Tonearm Geometry and Setup

Dear Gordon, Thanks for your explanation. In some earlier
thread you refered to my 'point' about different tonearms
each of them adjusted to the 'needs' of the LP's in our
possession. Your arguments in this thread assume just one
tonearm in correlation to the 'best' possible adjustment.
I have no intention whatever to spare you but on the contrary will try to get as much info from you as I can . We are allowed to ask questions in this forum I think.
My first is reg. those max distortions. You forget to mention how 'bad' 1% or more is. Then there are many of us with two or more tonearms. My quess is that they all are adjusted in the same way. Ie with the same geometry. From what I think that I can deduce from your arguments we should adjust them differently. Dependig on the records we
own.

Kind regards,

Dear Nikola,
My comment a while back was rather tongue in cheek, not myself having a surfeit of decks.

I make do with one set up and don't worry too much about it, though I do like my anti skate set up well...

"Best" and "bad" are a different matter. Especially regarding distortion, as is well documented. So 1% (or 0.5% or 0.1% or less) can be regarded as acceptable or not. I suspect that vertical mistracking of one form or another rather than distortion per se due to the horizontal alignment is the main culprit regarding inner groove distortion, that and poorly set up anti skate.

However if I had four decks all identical, I may well set them up with different alignments and mark the albums appropriately. Or even completely different decks to suit different types of music. Why not?

But I doubt it. I would probably sell three of the decks and buy a guitar...
Regards,
John
..

Dear John, There is this hilarious English phrase for the
German tourist: 'Don't mention the war!'
Well you deed mention the anti-skate...The most controversial subject in our forum according to my knowledge. My 'Solomon' solution is 'in between'. I use my test-records to get some idea about tracking ability but never push above 60 micron. Ie if there is no 'buzz' from the R.channel at 60 micron I live the anti-skate 'there'. I come a warning from Van den Hul across not to try to get,say, 80 microns which the cart can 'perform' because
one need to increase the anti-skate to get this 'result'.
Something like : better no anti-skate at all than to much.
What is your method?

Kind regards,

Nikola, I normally use a test record with tracks of increasing level, and listen with headphones, as that way I can hear better when there is mistracking. You have to hear the mistracking to know when it is equal on both channels. then re-adjust the VTF.

Having said all that, if, with whatever set-up, the sound feels solid and the image doesn't wander or get a bit watery, then fine. But I still feel more comfortable knowing that the forces on the stylus are equalized as best they can be, as the skating force is always there as long as you have a VTF
John

Dear John, Thanks for the x time . 'As skating force is
always there...I feel comfortable that the forces on the stylus are equilized AS BEST THEY CAN BE'. You are of course refering to the fact that (anti)skate force is variable across the LP radius. To my knowledge only Sony
provided for a 'varible force' depending on the radius(?).
There are also some claims for the Triplanar (which I own) reg.
variable skate force but I can't see that, so to speak.
Is the variable anti-skate in this sense so difficult to design? The ususal 'solution' is just a (small)'hang'- weight.

Regards,