our testimony: wally tools is for me the best way to understand how cartridges work. Even though it has revealed the real situation of the cartridge manufacturers on the precision in construction, it is unusual to see what a part of these costs and how far they are from their specifications, it is a very questionable way to sell since the quality of manufacture is poor. It should be like the vehicle industry where a product when it has faults is revealed and the manufacturer fined. Our friend from wally tools is for me the most sincere person and the most extensive knowledge of the industry. our most sincere thanks!!!
Thank you, Chris! I really don't know why this issue continues to cause such confusion and consternation in audiophilia. I hope I've made it more clear that we have more to worry about than simply getting even stylus and groove wear by setting anti-skate correctly. I didn't even mention that anti-skating reduces the likelihood of mistracking by nearly 50% as well, etc.
If there is a lateral spontaneous deviation of the arm, then this should be taken into account when setting up antiskating, since two physical forces will already be involved.They will either complement each other, or vice versa.
Agreed, but the WallySkater will always measure the NET horizontal forces at play in the arm under static measurement conditions - meaning, without skating force present at the time of measurement. This way, the tendency of the arm to torque one way or the other is included in the measurement.
This is one approach, but I think AS is best setup by ear. If you get too far into the weeds with these tools, you don't focus on what matters at the end of the day,.
I appreciate you wanting to focus on the music and not the equipment (I am assuming that is what you meant), but with as much as I know about the dynamics of record play I know I could not "optimize" anti-skating by ear. As you make changes to AS, you are changing a minimum of three variables and up to 5, depending upon tonearm design. So, as you change AS and listen by ear, how do you know that to create a net improvement you aren't causing a deterioration in another parameter? I am one of many who has spent a lot of money in my equipment and I want to get the most possible performance from it - in other words, I want to know I have OPTIMIZED it. Since we know what the 7 targets for optimization are (see here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-__ApPo7htUg.html) then why not measure each independently to then be able to know you have truly optimized the rig? You can then just spend your days listening to music with that confidence. Besides, I bet just about anything that one could optimize tonearm behavior with the WallySkater faster than anyone could improve by ear. The latter group will still have to contend with the uncertainty that another parameter hasn't deteriorated following those efforts.
@@WAM-Engineering if you deteriorate another variable, you would hear it 😉. I also believe that optimizing as many variables as possible with the needle in the groove, playing actual music, makes a big difference. You can never optimize all the variables for all the records - it’s always a compromise. So even if a tool tells me that I have AS for example set perfectly, so what? Perfect AS is not going to = the best music. Ultimately the record player is a musical instrument, more than any other component. Tools are important, don’t get me wrong, but a tool is not going to account for personal preferences, room dynamics, music type, and the complex interrelationships with the other variables. (Just my 2c)
@@Fluterra We are going to have to agree to disagree. We have conducted multiple tests both blind and unblinded that showed very clearly that a significant improvement in one parameter can mask deterioration in another parameter in listening tests. In other words, the improvement in one parameter was significant enough for you to not notice what you just lost in another parameter. We have done similar tests in finite element analysis and MATLAB which support the outcome of the listening tests. We will also have to agree to disagree that one cannot optimize all 7 vinyl playback setup parameters. We do it on a regular basis and the results are obvious to our clients. We will further have to agree to disagree that a turntable is a musical instrument. It is not. It is a mechanical transcription instrument. As such, the fidelity with which it does its job is constrained and determined by the variables that went into making the groove in the first place. Any ADDITIVE sonic signature would be distortion whether such distortion was pleasing to the ear or not. However, one thing that is well known is when you add distortion in a mechanical process you are certain to not be able to read ALL information rendered in the groove. Other system-wide variables as you mention that may or may not be a problem should be addressed at their source, not compensated for during the mechanical transcription. Variations of cutting at the lathe have a known variability with the variations equally distributed about the mean (the engineer's setup target). Obviously, we cannot control this so we aim for the mean (setup/playback target) in our playback to enjoy the highest possible probability of getting the greatest performance out of every single one of our records. Enjoy your analog in any case!
On my Sol, both the pivot cup and pivot point can be adjusted, so VTA can be held constant. Should the pivot be at the same level as the tone arm, above it, or below it? At shows the manufacturer has it about level, but in the set up video the tone arm is up on stilts a little, seems to me it could exaggerate movement from warps. I have contacted them but they don't sell this anymore and I don't even think I'm explaining my question correctly.
Hello. The optimization of any cartridge on your tonearm is the same for most others. Go to the video page on the WallyTools website to see how the informational videos are segmented. Learn from there. To see instructional videos on any of the WallyTools, go to that particular tool's page and see the instructional videos. Contact us directly if you have any questions at all. Cheers!
With all the issues that need to be confronted with pivoted arms it's surprising that more linear tracking arms have not been developed to be commercially successful.
@@robertmeegan9175 6 degrees of freedom at the bearing. All you need is a few microns of freedom to deteriorate the performance. Doesn’t make it “bad”, just less able to allow the cartridge to extract everything from the groove.
That is a loaded subject that is beyond the scope of the comment section, Lanny. There is much conflicting, incorrect and outdated information on this issue floating about. Please hold out until I can do a video on this.
Compliance matters as a highly compliant cartridge and a heavy tonearm, or a lightly complaint cartridge and a light tonearm, can move the resonance frequency outside of an ideal range that exists. Contacting the manufacturer about recommended weight of tonearm is ideal.
