique, I would take control rather than trust that long arms don't need it.

I prefer lighter tracking cartridges. One of the side benefits is that inward skate is relative to downward force, sooooo, less anti-skate will be needed if/when tracking lightly, and any error, will be LESS forceful 

 

Ok , I'm corrected and I will add the lightest weight to start with and listen again..