Tonearms without anti-skate, damage to records?

Let’s be clear on one issue: for all pivoted tonearms where the stylus overhangs the spindle, there IS a skating force at all times during play. So AS is not something you can choose not to believe in. The ways in which AS is created in different designs are all faulty, it’s fair to say, for reasons that have been mentioned, including the fact that skating force is applied at the stylus tip, whereas in all cases I know about AS is applied at or near the pivot. This puts a twisting force on the cantilever. Thus very short or more vertically oriented cantilevers might be advantageous. For those who say they can hear no difference with vs without AS, I have to wonder whether the tonearm has significant horizontal friction (or stiff wiring) that is acting to provide AS, because I can easily hear R channel distortion in the total absence of AS.

1. Few people mention the VERY IMPORTANT lever force of the cantilever/coil former on the coil damper. There is a 6:1 lever arm there. So, if your arm has ZERO internal torque forces prior to anti-skate application and you decide you won’t use anti-skate force then you can live with the following: skating force is ON AVERAGE, 10% of your VTF. If your VTF is 2gm then there is 0.2gm of horizontal force at the stylus. Multiply that by 6 times to determine the force on one side of the damper and -6 times on the other side of the damper. That is 1.2 and -1.2 grams of asymmetric force applied on the VERY critical coil damper - 60% of your VTF! The sound of alleviating this force is unmistakable: more relaxed sound, larger soundstage, more overall coherency and intelligibility.
2. For those who say it doesn’t make a sonic difference, I cannot argue with them because we cannot know what their STARTING horizontal torque force was. Unless they used a WallySkater to measure their starting torque, neither can they. If their starting torque force was, say, 5% towards the spindle and then they applied a 15% anti-skate force then the absolute net asymmetric force would have remained unchanged. There are several scenarios like this that reduce the benefits of utilizing the anti-skate mechanism. You NEED to know what your starting and ending torque is to make sure you have it applied properly.
3. Watch THIS VIDEO at about 7:00 showing the angular effects of skating force. This was done on a 12" tonearm. If I had done it on a 9" arm the angular change would have been even greater.
4. This angular change affects the alignment of the left/right contact edges of the stylus in the groove wall to a greater degree than the maximum angular error across the record surface. The mechanical cost of this is easily measurable and definitely audible under controlled tests.
5. Worries about asymmetric stylus wear are founded. When I get cartridges in for analysis I can easily see whether they have been using too much or too little anti-skating force.
6. Watch out for high stiction in a tonearm. This will also kill your anti-skate benefits quickly. I know of one expensive arm that has a magnetic anti-skate mechanism that creates its own VERY significant stiction. The WallySkater measures this as well. More often it is in the bearings where the high stiction deteriorates the ability of the cartridge to perform at its maximum.
7. There’s more, but I’ve not the time...

@mijostyn   Simon will thank you for that endorsement.

He is aware of the VTA issue.  He provides very fine height adjustment if necessary on the fly with a large diameter knurled wheel operating on the arm pillar by a high geared tensioned worm and screw.  Using a parallel lines protractor against the lower flat surface of the arm, its arm height can be set very quickly and precisely for each record.

In fact the low effective mass of the arm works in its favour, particularly with a low mass cartridge.  Tracking is very secure.

Yes the working length of the arm is unusually short.  Simon didn't design if for use with off-centre records or for warped records.  In fact because of its low mass this arm tracks warped records that no other arm will track - they just get thrown in the air.  If you find this of value.  But this also demonstrates the tracking security of this set-up.

if you tap any turntable hard enough the cantilever will flex under the force applied.  But, all other things being equal the effect will be less than in the case of 9 inch pivoted arm with much more mass and therefore side force.  And from his S7 on, Simon didn't believe in hi-mass as the best approach to isolation.  I don't tap my turntable while it is playing.

Thank you, but I am not in need of parallel tracking arm recommendations.  I believe the Aeroarm is the best design.  Period.

@dover   Please explain why you think the skating force does not change linearly as the record is played.  Surely it is just a question of geometry?

I never said that.   Apologies @dover you didn't

@lewm    "the skating force is not linear in the way its magnitude varies."

Over to you.....

Dear @noromance : " No one appears to have mentioned the sound quality with regards to AS. I find that the music sounds less restrained with no AS applied .."

I’m in agreement with your statement by first hand experiences with different cartridges/tonearms  and how its quality level performance really improves and this at the end is what it counts.

I think that almost all audiophiles as us several years ago were educated to use the AS in our pivoted tonearms. Even in those old days the advise was " to ste up the AS tonearm at the same value of VTF " and in those old times the cartridge/tonearm manufacturers was ok with.

I remember my AT 1100/1010 ( both very good tonearms ) where the AS was handled by string/weigth and its AS mechanism you need to choose 3 AS positions according the stylus tip: conical, ellipthical and LC and was AT who years latter told me that the AS must be no higher than the 50% of VTF but almost no one but VPI manufacturer just disappeared the AS and several of us were and even today are against the VPI design,

Now, which is the specific role of any cartridge/tonearm during LP play?, I think is to pick-up all the grooves information it can and everything the same what could and can make a differences for the better in the cartridge and in the tonearm? :

cartridge tracking abilites and very low friction in the tonearm bearing, that’s that the stylus/cantilever movements following the grooves been free of additional natural forces developed down there and the AS tonearms mechanisms are not a " natural force " and this AS impedes that natural cartridge/cantilever movements.

What almost all the technical oriented gentlemans posted before have some sense but the reality is that with or with out AS the today very good polished different shapes stylus tip gone play by play suffering a natural wear and we start to listen that stylus tip wear after/around the first 800 hours of playing and today almost all audiophiles own over 2-3+ cartridges. So before that playing figure we just do not " noted " the stylus tip wear and that’s just worn and maybe ready to re-tip.

"" The sound of alleviating this force is unmistakable: more relaxed sound, larger soundstage, more overall coherency and intelligibility. ""

No doubt about. Nothing is perfect in audio and on the AS issue it’s better don’t use it there are other issues that in reality benefit the listening sound but not the AS. Just try it and you can be sure that if you listen distortions as lewm then something is wrong down there cartridge/tonearm.

Yes I was surprised the very first time I did not use the AS and till today there is no way to come back t AS.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.