Styli?

[Clive197]

I’ve been listening to vinyl today and a thought occurred to me. We all know the advantages of the higher speed of a 45 rpm record but do the styli wear faster than on a 33 rpm record?

[karma67]

my silly logic says no if both 33 and 45 grooves are the same length.

[Barry]

This has been discussed before:

https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?25728-Record-speed-and-stylus-wear

The consensus was that in theory it ought to make a difference, but in practice there was likely to be little change to stylus wear when playing 33 rpm or 45 rpm records.

With the advent of 'fine line' stylus profiles, it is very important to assure the arm/cartridge alignement is correct and that the VTA is optimal, if stylus wear is to be minimised.

[robs]

logic suggests that if the length of the groove is the same but the speed is faster (and all other things are equal, heat etc) then it takes less time to wear the out the stylus over the same distance. Surely.