Fr24

I have an FR29 with an ADC magnesium headshell and a Coral Sleeping Beauty mc cartridge. No anti-skate. Mounted on a pre- 1975 Ariston RD TT (the one that Ivor Tiefenbrun copied to make the Linn Sondek). TT mat is thin black-anodized magnesium (doesn't ring!). This whole setup tracks everything flawlessly!

Awaiting mounting is an FR54. I don't think this has anti-skate either! Joe Grado didn't like anti-skate mechanisms. Since the skating force varies from the outer to inner grooves and with the groove modulation Grado believed that compensation added distortion - the cure was worse than the disease!

I do set the anti-skate on my Pioneer PLX1000 with the Denon 103R. That mechanism is magnetic. I believe it is better than the string/weight.

Jason, the vast majority of tonearm and cartridge manufacturers disagree vehemently. Although skating changes across the record arms with anti skate track way better than arms without. Anyone can prove that to themselves with a tracking test record. Turn off your anti skating and the right channel will miss track long before the left channel. Fact of life, can't argue with it and so forth. Most of us would never consider an offset arm without anti skating. There is a good reason FR did not survive. These arms are antiques and should be treated as such. Put the in a glass case and look at them once in a while.

there is a piece of sliding weight hanging on the outside to balance the bearing.. does that help with anti skating as well? 

some guys did it but after that he say fr24 don't need it after.. all hearsay..

my buddy who tried vpi said better to switch off the antiskate. it will bend the cantilever? any body can verify that?

Thanks all for the response. very helpful