Are some tracks impossible to track?

Your second question: the VPI tonearm is quite good - it is not by dial-a-number system, which I think is good b/c you know, you actually have to listen to what's going on. Is it long enough really to give low distortion? No. Is it pretty well made and relatively stiff? Yes. Does it have a good head system? Reasonably good. Not as good as Graham or SME or something, but as good as the Nottingham Spacearm I own. Nevermind that the British press actually seems to prefer the sound of the Nott arm to SME these days.. Does your arm work well in the setup you have e.g. the Scout? Yes. Exceptionally well, and it's voiced for it. I almost saved the extra money on my Spacedeck and bought a Scout. The sound is sexy, it's well made and well supported. I happened to get the Spacedeck for about the same price with the tonearm, although I almost caved and paid much more for the Space. Most people will not be so lucky or patient - I bought the tonearm for $650 8 months before I found a Spacedeck with the arm mount for $850. I stil haven't bought a good cart, but obviously I won't scrimp. Still, I hear good things about the Blackbird/VPI combo but neither one are particularly good trackers, the Blackbird is legendarily difficult to find a good weight for. Keep experimenting and don't listen to people who tell you to upgrade, or don't have good deck, which you do. It's pointlessly stupid when you haven't really even gotten to listen to music yet.

Does your TT have an anti skating control? If you have high end distortion from just ONE channel then its not dailed in.
Get a three sided record (2nd Winter, Ryco remastered Bowie) and put the blank record on your platter. The arm should stay in one spot when placed down on rotating disc in the middle of the record. More often then not it is the pressing.

Qdrone...Antiskating force is caused by drag of the stylus and the geometry of the arm. The drag varies with groove modulation, and is always more than what occurs with a blank disc. A test record with a heavily modulated pure tone (so that you can hear any mistracking) and an arm that allows you to vary VTF and antiskating force while playing is the best method. Actually, I long ago gave up on pivoting arms because of all the critical adjustments, and use a linear tracker.

Eldartford,

If I read one more post suggesting that antiskate can be adjusted by scaping a blank surface with the point of a stylus I'll..., I'll...

... I'll start believing that Saddam really did have WMD's!

Where do these ideas come from? Why are they propagated despite the clear evidence against them?

There must be a hidden agenda. I think there's a secret cabal of people who own vinyl record pressing equipment but no cutting lathes. They're trying to build up a market for ungrooved LP's and make their fortunes. Of course now that we've outed them, they'll have to kill us!

Dougdeacon...Just to be fair, a blank disc is good for demonstrating that a significant skating force exists. It is no good for setting accurate antiskating compensation.