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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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!
.