More on VPI Anti-Skate

I'm just commenting on the WD-40. I wouldn't use it. It works great at first but after a few days it tends to get sticky, and gum things up.

The Lyra cartridge I have has a specific A/S setup procedure I'm going to play around with this weekend.

Thanks Stringreen. I agree that without a/s it does sound slightly livelier.. almost as if it was recorded a bit hotter. On the damping, I have the level high enough to touch the base of the arm. Lifting it up, I can see the sheen and slight drip of oil. I think it has to be fairly high but I assumed it had to touch the base to effectively dampen the arm. I would call it slightly warmer, relaxed, and maybe more layered in the front to back depth. Neither one is better, and I go back and forth as to preference. I like using the a/s partly because I don't like the occasional abrupt skipping into the lead track.

A/S procedure from the Lyra Skala instructions:
"Carefully adjust anti-skating force by observing the stylus and cantilever directly (as seen from the front of the cartridge) when the stylus is lowered onto a record groove. Any pulling of the cantilever toward the left or right means setting is wrong. Readjust repeatedly until the antiskating force is right, and repeat at various positions across the LP, again until the antiskating force has been set properly. It is better to do this adjustment visually as described above, rather than relying on the number-scales built into your tonearm or blank-groove test records."
I did this without any antiskate applied and the cantilever bends because the arm is pulled toward the center of the record. By slowly lifting and lowering the cartridge on a non-moving record (repeatedly) with no antiskate applied I can actually "walk" the cartridge across the record toward the center.
With a minimun of antiskate applied using the VPI devise (not the wire twist) the cartridge will lift and lower in exactly the same groove and not bend or walk.
I did not try this with just the wire twist, I did not do any listening tests, I've been using the VPI devise at the minimum setting, I just wanted to make sure it was working.
I think the VPI devise set at minimum applies more antiskate than the wire twist method and probably does so more evenly across the record without wearing out or losing it's tension.
Dampening fluid levels, I think, are a seperate subject.
I posted this for your information and to give you one more tool to drive you nuts, in any other forum we would be locked up or out.

Good luck,
Mike

MJGLO, did you notice that the anti-skating device can be set a number of ways. When the mechanism is adjusted so that the weighted arm that provides the reactive force is at its outmost point, the force is at its maximum. Very little outward pressure is exerted when that arm is low or high in its travels, since the weight is carried by the pivot. This maximum can be adjusted so that it occurs at the beginning, middle, end, or anywhere in between...with lesser pull at the intermittent points.