Antiskating .... The last analog secret

Sumiko Blue Point?

That's funny. Entry level/run of the mill.

Anyway, based on the dozens of cartridges I've owned and heard, the comtemporary stylus shapes easily outperform the conicals and ellipticals of yesteryear.

The old cartridges did not of course have the R&D of today's science behind them and you could not really compare.I did not mean the Sumiko was some kind of killer cartridge,but where do you engage anti-skate if at all.That's something that needs some good science behind it now.The article bucked the trend even then I guess of saying you set tracking weight and bias about the same,by saying 30% of weight was the most you could need.

Here's the deal on styli and friction: line contact (or micro ridge, etc) styli spread the tracking force of the tonearm over the entire length of their (line) contact with the groove (two lines actually) whereas a conical or elliptical stylus only contacts the record groove at two points. So even at the (relatively) light tracking force of MM cartridges (1 gm +/-) versus the much heavier VTF of MC cartridges (2+ gm) the actual pounds per square inch applied to the vinyl by a line contact stylus, even at 2+ gms VTF is far less than the psi of an elliptical stylus on the vinyl (to say nothing of the fact that the elliptical stylus doesn't fit the groove very well.)

With that in mind, it's easy to see why modern line contact styli don't produce much friction in the groove and so require much less (if any) AS force.

Although some modern MM cartridges use line contact styli, most are found on MC cartridges. The relatively stiff suspensions of MC cartridges are unlikely to deform sideways (enough to matter) from the little bit of skating force produced.

Or you can just go to a 12" transcription arm and forget the whole thing!
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Nsgarch, I've always thought the line contact styli have a greater contact area than the elliptical ones. Greater contact area means more friction (although the pressure/area unit is less).

Chris

I don't fuss much at all with anti skating on my Graham Phantom.

As most of you know the 12" 33 1/3 rpm Lp is the biggest culprit here, especially as the cartridge traverse towards the centre of the Lp.

Increase the groove velocity at any given point on a Lp you then decrease the unavoidable distortions on the inner grooves of the 33 rpm.
I don't know off hand how many 12" 45 rpm Lps I have, what ever the number, it's not enough.