how do you determine anti-skate settings?

i spoke to the benz micro distributor and they said the same thing as the clearaudio rep said mentioned above by Afc. i was recommended to increase the tracking force of my benz ebony to 2.8gms and back off antiskating to zero.
my bass is now rock solid and deep and no issues with mistracking.

Let me pass on some information as it relates to Clearaudio pivoted tonearms and phono cartridges and Benz Micro phono cartridges. We retail these lines and use various combinations of these products from eight to twelve hours each day. It's usually pretty nice to have a job where you can listen to the hi-fi all day while you are working.

First, in response to Afc's post, Clearaudio pivoted tonearms do not have anti-skating weights and hooks, but instead feature magnetic anti-skating. It's real simple to adjust and can be adjusted during play if you are careful.

Perhaps the "Clearaudio Rep" that was mentioned was partially misunderstood. Here is what I know based on experience.

Benz Micro phono cartridges track best near the top end of their recommended tracking force range in any tonearm, Clearaudio or not, that I have used them in. In some instances, and in some tonearms, they may track best if they are set up a bit above the top end of the range, but I have not found that to be the case very often, and not at all so far when they are mounted in Clearaudio pivoted tonearms.

I believe it is true of the Benz Micro cartridges, when used in a Clearaudio pivoted arm, that they will perform their best together with zero or nearly no anti-skating force. In other words, Benz cartridges and Clearaudio pivoted tonearms seems to perform best together with the tracking force set near the top of the recommended range and with the magnetic anti-skating set at or near zero.

Clearaudio moving magnet phono cartridges, by comparison, seem to need a bit of anti-skating applied to work optimally with a Clearaudio pivoted tonearm.

Although I haven't tried it, I have every reason to believe that in certain instances that Benz Micro and Clearaudio phono cartridges could pass along bass that certain users would find satisfying if the maximum recommended tracking force is exceeded, but I have not tried this myself.

Things will likely be different when you throw a different tonearm into the mix, which I can attest to based on the anti-skating setting needed when switching to an Ortofon AS Series tonearm, for instance. However, I have generally found that all of the cartridges that I have tried, and I have not tried anywhere near everything in my forty plus years of owning record players, that I like to run all of them at near the top end of the tracking force range that is recommend for each one.

That's all just my opinion. I haven't perfomed any formal studies or listening panel tests, but I do listen to record players a lot. What I do know is that one person can have a different perceived result with this sort of thing than the next person has. That's why it's always wise to do a little bit of careful experimentation on your own to see what suits you best.

Dealer disclaimer.

Jim Pendleton
Osage Audio Products, LLC

Interesting reading. VPI says the same thing about their tone-arms. While they recently starting making an anti-skate assembly that can be retrofitted to the older arms, they recommend an increase in tracking force vs. the use of anti-skate.

A_L

Just set everything by ear with some reservations for VTF; you don't want to be too far outside the specified range. What seems to be the problem?

Isanchez, I misspoke. I spoke to a Clearaudio distributor, not a rep. Granted, not an engineer. As far as "he should not be speaking on behalf of a company that designs tonearms with an anti-skate adjustment," I think he addressed that fairly clearly, as I stated. "If we don't have anti-skate available, some will think the design is incomplete or defective." Another words, it's window dressing. I'm not arguing with you....the reason I contacted my dealer (who put me in touch with the distributor), was because at ANY anti-skate setting I used, when the tonearm was lifted with the riser mechanism, it would move back towards the periphery of the record. If you lift the tonearm, and it moves, that's too much anti-skate. And I already had it at the minimum setting. That's when I was told to get rid of it entirely. Perhaps an isolated case? Not what he said- he was very clear that anti-skate is deleterious to both record and stylus wear. Surprised me, just as it surprises you.

Jim, appreciate your input. I use a unipivot Unify tonearm. The anti-skate mechanism is a weight that attaches to a small arm on the back of the tonearm. The nylon thread the weight is attached to is placed through a keyhole support wand that is part of the tonearm base assembly. Unless I'm a total stooge (not out of the question), my Clearaudio Unify tonearm/Champion Limited package has no magnetic anti-skate adjustment on it. Am I missing it somewhere (I do actually read the instruction manuals, LOL)? From the manual- "feed the anti-skate weight through the anti-skate support wand and secure it to the threaded shaft at the top of the tonearm bell." The threaded shaft has grooves in it- anti-skate is adjusted by moving the weight thread closer or farther away from the pivot point. No magnetic adjustment that I can find. I even tried moving the wand to different positions- nearly parallel to the tonearm so that the anti-skate vector would be more linear than radial- so that the force vectors applied to the tonearm by the anti-skate weight would be lessened. It was useless. At any position, weight or wand, the tonearm floated back towards the periphery of the record when lifted with the riser mechanism. That is too much anti-skate. If it can move the entire tonearm assembly on its' pivot, it's gotta be too much.

Physics or no physics, all I know is that I get more bass and a cleaner sound without anti-skate. Like someone else said, trust your ears. Just because anti-skate is there doesn't mean it MUST be used. There's a ground screw on the bottom of the CMB bearing on my TT. It's there on all Clearaudio TT's, I think. Do I use it? No. Do I need it? No. But it's there.....

Not trying to create a stink. Just passing along what, for me, was in a practical sense pretty useful information.