Are you using anti-skating or not

Of course nobody used antiskating in the good old days when cartridges tracked at a VTF of about five grams. There was no provision for anti-skating on the arms.

Skating force is not a theory. Geometry causes it. The exact amount of force varies depending on the drag of the stylus in the groove, and that varies for many reasons. But it's never zero. Antiskating became important when cartridges tracking at 1-2 grams came along.

Yes. You can operate without antiskating, but you will need to use a higher-than-optimum VTF or you must tolerate occasional mistracking.

Of course the real solution is a linear tracking arm.

Of course the real solution is a linear tracking arm.
Eldartford (Reviews | Threads | Answers)

Yep.

I do not use anti-skate... Not only does my VPI 10.5 sound better with no anti-skate, but if I don't install the anti-skate device, it sounds even better. I also have a Rega that works better with no anti-skate, and the a/s defeated.

>>but you will need to use a higher-than-optimum VTF or you must tolerate occasional mistracking.<<

Wrong.

I use no anti-skating with any combination of 5 tonearms and 14 cartridges.

Don't need excessive VTF and there is no mis-tracking.

However, you do need a very precise alignment. This is critical.

Audiofeil...Evidently your cartridges work OK with non-vertical VTF.