Anti skate and tonearm damping query


I have read a number of threads relating to both antiskating and tonearm damping on the JMW 9" Sig.arm and find myself a bit confused.......I have been experimenting a little and have reached the conclusion that I must be deaf. I have not used the additional antiskating system, I have tried twisting and not twisting the leno wire and can hear no difference. If the Leno wire is not twisted therefore no antiskate, will this damage the stylus or the album??
I have also filled the damping well above the taper to the base of the point and still cannot hear 'the music being sucked out' or indeed, an improvement. Do I fill the well up to the point!! and then work backwards. Those that finetune using the damping seem to have some sort of epiphany when the 'sweet' spot is reached.

Can someone please shed light on how I should be going about setting the AS and finetuning the damping on the arm. The table is a scoutmaster with super platter and sds, the cartridge is the dynavector Te Kaitora Rua

Thanks
wes4390
HDM

The reason tonearm manufacturers put a scale on the antiskate corresponding to VTF is that the skate force is directly proportional to VTF, not that it equals VTF.

The constant of proportionality has already been factored in and the manufacturer based this on "average" vinyl composition and a typical contact area.

The difference between your old stylus and your new stylus will depend on the degree of polish on the diamond and the actual area of the contact patch. Note that with line contact styli the actual area changes with VTA so VTA and antiskate interact. BTW This is the only rational explanation of the effects of VTA I know of.

This also shows that even if one confines onesself to the realms of actual verifiable physics the situation "on the vinyl" is quite complex. There is nothing in audio which can't be explained with physics, its just that we haven't worked out all the physics yet. One thing is certain, if an explanation for an effect defies the known laws of physics than that explanation is wrong.

Mark Kelly
Mark, could you walk me through a real life example of Anti_Skate setup with your own arm and cart?
Hi,
funny, talking with my 'learned friends' I find *experiment most ALWAYS precedes scientific explanation...* :-)

I just now proved to myself by simply sliding my SME V arm forward from its ~ 18mm overhang to some more without changing VTF = 1.25g and anti-skate 1 on the arm scale which keeps the arm in balance on the blank area of my test record.

Slide the arm enough forward (increase overhang) and ---- the skate force increase enough to now pull the arm to the centre.

Now let's consider a cart like my Windfeld with more then twice! the VTF (2.6g) and the result should be even more telling.

Greetings,
Axel
Perrew

Unfortunately I can't do that without revealing details of my tonearm's geometry which are not yet ready for publication.

Sorry.

Axelwahl

You have changed the offset angle (because the SME overhang adjustment works by moving the pivot not the cart)

Mark Kelly

Mark, I understand you dont want to do that but could you desribe with some other tonearm?
Tks
Par