Got the new Stooges LP (not that great, as it turns out, IMHO). Anyway, there are 3 sides, so side 4 isn't really side 4, it's blank/smooth. Just for fun, I "played" side 4. When I lowered the stylus to it, it tracked smoothly and noiselessly, without moving a bit laterally. The tonearm was motionless when I placed the stylus near the outer edge of the record, or near the label, or in the middle. I presume that's a fair indicator that my anti-skating is set "just right".
However, I suspect that the smooth surface would not cause the amount of skating force that a grooved surface would. Do I surmise correctly? And have you ever tried this yourself on a non-grooved record surface?
And IF a grooved surface causes more inward skating, THEN perhaps my experiment tells me that I actually need MORE anti-skating force, so that on a blank surface it should drift outwards, if set correctly??
Got the new Stooges LP (not that great, as it turns out, IMHO). Anyway, there are 3 sides, so side 4 isn't really side 4, it's blank/smooth. Just for fun, I "played" side 4. When I lowered the stylus to it, it tracked smoothly and noiselessly, without moving a bit laterally. The tonearm was motionless when I placed the stylus near the outer edge of the record, or near the label, or in the middle. I presume that's a fair indicator that my anti-skating is set "just right".
However, I suspect that the smooth surface would not cause the amount of skating force that a grooved surface would. Do I surmise correctly? And have you ever tried this yourself on a non-grooved record surface?
And IF a grooved surface causes more inward skating, THEN perhaps my experiment tells me that I actually need MORE anti-skating force, so that on a blank surface it should drift outwards, if set correctly??