Ditching anti-skate?

Gradys, I like the Clearaudio. I can't comment on how it pairs with the 868, since this is the first TT I've had in over 25 years. But it is nicely made, and once you get past Germans trying to write instructions in English (there were some very odd things in the set up manual- the "there should now be no air in the bearing"- really threw me for a loop), the set up isn't as bad as advertised for Clearaudio rigs of the past. Very solidly built. The Innovation line is a big step up from what I have, and the 868 allows you the option of your choice of MM or MC. I think it would sound pretty sharp.

Stefan, I don't think the distributor was debating that there is some skating force. His contention was that anti-skate doesn't do much as far as letting the stylus sit properly in the groove and contributes to wobble. I do know that on my TT, the anti-skate was causing an issue. If you raise the tonearm with the arm riser, and it pivots back towards the periphery of the record, then there's clearly too much anti-skate force being applied, and I was using the absolute minimum the rig would allow.

Another interesting point he made was that tracking force guidelines- the standard 2.2-2.6 grams- is an absolute minimum. He stated that a tracking force of 3 grams is minimum for the cartridge I have (which is based on the Denon DL-103), and that something closer to 4-4.5 grams is optimal. Something about that if manufacturers used the latter numbers as the standard, they were getting too many calls about damaged cantilevers and styli. Just more food for thought.....

I am currently using a Basis 2001 with Graham 2.2 and a VPI Classic with 10.5 arm and don't use anti skating on either. It is impossible to get the right amount across the whole record and I find it sounds fine without it.

Yes,if an anti-skate mechanism does not do a good job it might sound better without and you might be saving some record wear.But Klaus Rampelmann in his paper points out that a stylus will not be properly centered in a groove technically until you correct for the anti-skate.Klaus states "Uncompensated skating force results
actually in the stylus mistracking the outer groove wall which results in distortion in the right channel." He goes on to say that you reduce record wear using anti-skate because trackability is improved by 20-25%.This would require an equivalent 50% increase in tracking force,thus affecting the sound generally and the record wear etc.From personal experience I know that VTF and anti-skate are inter-twined and that if you change one you have to change the other in a set-up and I think that if the anti-skate changes so audibly across a record by rights you would be forced to be changing VTF all the time as well.Now here is where the argument about the audible "badness" of using anti-skate might collapse.Klaus considered the arguments and was moved to write his excellent paper,I can only suggest you check it out in the members section at The Vinyl Engine.

I gave it the boot. SOTA Star and Akito 2B w/ Denon 103. Works fine without it.

i have to ask this: if it sounds better without anti-skate, then isn't that better? no matter the technical details. pragmatics apply.