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Harry Weisfeld Was Right All Along

I'll admit that I was skeptical when I heard Harry Weisfeld of VPI say that his JMW tonearm sounded better without any antiskating device a few years ago. All the arguments for antiskating compensation seemed plausible if not undeniable.

But today, I've seen the light. I own a Michell Orbe SE with a Wilson Benesch Act 0.5 arm and a Shelter 501 II cartridge. I dialed everything in, but still had the compunction to fiddle around with something so I removed the funky anti-skate weight from the WB. Not only does the arm behave much better (no annoying, backswing when indexing), but it actually sounds better to my ears. Smoother, more dynamic, less etched/more natural are the changes I hear. I wonder how many other arm/cartridge combinations would benefit from eschewing their anti-skate mechanisms.

While I originally thought that Harry Weisfeld was simply making excuses, in reality, he was probably just being honest. I'm sure the twisty-wire approach he now uses is a good way to implement anti-skating for those who must have it.
plato
twl
3,251 posts
 
Some arms need the anti-skate more than others. In general, longer arms will need less. Linear arms don't need any. It should always be adjusted by ear anyway. If you feel you get best results from none, then fine. If wear is going to be higher due to this, you should be able to hear a channel imbalance caused by it. I'd say if you don't hear an imbalance, then it is going to be ok.
plato OP
1,543 posts
 
TWL, what you said makes sense. Right now, I think not having the anti-skate hooked up is working for me. But I'll live with it for a while and see if I still feel the same way next month. I don't think it's as critical an issue as some make it out to be. And I have used antiskate on some arms where I thought it helped a bit. Right now, I'm not so sure it helps on the WB and I'd be interested to hear from other WB owners to see if they have tried this experiment and what the results were... I'm getting a quality of sound that is quite excellent without it. I thought that it was good with it, but not quite as transparent and natural.

So if anyone wants to fiddle around and try their arm without antiskate and report back the findings, I'd be interested in hearing your comments -- especially from owners of uni-pivot arms.
ed_sawyer
588 posts
 
hi Plato -

I have the wilson benesch Circle turntable set up which uses that same arm. How did you disconnect the anti-skate? Just take the ball and thread off the horizontal piece? Seems easy enough to try out. what differences did you hear?

-Ed
quincy
356 posts
 
This is a interesting post. When I was running my Sony PS-X555ES Linear Tracking Bio Tracer table (no antiskate) the balance was equal on my pre amp, the sound stage perfectly centered. I retired the Sony, purchased a Michell Gryo SE with SME V arm, and transfered my Benz Micro Glider over. As soon as I fired up this new rig, I noticed a difference in balance (sound stage) which I corrected by adding five points of volume to the right channel. It took me six hours to set up the Michell/SME so I hesitate to "putz" with the antiskate, since it is tied into and is suppose to be adjusted with the tracking force utilized. Any comments?
plato OP
1,543 posts
 
Hi Ed,

Yes, you just remove the ball and thread. I left the rubber o-rings on the post because I figured it might damp any tendency for the metal post to ring. I was surprised that removing the antiskate didn't seem to affect the tracking force or the azimuth, but it didn't. So just unstring that thing and tell me what you hear (or don't hear)...

Quincy, I'm not sure how the antiskating mechanism is set up on the SME V. I don't know whether it can be defeated simply, or not. You may not want to mess with it. However, I doubt that it would change or disturb your other settings to do so. My theory is that the effects of antiskating are more pronounced with unipivot arms, for whatever reason. I don't know how much the SME- or Rega-type arms would benefit, if at all. Still, if you find that it's easy to do, you could try it. Also, "5 points of volume" difference seems excessive; I wonder what's up with that. Did you change other things at the same time you were setting up the new turntable??
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