Does removing anti-skating really improve sound?

lewm

... Of course headshell offset angle and other reasons for lack of tangency of the cantilever to the groove are what results in the skating force ...

Exactly, and that's been my point. We're much more in agreement here than not.

but there would be no FORCE, with a capital F, without the need to oppose the force of friction between stylus tip and groove

Yes, friction is a factor with LP playback and, for that matter, everything else that has moving parts. That doesn't mean friction is the cause of skating force, and you do seem to understand that. So there's no reason to continue this little debate.

This is going to be cartridge dependent. No brand, not even model. Each will be different. I would think models will be similar, though. I've had cartridges that perform best with no bias, very little bias, and bias set much closer to the VTF setting. So why use it? Because I don't own your cartridge.

If using no a/s you get abit of mistracking use a bit more vtf

Cleeds, with all due respect, can you consider the condition where there is no friction between the stylus and the groove? Can you tell me where the skating force would come from if that were the case? Are you capable of thinking this through to its logical conclusion? I really don’t care whether you see the point or not, but I do not like to see incorrect information put forward on the Internet where people read it and believe it. 

As I recall, you also claimed that a tonearm without headshell offset would generate no skating force. Anyone who could say that does not understand what’s going on.

 As others have pointed out, there are many different combinations of factors that contribute to the skating effect in each set up. I have a VPI Scoutmaster Signature, which included an antiskate device. I have tried it with and without a number of times in the past decade, trying different combinations of adjustments (VTA, VTF, etc), and I’ve always preferred the sound without the *device*. I believe that the wire to the lemo connector on this tonearm, when the right amount of tension is applied (with a wire twist), produces just the right amount of antiskate. I, too, use the Peter Ledermann method of lowering the stylus down between the grooves at the end of the LP. I can get the requisite “slow” inward movement of the stylus toward the spindle that he suggests, with just the wire twist. The music seems to sound a bit more “dull” with the antiskate device attached. Keep in mind that the wire tension (I believe) is providing some antiskate, so I’m NOT saying antiskate isn’t necessary, I’m only saying the antiskate *device*, in my set up, isn’t necessary. Btw, my son has an Avid ‘table with a Rega 330, and that setup definitely requires some antiskate, but if it’s adjusted as described in the manual, it’s too much. It needs to be dialed back to be correct according to the Ledermann/Schröder method. This is only my experience, so YMMV.