Anti Skating adjustment

My anti skate force is about 1/10th of my VTF.

There is not a single "correct" anti-skate force. It is always an approximation that gives "better" performance given a constantly changing set of variables. Yes, listening is the best way to set anti-skate force, but it isn't the most helpful advice.

There are many "tricks" to help best determine this approximation. My personal favorite is steady the cartridge near the outer edge of a blank CD-R (similar to the blank LP method). I believe this is the method suggested by both Peter Ledermann and Frank Schroder (but my espresso hasn't kicked in, so my memory may be foggy).

Correcting an error in an earlier post, VTA is set with the top surface of the cartridge parallel to the platter.

Not the tonearm.

Nrenter,

1-. This cdr test is not valid because the skating force is applyed to the grooves, if you hae no grooves you have no information about skating force. Another reason is that for example SME arms always go to the center with this cdr test even if you add all the antiskating force to te arm.

2-. Probably it depends on the cartridge/arm relation BUT imho with all the cartridges i have had the a/s force was really really near to the vtf value. I think when this value is not near the vtf probably the problem is in the arm (age), the azimuth adjustment, etc...

Regards

I talked to Peter today concerning the cartridge and he is willing to look at it again with a new RA#. Don't know how this occurred, but the suspension or dampers seems to be the problem. I don't know enough about the internal construction of this cartridge but it should be very similar to the ZYX cartridges today since Nakatsuka-san built them. I have heard that he does not use any rubber dampers and that age should not be an issue, but I'm not sure. What this has brought up though is the Anti-skating factor. I think we all should check our tonearms with balancing for zero VTF and setting A/S to zero to ensure that there is no residual side movement of the tonearm. I always set the VTF and A/S the same as Jelco/Audioquest recommends for the PT-9. With the VTF and A/S set at say 1.5 grams (minimum tracking force for this cartridge) there is a substantial side movement toward the edge of platter. I still think that the flat surface tracks for antiskating on the Cardas and HiFi News records in the center of the LP is a good starting point, then either a bias track of some old Shure test records, or Peter's recommendation for equal crosstalk of the silent track while playing a mono track between channels is a good method. I do think that A/S should not be the same as VTF and much lower.

Not valid? If you say so.

But, back to the OP, you be better off consulting a tonearm designer and a cartridge manufacturer than an audio forum on anti-skate. You'll get 11 opinions from 10 members.