Antiskating .... The last analog secret

Great idea for a thread Thomas. However, I don't believe that damage was from AS. Looks too severe. Or were you suffering from the latest AS theories at the time? :-)

I learned from Paul and Doug that AS is at best a necessary evil. So I take the approach that only a small bit of the evil gets into my vinyl playback. I've learned to identify when that distortion is on the record or in the reproduction chain. The result is that AS is almost non-existent, but more than what they use. I think this goes along with what Nsgarch looks for. We may use a different method but the desire is the minimum amount of AS just the same.

And what is all that black stuff?

What pictures are you looking at?

I would love to play with my analog rig and my oscilloscope, what's the procedure?

I saw "this" the first time. Probably to much side force from Anti-Skating? (It held the Body back while the needle had to follow the grooves?)
Do you adjust Antiskate by ear?
Some use the blank surface from a Test Record (Cardas for example), others recommend to run it identically to the VTF, others say probably a half/third from that ... or simply don't use it, even with VTF far below 2gr.....

Neil,
Great to see you again! Hope all's well. Your AS method, which you've posted in the past, is one of the simple, safe and effective ones, especially for higher compliance carts.

As you said, users of lower compliance cartridges may prefer another method. I'll describe mine below, but I bet you and I would end up with similar settings with any particular arm/cart combo.

Nrenter,
All these lists (TML, ASL, WTF!) are great fun, but I'm so confused. On the TML list I'm either a 3, an 8 or anywhere in between depending on which *part* of a definition I read. To avoid a TML identity crisis I'm selling my rig and going digital! ;-)

Agree with Thomasheisig. I strongly suspect excessive AS for just the reason he just stated. That or physical manhandling of the cantilever are the only two causes I can think of.

Imagine Thomas's cartridge mounted on a tonearm and photographed from the front. The cantilever would be pointing INWARD, toward the center of the platter.

The most probable cause is long periods of use with the stylus locked in the groove and the arm pulling OUTWARD, ie, excessive antiskating. This has caused a breakdown in the elastomers that center the cantilever.

The cartridge is toast, obviously, suitable only for sparking fun discussions on silly forums amongst people with nothing better to do. :-)