Anti-skate

>>I guess I forgot about the heroin effect.<<

Memory lapse.

A direct result of too much dope smoking.

Ghost_rider, I didn't mean the rest of your system isn't pretty darn good; I just meant that your analog looks like it is just starting(based on your "System"). For some reason the following idea sticks in my head. I use a Mana Sound Table for my Linn Sondek, and while I think it's better than Mapleshade's maple board and rubber-cork-rubber footers, I feel that Mapleshade makes a pretty darn good turntable platform.

Due to my recent experiences with VTF, I've had to revise my thinking a bit. Now, this occurred when I was very close to the correct VTF and(I believe)the correct anti-skate for that VTF. My cartridge(nude Linn Arkiv)is also old, and it has not always been in my possession(i.e., it's worn). I was slowly lowering the VTF from above 2 grams to 2 grams or lower(I only have the Shure for checking this.). The cartridge mistracked, and the VTF was still above 2 grams. So I added just a bit of weight. I was listening to Simon and Garfunkle's "Collection", which started to sound magical, and because I thought it sounded better on the last cut, I subtracted a teeny-teeny bit of anti-skate-hoping that the whole record would sound better. The magic disappeared! I restored the anti-skate, and the magic reappeared. I guess the moral of the story is to use your ears. I still think to get close to the proper anti-skate, my formula is still valid. BTW, did we notice that most of anti-skate theories that varied(note: Sumiko recommends, and I'm sure others do too, that anti-skate should be about one-half of the stated value due to harder cantilever material.) were proposed by uni-pivot arm users?

I want to point out that when you get very close to the proper anti-skate(and probably VTA, VTF, etc.), you kind of have to throw rules out the window. For instance, I thought that on my Simon and Garfunkle, "The Complete Collection", that the last two songs sounded better than(especially)the first couple of songs. So applying my theory, I, infinitesimally,lowered my anti-skate. Now, the beginning songs sounded more like the later songs, and when I turned on the turntable, there was life in the songs immediately. Better, right? Something kept nagging me, and I,infinitesimally,increased my anti-skate. There, I got excited about the music again. My guess is that you shouldn't use things(i.e.,anti-skate)to compensate for other things(in my case, the sound at the beginning seemed to be pulled to one speaker, and, also, the aforementioned differences between the beginning and the end songs). I also think that my objection to the "description" of the sound of music has to do with how this can interfere with the actual enjoyment(excitement)of listening to music.