Maximum Cartridge Tracking Force for long LP Life

@antinn 

How is your ART20 outside of design parameters?

That particular version of the SME 3009 tonearm, the Series II improved with fixed head shell, has calibrations for Vertical Tracking Force (VTF) which max out at 1.5-grams.  The calibrations for anti-skating match the VTF ones, one for one.

It is easy enough to increase the VTF by screwing the main balance weight forwards, using a stand-alone scale to set the VTF, but then you run out of calibrations for SME’s anti-skating contraption, at least in theory.  The simplest way out is to obtain a heavier anti-skating weight and mentally recalibrate what the string positions mean!

Bill’s VTF is only 0.3-grams high, and my AT cartridge is 0.5-grams high.  I certainly would not attempt to run an SPU cartridge in this particular species of SME 3009 tonearm.

@billstevenson @antinn 

This is a bit of a diversion, but I was thrilled to discover that the review of the AT-ART20 referenced on Audio Technica's website was done on a Holbo Mk2 air-bearing system.  I have a new Holbo waiting for me to get home and install it.  When I do, I will take my AT MM cartridge out of the SME arm and put it in the Holbo.  Then my old Shure V15 with a new Jico stylus can go back where it belongs in the SME tonearm, with a Garrard 301 table.

I intend to write up my experiences with the Holbo and its tangential tracking tonearm in the next few weeks.  I can say that the delivery from Slovenia to Australia was absolutely painless and much faster than I anticipated.  It just appeared, no customs issues at all.

The tangential tonearm, which floats on a 10-micron thickness of low-pressure air, eliminates both Horizontal Tracking Angle errors and the need for any anti-skating device.

Record wear is vastly overstated. 

@mambacfa 

Record wear is vastly overstated

Suggest you have a look at some of the photographs in Neil Antin's book PACVR-3rd-Edition, page 13 for example.

Not just the record wears.  Stylii wear as well, some shapes many times faster than others.  A worn stylus playing at too low or too high a tracking force causes damage which might not matter to you, but is audible to others.

@richardbrand   Thanks tons for the very informative treatise on caring for records. This confirms the value of using appropriate styli and tracking force and cleaning records using proper methods. I believe that this is indisputable. I was simply commenting on the idea held by some that records have a very short life, irrespective of the benefits of proper care and usage. (Truth be told, back in the day we used to play a new record once to make a cassette recording and then play that.)