Overhang for Ortofon 2M Bronze on Rega RB301

Inpepinnovations - I can't agree with that; I much perfer the grooveless record approach and find it gives me the best results. Of course there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Skating force is caused by the drag of the stylus in the groove during heavily modulated passages. If you are setting it by watching it on a blank disc, you are not setting anything. But at least you are having fun!

01-15-09: Johnbrown
Oh, and as an aside.....a 'blank' record cannot be used for anti-skate adjustment. Just saying. Anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't a clue.

01-22-09: Onetwothreego
Skating force is caused by the drag of the stylus in the groove during heavily modulated passages. If you are setting it by watching it on a blank disc, you are not setting anything. But at least you are having fun!

Huh??? Skating force caused by drag?

Last I heard -- and maybe this is old physics or something -- but skating is a simple byproduct of centripetal force. Anti-skating by spring or weight or twisting tonearm wires (as on a VPI arm) is a means of counteracting it.

Therefore, a blank record absolutely can be used to at least ensure that whichever antiskating device is being used is (a) functional and (b) at least somewhat properly calibrated.

Using the blank band on the HFN test record, when the stylus hovers in the center of the track without moving inward or outward, then antiskating force is equal to tracking force -- albeit in a vacuum of sorts. Using an unfamiliar arm, it at least gives the user a jumping off point.

I say...who cares?

The amount of skating force varies across a record's playing surface anyway. The right setting for the beginning of a record is the wrong setting for the end and vice versa. Just as there is no single correct alignment methodology.

My feeling -- which has served me right for over 20 years -- is to simply pick one darn school of thought and enjoy the music.

With regard to antiskate: on a Rega arm, confirm that the mechanism even works. Then set it to equal the tracking force. Tweak it by ear if necessary but don't listen for problems. Listen to the music. If you happen to hear something wrong, then investigate. Because with all the variables involved with analog playback, and so many imperfections and compromises at the budget end of the spectrum, if you want to listen for something wrong then that's exactly what you'll hear.

>>Huh??? Skating force caused by drag?<<

Skating is not the result of centripetal force in a tonearm. It is not the headshell that is spinning around, it is the record. And if it were centripetal force at work, the cart would be heading outward rather than toward the label.

Here is someone who knows more than both of us about the topic over at vinylengine.com

Quote:

Why do we need anti-skate? Passing the stylus through the record groove causes drag. If the cartridge were aligned straight down the arm and at a perfect tangent to the groove this force would act squarely on the bearings with no sideways component at all. But it doesn’t work like that. The cartridge is at an angle to the armtube to make the geometry work, so the drag force becomes a torque on the arm that’s translated into a movement towards the centre of the record. This torque is transmitted to the arm bearings, the cause of chatter in poor bearings. ...Setting up on a blank disc is not accurate because it doesn’t reflect the real drag value of the cartridge in the groove or an average value of the dynamic drag.

That still doesn't change the fact that, as far as Bobgares' RB301 is concerned, the amount of skating force will vary across a record's playing surface anyway so no matter what he does, it will be wrong at some point, whether at the beginning of the record or the end. And by the way, I never said using a blank disc was 100% accurate, but I still believe it's a useful jumping off point.

This is a fun discussion but it doesn't help Bobgates. So instead of disagreeing with me, let's ge back to helping Bob with his setup. If I'm wrong, that's fine -- even though I've been doing it wrong for 20+ years and my setups sound great and my records are in great shape.

So...your turn. Tell Bob how he should be doing it so he can stop worrying about setup and start enjoying music.