Rega Planar Anti Skate Issue

[RobTaylor57]

I know this has come before, but I have an in-built pre 2020 anti-skate Rega Planar PS2 turntable. There are some records that love getting stuck in the same grooves about. quarter to halfway in. I’ve tried adjusting the counter weight but this has had variable results. Some records are fine which confounds me. It’s not dust, dirt or scratches on the records. I know it’s the anti-skate. Just not sure what to do ?

 

[nopiano]

Incorrect anti-skate won’t cause groove skipping in my experience, just mistracking in one channel. Damaged records or stylus, or bad set up (I’m not accusing you!) like not being 100% level, can however. You report a quarter to halfway in, while the toughest grooves are near the label, so conceivably you have some unwanted arm friction or damaged bearings. How new is this Rega to you? Has it been shipped with the counterweight attached?

Most obviously, set your cartridge tracking force to the top end permitted, clean the stylus carefully, and see what happens then.

 

[Al ears]

Presumably the arm with the inbuilt sprung antiskate mechanism?
as above, set your tracking force towards the top end of recommended range and turn the antiskate to zero.
do you have a means of actually reading the tracking force accurately? The Rega dial in method can be rather inaccurate.
If that makes no difference then I would say it's an arm / bearing issue but the fact you say some records play just fine complicates matters somewhat