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Thread: Vinyl grooves and the friction heat

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2010

    Location: Vancouver, Canada

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    I'm Alex.

    Default Vinyl grooves and the friction heat

    My recent experience with the Beresford Caiman DAC had whetted my appetite for the analog sound. The Caiman is indeed approaching, in many aspects, the high quality analog reproduction.

    The trouble is, my old turntable got destroyed seven years ago in a flooded basement, and I haven't found a replacement yet. I've started thinking about it now, but before I do anything, wanted to double check one urban myth with the knowledgeable folk here: as the myth proposes, when the stylus hits the rotating groove on the turntable, the mass/velocity factor causes enough friction to heat up the vinyl which then melts and the heat warps and distorts the original grooves. Is that a fact, or fiction?

    If it's a fact, how does that affect the quality of the reproduction? Our 'garbage in, garbage out' theory holds that, the moment you mess up the signal, what you get out of the speakers is, well... mess.

    I've even heard that some audiophiles play their vinyl only once, while at the same time recording it onto a different medium (a reel-to-reel tape, or digitally). The theory goes that, when you're playing a virgin vinyl for the first time, that's the only time you're actually hearing the pristine, undistorted signal as it is embedded in the grooves. True?
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

  2. #2
    Alex_UK's Avatar
    Alex_UK is offline Spotify + Facebook Moderator / Chilled-Out Wino and only here for the shilling
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    OK, now I'm convinced you're winding us up! I wasn't sure before...
    Alex

    Main System: Digital: HP Laptop/M2Tech Hiface/Logitech Media Server/FLAC; Marantz SA7001 KI Signature SACD Player and other digital stuff into Gatorised Beresford Caiman DAC Vinyl: Garrard 401/SME 3009 SII Improved/Sumiko HS/Nagaoka MP-30
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  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2010

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    I'm Alan.

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    That thinking is a bit linear, maybe even tending towards the objective. I thought the first playing burned in the disk, rounded off any moulding imperfections or is that the stylus.

  4. #4
    Join Date: May 2010

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alex_UK View Post
    OK, now I'm convinced you're winding us up! I wasn't sure before...
    Busted! Just curious -- what was it that gave me away?
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Mar 2009

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    Eh... Is your fisrt post a joke or your second one magic alex
    CS Port TAT2 - Benz LPS - Funkfirm Houdini - DS Audio Vinyl Ionizer - CS Port C3EQ - Kondo G70 - Kondo Gakuoh II - Maxonic TW1100 MKII - Isol-8 SubStation Integra

  6. #6
    Join Date: Mar 2009

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    I thougt it was a legitimate question!...
    I don't see why a diamond won't eventually damage a bit of vinyl...
    CS Port TAT2 - Benz LPS - Funkfirm Houdini - DS Audio Vinyl Ionizer - CS Port C3EQ - Kondo G70 - Kondo Gakuoh II - Maxonic TW1100 MKII - Isol-8 SubStation Integra

  7. #7
    Alex_UK's Avatar
    Alex_UK is offline Spotify + Facebook Moderator / Chilled-Out Wino and only here for the shilling
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    I was in the scouts, I've tried making fires using a fire drill - believe me, it's not as easy as Ray Mears makes it look - the friction needed to create that sort of heat from a tiny diamond on a piece of vinyl is going to be a lot more than 33 or 45rpm I'm sure... I'd be very careful playing any 78s though, you might spontaneously combust!
    Alex

    Main System: Digital: HP Laptop/M2Tech Hiface/Logitech Media Server/FLAC; Marantz SA7001 KI Signature SACD Player and other digital stuff into Gatorised Beresford Caiman DAC Vinyl: Garrard 401/SME 3009 SII Improved/Sumiko HS/Nagaoka MP-30
    Amplifier: Rega Brio R. Speakers: Spendor SP1. Cables: Various, mainly Mark Grant.
    Please see "about me" for the rest of my cr@p! Gallery


    A.o.S. on Facebook - A.o.S. on Spotify - A.o.S. on Twitter

    There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing Aristotle

  8. #8
    Join Date: Feb 2010

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hamish View Post
    I thougt it was a legitimate question!...
    I don't see why a diamond won't eventually damage a bit of vinyl...
    Yes but
    the mass/velocity factor causes enough friction to heat up the vinyl which then melts and the heat warps and distorts the original grooves
    is another story. Who is the author?

  9. #9
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    Ha, oh yeh ... Passed me by that bit ...
    CS Port TAT2 - Benz LPS - Funkfirm Houdini - DS Audio Vinyl Ionizer - CS Port C3EQ - Kondo G70 - Kondo Gakuoh II - Maxonic TW1100 MKII - Isol-8 SubStation Integra

  10. #10
    Join Date: May 2010

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alex_UK View Post
    I was in the scouts, I've tried making fires using a fire drill - believe me, it's not as easy as Ray Mears makes it look - the friction needed to create that sort of heat from a tiny diamond on a piece of vinyl is going to be a lot more than 33 or 45rpm I'm sure... I'd be very careful playing any 78s though, you might spontaneously combust!
    Hey, don't shoot the messenger! I'm just relaying what I've heard out in the wilderness. Wanted to run that by you, just in case it may not be an old wife's tale after all.

    And oh, by the way, Magic Alex from the UK, it is one thing trying to set fire to a piece of hard wood, and another thing warming up a piece of pliable plastic so that it warps a bit. Different pressure points, wink-wink, say no more, know what I mean?
    Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?

    Alex.

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