Why your perfect setup is all wrong: How to perfectly playback vintage vinyl

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Ghostworld, Oct 23, 2016.

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  1. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    Posited: Vinyl is a malleable medium which is temporarily deformed during the high-temperature stress of playback by a record stylus. Thus, to playback vinyl with minimum distortion one must replicate as faithfully as possible the rake angle and tracking weight of the previous tonearm, thus conforming playback to the last angles of deformation that occurred under its most recent playback.

    I accomplish this by ear as a measure of distortion. I suppose there are other ways.

    I think to insist on the resolute alignment of a turntable under the a law of measurements of tracking angle and weight adjustment, only provides a compromise when playing previously played vinyl. It is my observation that by adjusting the tracking weight, the rake angle of the stylus can ELIMINATE measureable reduce distortion by replicating these variables of a used record's prior playback. It is my observation that it requires an individual alignment for each used record to remove distortion with the highest efficiency, respectively.

    If one is to insist on the non-negotiable adjustment of one's turntable setup that, I believe, will not provide the optimum reduction of distortion desireable during vinyl playback.

    Again: Due to the malleable properties of vinyl under heat and pressure, the optimum playback of a used record takes into account the deformation induced on vinyl vertically and horizontally by it's most recently playback equipment, which can be replicated by ear by adjustment of the tracking force and rake angle. (and as Zappa might say, "a little azimuth on the side."


    BUT this yields the new best thought to the used record paranoiac: "It's not my set up, it's the last guy's set up!"


    The good news: Figure that out!
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2016
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  2. curbach

    curbach Some guy on the internet

    Location:
    The ATX
    Thanks?
     
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  3. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

  4. Eduardo Denaro

    Eduardo Denaro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minnesota
    It's nice to know where I stand on the sane-meter around here. :)
     
  5. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    o_O
     
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  6. FJosh

    FJosh Forum Resident

    Yeah, I'm not going to adjust VTA and VTF per record by ear. :crazy: Cleaning records, cleaning the stylus, and flipping records every 20 minutes is quite enough for me.
     
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  7. George Blair

    George Blair Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Dude looks like a joker.
     
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  8. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    It isn't malleable. It is elastic. It is high pressure, low temperature.
     
  9. Tom in Houston

    Tom in Houston Forum Resident

    Wouldn't the problem go away when you play that record for the second time at your house, and the "last guy's set up" is now, your own set up?
     
  10. Thoughtships

    Thoughtships Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon, UK
    It's threads like this that make me glad I play CDs...

    :whistle:
     
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  11. F1 Power

    F1 Power Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    This dosn't make sense!
    IF its the last VTA setting from last stylus that played the record, then it will be momentum 22 all over.

    Let's test my point.
    I by a record and, I put it on my spinner. Lowering my stylus with my for the moment previously used VTA and tracking forse. I,m listening to the first track and adjusting the VTA, by running forth and back from my sweet spot a couple of times.
    This will probably take me 3-5 minutes playing the fist inch of the outer groves.
    Lest say a get the VTA right and it sounds marvellous. Then I would probably what to listening from the top, sitting comfortably in my sofa with a cold beer.
    But here comes the twist.
    The first insh of groves sounds ****! Way!
    Because the the first groves has previously been played with my old, VTA, thus forcing/imprinting my old VTA into the groves.
    So I have now two settings of VTA on the same record.

    What you suggest might be the case if you run the stylus with overly exceeded tracking force and that way melt the vinyl into new shape. But not with the right settings you don't.

    Finally getting the VTA, rake right for the record dose give the best sound I agree with.
    But remember if you change the VTA, the tracking angel changes.
    If you change the tracking weight the rake shifts. So each time you change something it affects something else.

    Try that for a change!
     
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  12. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    Hmmmm.... I'm thinking now that no one's gonna get the right LP set-up unless they're a math/science nerd. Bad luck for all of us right-brained people! :p
     
  13. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Took the bait.
     
  14. F1 Power

    F1 Power Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    Bluemozze
    Care to explain?
     
  15. I do like a good joke first thing in the morning:uhhuh:
     
  16. ukrules

    ukrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
  17. Colin M

    Colin M Forum Resident

    But what about my collection of Cereal Box Records?
     
  18. Only play new vinyl. Never change your setup.
    Problem solved
     
  19. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    The vinyl instantly 'bounces back' to it's original configuration after the stylus passes. It doesn't stay 'deformed', if it ever was.
     
  20. [​IMG]
     
  21. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    So....while my stylus tracks in a groove the the friction from contact is creating heat that melting the wax to some degree? I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but this isn't happening at my house. If it were, the stylus wouldn't stick to the cantilever. If it were hot enough to melt vinyl the bond holding the stylus would give up after one side of play.
     
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  22. ukrules

    ukrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    I am afraid my CD player laser is etching away at data on the discs. What was once ONESs and ZEROs are now merely 3/4ths and -7/8ths.
     
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  23. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    The reason vinyl works so well is, among other things, that is doesn´t deform. High freq can wear but that is another subject.
     
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  24. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Totally wins this thread
     
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