Vinyl wear and damage

[HedleyH]

I have recently refurbished a Bush SRP31C with Garrard 210 autochanger. The headshell has been fitted with a BSR SC12H cartridge and is wired for stereo to feed the accompanying AU31 amp. The tone arm is successfully tracking at 3.5g.
Reading online articles, much is written about these old changers damaging vinyl, especially later LP pressings.
My vinyl collection doesn't include any rare or particularly valuable items but I would like them to last as long as possible without noticeable deterioration. I guess my question to the experts out there is, will my set up quickly cause damage or is 3.5g an acceptable tracking weight?

[Ted Kendall]

The major killers of discs are mistracking, worn styli and dirt. So keep your records clear of dust (a carbon fibre brush is swift and effective), keep your pickup at the recommended tracking force and change your stylus after a thousand sides at the outside, assuming it is a diamond. Lower tracking forces do reduce wear, but only if tracking is secure - otherwise the stylus loses contact with one groove wall on heavy modulation and smashes into the opposite wall, causing audible damage.

[Sideband]

Yes be careful of tracking weight....too light can be worse than too heavy although both will cause damage. Do you know that 3.5g is OK? seems a bit light for one of these decks. What is the recommended tracking weight for the SC12H? I thought it should be 4 to 6 grams....plump for 5. As Ted described above, the effect of too low tracking weight causes groove wall damage.

A gram or so heavier than the present 3.5 can be less harmful.

[ajgriff]

No such thing as an expert when it comes to this sort of thing. As far as tracking force is concerned some of the most highly rated cartridges have recommended VTFs in the region of 3.5g or more. Have a look at this link as an example:

https://www.ortofon.com/spu-classic-g-mkii-p-554

If your set up tracks well with minimum distortion and everything is in good condition you shouldn't need to worry. To be on the safe side I'd also think in terms of increasing the VTF. I think 4-6g is the recommended range for the SC12H.

Alan

[G6Tanuki]

#1 thing is keeping the disc-surface free from dust.

In times-past there were a whole range of add-ons for this, from foam-rollers to electrostatic-pistols you pointed at your discs to give them a dust-repelling charge.

Zerostat/Groov-stat being names that come to mind.

[alanworland]

Agree, mistracking must be avoided at all costs.
I seem to recall there was a system that enabled the record to be played wet?

Alan

[ajgriff]

If anyone's interested in the subject of playing vinyl wet and has a few hours to spare this old thread on another forum might be worth a read:

https://www.vinylengine.com/turntabl...p?f=19&t=22360

Alan

[rontech]

If you have access to an oscilloscope and a stereo test record ( I think HiFi sound magazine used to issue such records ), there is often a 300Hz tone at various modulation levels.

The oscilloscope trace should be a nice clean sine wave and the effects of mis tracking can be seen by adjusting playing weight, head off- set, tracking angle, side thrust etc.

Ortofon still sell test records but they are on the expensive side..

[Radio Wrangler]

You need to be sure that a test record hasn't been badly used, with a mis-tracking pick-up, or else any waveforms from it will be already distorted from previous damage, usually on the more demanding tracks. This can make a good pick-up look bad. Searching on-line for a second hand test record can be risky, so the price of a new one might not be so bad, all considered.

Similarly, second hand test tapes may have been run through a badly magnetised machine and suffered as a result.

It is in the nature of test records and tapes that they are called into use when there are doubts about the condition of the player so they become high risk items. In the case of records the damage occurs on the most stressful tracks first, just right to convince a later user that his equipment has the fault.

I got had by a damaged 'Audio obstacle course' disc many years ago.

David

[ajgriff]

I think there's a risk of going OTT here especially in relation to a fairly basic record player. Significant mis-tracking is very obvious to the average ear and manifests itself as distortion in the form of buzzing or fuzziness.

Alan

[HedleyH]

Thanks for all of the advice and replies. I had a fiddle and have increased the tracking weight to 5g. This has had an astonishing effect. Virtually no detectable distortion on "busy" modern lps now. I realise this is quite a basic turntable and I shouldn't expect too much but the sound has been transformed. Will stick to manufacturers guidlines from now on.

[ajgriff]

Good result. Improved sound quality and a reduction in record wear. Well done.

Alan

[rontech]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

You need to be sure that a test record hasn't been badly used, with a mis-tracking pick-up, or else any waveforms from it will be already distorted from previous damage, usually on the more demanding tracks. This can make a good pick-up look bad. Searching on-line for a second hand test record can be risky, so the price of a new one might not be so bad, all considered.

Similarly, second hand test tapes may have been run through a badly magnetised machine and suffered as a result.

It is in the nature of test records and tapes that they are called into use when there are doubts about the condition of the player so they become high risk items. In the case of records the damage occurs on the most stressful tracks first, just right to convince a later user that his equipment has the fault.

I got had by a damaged 'Audio obstacle course' disc many years ago.

David

Wise words David. I should have mentioned that in my posting.

[Sideband]

Originally Posted by HedleyH

Thanks for all of the advice and replies. I had a fiddle and have increased the tracking weight to 5g. This has had an astonishing effect. Virtually no detectable distortion on "busy" modern lps now. I realise this is quite a basic turntable and I shouldn't expect too much but the sound has been transformed. Will stick to manufacturers guidlines from now on.

The stylus will also last longer since its not being bashed against the side walls of the grooves in the record which of course means that the record will also last longer. There is information on the web about the forces applied to the stylus and therefore the grooves of the record when playing.....they will astonish you!! See first paragraph of the link below

https://magazine.vinylmeplease.com/m...ts-anti-skate/