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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
tbg
5,263 posts
 
I have always wonder about setting anti-skate. Typically, I ignored instructions and merely put a blank record on a dropped the needle and adjusted accordingly. But for some time I had the Shindo turntable with it updated Ortofon tonearm which never had an anti-skating adjustment.

You have no concerns with anti-skating with linear arms, but they should be perfectly level and move neither way.
merlinm3
4 posts
 
I found this thread by searching for anti-skating w/ Wilson-Benesch ACT 0.5 tonearm, and I've had results similar to Plato's. I set up a NOS WB ACT arm on an Oracle Premiere TT and set the A/S per the manual. Initially it seemed to work okay, but after about 100 hour of play the A/S force seemed to increase and the trend of the arm backswing during queing an occasional back skipping I tried to reduce the A/S setting. I could never get the adjustment for ball on string method to change enough no matter how far I set it back towards the arm pivot point. So I finally gave an remove the A/S ball and string.
Any comments on this? Is it feasible that the unipivot arm bearing wearing in defeated the need for the A/S?
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,472 posts
 
After experimenting with and w/o anti skate, I've determined that it sounds better with none...a rightness to the sound...solidity, etc. I've posted on these pages for years about this.
bill_k
916 posts
 
Just to clarify Harry's statement about antiskating with his unipivot tonearm designs, he did not say that his arm sounds better with none. Rather that the loop of wire in his arm's design provides a level of inherent A/S force, and that in most setups it is sufficient and sounds better than using an additional mechanism to provide A/S force. He now includes an adjustable mechanism on his arms due to some customer demands which allows users to apply a desired level of A/S, but still feels that it sounds better without using that device.
pani
1,219 posts
 
It is an old thing. If you listen with an open mind you will find that with a majority of 9" and 10" tonearms anti-skate makes the sound more hifi-sh and mechanical. Without anti-skate it is more natural but a wee bit fuzzy which I do not mind. The only exception I have seen in this regard is Naim ARO. It doesnt detoriate the sound with anti-skate on. I think the solution is to go for longer tonearms if your TT can support one. Else choose between a compromise, with or without antiskate.

I personally prefer to add a really low antiskate just to strike a balance and also to ensure that the cartridge cantilever is not stressed too much by the side force.
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