Can a bad turntable damage records?

When I was in college, I had a local "HiFi" shop add a replacement tonearm (Jelco) on my Thorens TD120. I didn't know that the geometry was out until I installed a new cart two years later. Most of the LPs that I bought during that period were ruined. Luckily, I didn't have enough scratch to buy a lot of records then. I never let anyone touch my table(s) again. Most of us have much more investment in records than hardware. Why poison your investment?

 

Destroyed records might be a bit of an over statement. The changer wasn’t great for keeping records mint but the real damage came from people not replacing a worn stylus. By far most damage was from kids handling them like hockey pucks.

 

Even antique acoustic phonographs don't wear out records nearly as quickly as people might think, as long as you replace the needle -- in this case after every play, as you should with a steel needle.

Here's how a 78 sounds after 100 plays on a Victrola tracking at about 135 grams...

 

Cheap-o is cheap-O. Most people realize that the major expense of a cartridge is the stylus. Many cartridge bodies in a brand are pretty close, if not the same, the difference is the stylus. Do you honestly believe that an AT cartridge that sells for $30. is any good? This isn't the 70's. Do you think that a $10. cartridge today is a quality cartridge? Come on. The OP even stated that even after 1 play of a new record he can tell that the sound is degrading. And with a new turntable that has a $10. cartridge or a $30. cartridge. On the 3rd play I realized that the AT cartridge was damaging my records and so in the trash it went. At first, I replaced it with a 40+ year old, long time used Realistic/Shure RXT5 and my records stopped being damaged.

 

Yes, but so can a good turntable. I have heard some bad turntables in the hands of capable operators sound better than some really good turntables in the hands of incapable ones. (just cuz you have money does not mean you know how to set up a TT).

It all depends on the big three: Tracking Force, Vertical Alignment and Skating --- which all mean nothing without a decent cartridge / stylus. You can perfectly align a rock tied to a stick, but it is still a rock tied to a stick. Plus a high quality cartridge / stylus can still muss up your record if the big three are off... usually small errors in adjustment (which are common) are not fatal, but big errors are.

Most setups I see are close but not precise, and the most thing they suffer from is not getting the best sound they could. I spent five minutes the other day with a ruler and digital scale getting my brothers TT setup tweaked, and he couldn't stop raving how much better it sounded. I would venture to say most TT setups are not squeezing out the sound they could due to simple things like TF, VTA and skating. BTW, my brothers was off in all three - he was not balancing properly to zero, and thus his TF was off - he way eyeing the VTA and it was near 2mm off... and let's not even talk about the skating LOL.

 

That Akai BT-100 uses the Sanyo magnetic cart perhaps better known now branded as the Numark Groove Tool cart. That is a low end cart, but it should not destroy records on first play or after dozens of plays. It should sound pretty ok for its cost.
I suspect a damaged stylus or too heavy tracking force, or both. The geometric alignment is fixed on this turntable, but should be fixed in an acceptable position for the cart.
If you've "changed the cartridge", do you mean you replaced the whole cart, or only the stylus? If so, possibly the whole arm is tilted or the headshell is bent/tilted.

 

There is absoluterly nothing amiss with an AT95E mm: has received accolades wide and far and punches considerably above its weight.

 

Short answer: Yes a turntable can damage records.

Some do it "by design", namely the ones with crystal pickup and heavy tracking force; they are all to be avoided. That type had practically vanished after the 1970s, unfortunately it has re-emerged in recent years in the form of cheap USB-turntables - not all of them, only the cheapest.

Some do it due to bad handling or wrong setup: if the tracking force and/or anti-skating force are set wrong, or if the stylus is worn or damaged. This can happen even if the model as such is fine.

You didn't specify which specific model you have, Google turns up the BT100 and BT500 als bluetooth turntables from Akai. Even though both of them are apparently at the low end of the quality scale, they both feature magnetic cartridges and diamond tipped styluses (even though low end ones), so that's good. Unfortunately I didn't manage to google up their tracking force, but the images for both models show a sophisticated tonearm mounting with adjustable weight and tracking force, so that ought to be fine if set up correctly. Make sure you read the manual and follow the instructions of how to balance the tonearm, adjust the tracking force, dial in the recommended value, and then adjust antiskating accordingly (if available on those models).

Even though, I googled up the following list of turntables to be avoided for damaging records, and the BT100 is on it ...

List of Turntables to Avoid and the Reasons Why • r/vinyl

 

Unless I misread, Crosley uses a crystal pickup, the BT100 has a magnetic pickup. So even if the BT100 is nothing to write home about, it is in a different league and at least has the potential of low tracking force.

 

I tend to agree with this statement.

Even with surface scratches, though, many albums are still "listenable."

However, do not forget how much damnage can occur from not cleaning an album before subjecting it to a needle. The previous treatment of most used albums is an unknown factor

 

You cannot swap the cartridge on the BT-100 due to its lack of any mounting on it as it's not a P-Mount nor a 1/2" standard type either. OP hasn't changed the cartridge/stylus on his BT-100.

 

That's why I was wondering about how op phrased that. I haven't seen that model turntable. But, the stylus can be changed.

 

Yeah I've changed the stylus.

 

By definition all turntables damage records each time they are played.Just as the motion of playing a record also damages the turntable (stylus) each time.Its should be miniscule though and take many hundreds of hours of play to deteriorate each component significantly .A bad stylus will increase and speed up any damage.

 

I've often asked myself if and how severely a slightly misaligned cartridge will damage my records? I am currently running my Well Tempered Classic with an ELAC 792 cartridge (elliptical stylus). This combination is virtually impossible to align properly since the overhang will always be about .1 inch off, at least using the Mobile Fidelity Geodisc. Nevertheless I am experiencing the quietest reproduction ever with almost zero inner groove distortion on all but the longest record sides. Am I putting my valuable record collection at risk? I really don't know. Any suggestions welcome, of course.

 

The author of that article is under the mistaken impression that the BT100 (and the similar TEAC TN100) use a ceramic cartridge, just because it looks similar:

Akai BT100 magnetic cartridge:


Typical ceramic cartridge:

 

It depends on the degree. If you play a record 10 million times with a best case setup, do you think the record will be perfect?

Buy more records, then you will play each one less

 

@vwestlife An easy mistake to make, the BT100 one really does look flimsy

 

As I listen to my original lime green UK copy of The Band, I can most certainly answer this question in the affirmative.

 

Lol, yes.

 

Sorry, but you won’t get analog bliss from that. I think you need to spend a little bit more ideally...