Zero Antiskate vs Stylus Wear

This link is to an old post where I made some comments about Anti-skating. This article is very good and the article's conclusions, fortunately for me, are about the same as I stated in my post.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1325141286&openusid&zzTonywinsc&4&5#Tonywinsc
I did some research and as I recall, the record materials , ie. vinyls, used became more consistent in the 70s and 80s which is good because the coefficient of friction is the main contributor of skating force.
Also interesting to note is the article stated that a constant Anti-Skating force from start to finish is a minor factor with respect to performance and stylus wear. Setting AS force by ear may/or may not be optimum because no AS force will result in uneven stylus wear. I set mine by the dial on my tonearm; but my final check is with a test record.

Dear Moonglum: Thank's to brought here again the AS critical and misunderstood AS subject.

I know that you started this thread because the worry of stylus wear but over and behind the stylus wear subject the AS issue has more critical implications.

Like Nandric pointed out: we can deny Newton laws that apply to the AS subject as Tonywinsc posted.

Some of us audiophiles said that we hear better LP performance quality level with out AS but this is only a subjective point that we can't really prove in any ways other that " I like it that way " that for the overall subject research means almost nothing.

That old Audio article you linked is a learning one ( for say the least ) on the AS subject that kill all and for ever different " myths " about and against AS.

Between other things we can read there the importance to the AS aplication that the cartridge/tonearm overhang stay in precise/accurate way according the geometry set up alternative we choosed ( Löfgren, Baerwald, Stevenson and the like. ) and here we have to remember that each one we make changes on VTA/VTF we are changing too overhang and we have to re-set because that overhang change affect the AS force and tracking cartridge habilities/tracking distortion.

According with that AS study and by common sense AS aplication improves tracking cartridge habilities that means more recovery music information from the record grooves with lower distortions and this sole/unique fact makes that AS parameter must be aplicated always in a pivoted tonearm that has offset angle characteristic.

IMHO, AS is not something that we use it if want or not, I repeat it is a must to. Now, maybe some of us heard no improvements through the AS aplication because that AS force aplication is not very well aplicated by the tonearm design but not because AS is useless: no, it is not.

The PUA 237 is a clever idea on the tonearm AS use and if we look to the AT 1010/1100 tonearm designs we can confirm what the study showed: that differnt stylus shape needs different AS use.

The AS overall subject as many other audio subjects is not solved yet at 100%, so we have to expect that things on AS use improves in the near future.

I for onece will be to re-set all my tonearm/cartridge I use according with what we are learning here, this means using AS in the more precise/accuarte way I can with the tonearm /cartridge I have because one of my main goals in my audio system is to lower distortions at each single audio link in the system chain and improving cartridge tracking is a primary way to achieve that target.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Dear Raul,
Thank you for your kind remarks.
I agree that based on long term studies like this there is a fundamental cause-and-effect which cannot be ignored and unilateral stylus wear is not an option.

I think for this analysis they must have been using short-life styli (perhaps of the order of 400-500 hrs?) as opposed to todays 1200 hr MC tips?
To quote Len Gregory, “…the stylus burns more than it wears. Diamonds, unlike the song, do not last forever….”.
(Len has always been of the firm belief that 1200 hrs is the point where we should be considering a re-tip or replacement - significantly, "regardless of diamond quality...".)
Of course, coming from a professional re-tipping company I would expect such a strict definition of cartridge life :)

Granted, careful use and the judicious application of anti-skate could prolong that life but with, e.g. £5K carts, I wouldn’t be leaving anything to chance.
In the case of higher quality and more finely finished diamonds like the Allaerts it has been said that Jan Allaerts inspected diamonds 17 yrs old or higher and affirmed very little wear. In such an event my attention would turn to the records :)

I recall even in the decade that followed that report, the industry thought they were minimising record wear by tracking at 0.5g when in fact they were exacerbating it.
Sometimes the best intentions can be misguided.
Best regards,

Dear Actus,
Many thanks for kick-starting the thread. I had indeed given up on it a while back :^)

Yes, the VPIs are among those odd cases where the cord is temptingly placed for manipulation.
I suppose to verify that there was no interference from it you would have to do the Balanced free-arm friction test to see if it slows or accelerates at that "twist" setting?
Not sure how easy that is to perform with a unipivot design such as the VPI.

Since you're happy with the sound and the tracking, there may be no need to question or test it. :^)
Best....

Moonglum,
You're welcome! And just to make it clear, I do not question whether skating forces are of concern or to be ignored. I'm certainly not going to argue against the laws of physics. I merely noted that certain designs, such as VPI, might be handling the issue in their own way, whatever it might be, a strategically positioned wire or twisted wire. If that is the case, the tests are of limited value if done with different designs. I'd still very much like to examine my stylus at some point to determine any wear due to the skating forces, but right now I'm just going to enjoy the music!