The life of a record is only 40 to 50 plays?

Probably one of my first carts. I know I went through a series of ADC carts paired with my Technics SL-3300 TT. Most of my LPs still sound fine after many years of use. Oh and that cart came in a nifty box too. I upgraded at some point to a MK III.

 

Except the same parts of the tire is constantly being reintroduced to the road, unlike a groove where 1 part can just be affected a split second every 40 minutes or so.

In this analogy the tires are the stylus and tge road is the grooves.

And you can even touch a tire after 40 minutes Im sure.

 

Its called jest. You can touch a tire immediately after driving on hot asphalt through the desert. The whole premise here is silly.

 

I know basically nothing about cars. But Id think they get kind of hot if you tokyo drift it.

 

I wonder how many plays my iPod has?????

 

I wonder how much groove wear this causes. Tracking force has to be intense. Who wants to install a record player in their car now?

 

Indeed. Shellac was more brittle and wore easier though.

Although its important to note that too little VTF is more damaging that slightly to heavy VTF.
Id think a 2 gram cart played at 1 gram is more damaging than it played at 4 or maybe even more grams.

 

put that video there as a slight mood improver

 

That would be entirely up to you.

Same with me and my LPs.

 

This guy did a pretty good job with his player:

 

Notice the tracking forces that were recommended for the first 78s made from vinyl ("Victrolac"):



5 oz. = 141.7 grams!

 

You know, I had Led Zeppelin 4 and man, it skipped all the time. I wound up putting a penny or two on the headshell and left it there for all my album playing. (I was likely 11 or 12)
All of my old albums play pristine. Just saying.

 

What exactly is supposed to happen on the 51st play of a record? The grooves seal up and the stylus just slides across an empty piece of vinyl?

 

You know, the trick is to play a record 49 times then sell it to some sucker who will only be able to play it once more before it disintegrates.

 

I think the topic is more about how many times a record typically is played by its owner.

 

Just want to get multiple opinions on this:

I've read that the max tracking force is .7 mil conical is 4 grams before it starts erasing high frequencies. For a .5, it's 3 grams and for a .3 x .7 it's 2.75.

I have a nude, .2 x 7 true elliptical retip by ESCo on my AT95E. Across the board, everything sounds best at 2.75 grams. Even the .2 x .7. I'm assuming most literature is refering to the "shaved conical" type ellipticals....do the rule change for top notch true ellipticals?

 

I cannot answer all of your questions, but I can attest that after listening to several albums at least 20X with a Shure sc35c .7 conical at 4.5G, I hear absolutely no difference in them. I absolutely do not accept the argument that the sc35c OEM conical will harm my records, ever. What that means for the rest of your questions can be inferred by extension.

 

Many say they play an album many times with no changes in sound. Now if you played a record the first time, the went away while somebody plays ( same system) it 50 times, you came back for play #51...i wonder if you would hear a difference then.

 

Ellipticals generally wear more than conicals and there is no point where things start to get shaved off, it always is. Dense passages with high and low frequencies wont be tracked properly by conicals and most ellipticals so it will cause more wear yes.

 

Im gonna test it with 200 plays someday.
There are already videos on youtube on it though.

 

So, is it safe to say that if it sounds good, little no damage is being done?

 

Well yes. Although ones ability to hear distortion in the music varies of course. I used to not hear it until it was really pronounced on some records, but in general dont worry too much.

The main aspect which prevents wear is contact area. The more contact area the less wear since its not friction that causes it, its primarily pressure. Or in the case of conicals it can be geometrical problems but thats another thing. Ellipticals typically have the least contact area of all styli and therefore it causes the most wear. And when we talk about wear its mostly an increase in surface noise or crackles. Some high end might dull over many plays but the music will stay the same for the most part. Im not entirely convinced that the crackles we hear cant be cleaned off though. Which is partly why I want to do my 200 play test later on.

 

This thread title is a good example how a stupid, unfounded, unsupported assertion (running contrary to god-knows-how-many thousands of years of collective audiophile experience) can create such a wealth of psuedo-solutions to a 'problem' that doesn't exist. Remember, the moment a new record slips off the stampers - its deterioration starts. Its classic physics. But don't let that get you down!

If you want to hasten its breakdown, play the record on a TT with a well used, worn carridge/stylus that has a few coins taped to the headshell. Preferably a bent cantilever too. It also helps if the tonearm is pressed from a piece of sheet steel and weighs a lot.

If you want to enjoy the the record undiminished for as long as your measely earth ears can hear, play it on a decent, good condition turntable with a properly mounted & configured better-than-entry-level cartridge/stylus. And whatever you all do, don't waste your time micro analyzing 200+ play 'tests' in your home. Get an ice cream cone instead. Or have air guitar time listening to your favorite cranked up guitar-centric rock band. Deep Purple or UFO for example.

 

Im primarily doing it to test the effect of LAST record preservative.

 

I have records when I was a kid and played them all the time. I play them for my daughter now and they sound like new except for where I scratched the needle across the record on a few of them. Curious if the high frequencies are distorted at all? To my ears all the groove is intact and no sound degradation. I know these have been played around 50+ times.