Feel Silly Asking This Question Alignment Parameters

Mijo, I don't know whether you agree with me or not, but what I wrote is that AS can be exactly equal in magnitude (and hopefully opposite in direction) to the skating force at only two points on the LP surface.  It seems to me this is true for any stylus shape, and length tonearm, etc.  Because AS is constant in magnitude and direction while the skating force describes a kind of eccentric parabola if you plot its magnitude with respect to the distance between the innermost and outermost grooves, and this is disregarding the vicissitudes of the skating force that are due to the program material.  A straight line (the graph for AS) will intersect the skating force parabola at two points, unless AS is incorrectly set lower than the skating force minimum or higher than the skating force maximum. And anyway, do you REALLY think there is much difference between 9, 10, 11, or 12% of the skating force?

@lewm You are right Lew. The question is what is the best average over the entire play area.  The amount of AS required increases with the size of the contact patch at any given VTF.  Studying cantilever angles is an extremely fastidious way of going about finding the right setting. Some would argue there is no right setting. Then I would argue why use AS at all. Most of us with 1/2 a brain are going to call that a bad idea. So since everyone with 1/2 a brain agrees that we should be using some form of AS, and we know that the skating force is variable, not a constant, how do you go about figuring the best average and a way to dial it in consistently with as little effort as possible. IMHO the WallySkater is the best way. If you want to look at cantilever angles to dial things in further, why not. I do this every time I use a new to me stylus profile. I have found that styluses like the Soundsmith MR, the replicant 100 and the Gyger S do best at 12% of VTF. Lyra's line contact and MSL's line contact take 11%. It will be interesting to see what the V15 MR with it's extremely high compliance and low VTF will take. I will have the Jico stylus tomorrow.

I don't think it follows from "there is no right setting" that you may as well not use AS at all. And I apologize for coming on perhaps too strongly.  I use AS on my overhung tonearms, of course, and I try for a minimum amount that eliminates distortion in the R channel that I can hear with zero AS. So maybe by shooting for that entirely subjective endpoint I end up using a tiny bit more AS with those exotic stylus shapes you mention. I would need the Wallyskater to determine that.

There are those that make that argument @lewm. You are either leaning on one wall or the other. My goal is to minimize that as much as is feasible, even it out. An arm that is not offset is ideal as long as it stays right on the tangent. 

When I recommend a procedure or tool to a customer, I try to get a read on their aptitude and willingness to learn. Needless to say, mechanical and cognitive skills span quite a broad range and with them, so do my recommendations.

If someone is willing to recognize how alignments are established (and the reason I published that blog post linked to, above), then we have vanquished yet another demon. I look at that as a good thing.

As far as anti-skate is concerned, it is "accidentally correct" at a few points along the stylus’ path, and of course, if you’ve set any anti-skating force at all, it’s wrong at the null points ;-)

I endorse the method espoused by both Frank Schröder and Peter Lederman of Soundsmith (click here for Peter's comments).

Don’t get too cute with anti-skate. AJ van Den Hul once told me that the vast majority of cartridges he receives for inspection show signs of vastly too much anti skate (wear on the outer / lead-in groove side of the stylus).

When you understand that anti-skate is is the vector sum of the forces which in turn vary with groove friction, you’ll realize why any attempt at anything more than a minimal setting is asking for trouble.

Groove friction in turn varies. It is a function of the cleanliness and condition of both the stylus and record, the shape and polish of the diamond, and the signal level encoded in the grooves.

In other words, what works for one record at 87mm from the record spindle may be too little or too much force for another record.

Wally M was a charming, quirky fellow and he has done some amazing work for the vinyl community, but his one product which I strongly disagree with is his Wally-Skater. I did a favor for him at one show, and he offered me any Wally-tool as an expression of gratitude. Thinking that I was missing something, I chose a Wally-Skater.

Read Peter Lederman’s comments on the topic and focus on getting your zenith correct. You may well have been misdiagnosing poor zenith as incorrect anti-skate.

... Thom