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Vinyl Wear

rough edges

rough edges

Sapere Aude
I've owned a decent vinyl front end for about 35 years. During that time, I've played some recordings too many times to count.
Maybe I'm going deaf, but I can't really hear anything that would indicate significant vinyl wear.
Am I alone here?
Is "vinyl wear" overrated?
 
Vinyl wear numbers that crop up from time to time appear to largely go back to times of a few grammes tracking force. How clean records are kept will also have an influence. I'd also bet that anyone's replay has changed a bit over the years, so different stylus shapes have played different bits of the groove.
 
Me too. I don't think wear is much of an issue provided the records are kept clean and the playing equipment is good quality.
 
I've a few LP's that go back to when I had a BSR Autochanger in the late 70's, and can't say they sound worn. I doubt the ceramic cartridge stylus went particularly deep into the groove though. On the other hand I've worn out quite a few styli.
 
The joy of a good line contact is it can reach down below previously played parts of the groove it you previously used a wider radius profile.

I have a couple of albums that sound shagged on a conical, sound fine on my Giger S.
 
I’ve got lots of records older than I am that still sound stunningly good to my ears! Its a surprisingly good archive medium as well preserved first pressings have outlived the master tapes in many cases (especially true since the UMG fire that lost the Impulse! etc catalogue).
 
Having said that, I do think you can ruin a record with one play under a bad stylus. Plastic is quite soft and diamond...isn't.
 
I’d say it probably depends on the care taken by the user & quality of the styli used over the years.
Some of the Uber-cheap turntables from John Lewis/curry’s etc with a very cheap cart & high tracking weight would cause more wear than a half decent turntable & cart.
Even a dual 505 & a £30ish cart would be far better........That was my first “proper” turntable & I still have many LPs bought in the 80’s played on the Dual that sound decent now.
I reckon 30 +years of use without significant wear is pretty decent.
 
Most records I own with audible wear either date from when I was a teenager with a stack system from Currys (with a 2p bluetak-ed to the top of the arm to stop it skipping...) or are ancient jazz LPs that have been played with a rusty nail.

That said, I have plenty of LPs from the 60s that look like someone went ice skating on them but sound fine. I don't know what changed but modern vinyl just doesn't seem as robust.
 
Mr Pig said:
Having said that, I do think you can ruin a record with one play under a bad stylus. Plastic is quite soft and diamond...isn't.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but you have to actively do that. Tape, CDRs, hard drives, some badly made CDs etc can decay or fail just being stored, even in a climate-controlled environment.
 
I've bought lots of used discs and I thought they were unplayable until I bought an ML cartridge. I think the ML profile explores parts of the groove unread by other profiles, including the overrated Shibata.
 
I Googled ‘vinyl wear’ and got this:

Atomage_cover.jpg


Are we on the same..... page?
 
Tony L said:
I’ve got lots of records older than I am that still sound stunningly good to my ears! Its a surprisingly good archive medium as well preserved first pressings have outlived the master tapes in many cases (especially true since the UMG fire that lost the Impulse! etc catalogue).
Click to expand...
Thats why the Voyager spacecraft uses them to tell aliens about us...including our address.
 
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