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The Hardest Naturally Occurring Substance on Earth

Yep - You all know from grammar school that is the diamond, which incidentally is what is used to make the stylus of our turntable cartridges.  If it is so hard, and it is going up against some fairly soft vinyl, why do we worry about poor quality LPs damaging the cartridge or stylus?  Sure, I understand the cantilever, but the actual Stylus?  The old phrase for me is "Does Not Compute".   What are your thoughts and insights?
pgaulke60
gasbose's avatar
gasbose
82 posts
 
dill:

Concave or convex? Worn out ? Moves from left to right, but stays on the bottom?

Please say more...


dancole
15 posts
 
No amount of dust, grime or grit on an LP is going to wear down a diamond needle, no matter how long you use it. As a previous commenter noted, diamonds are cut using other diamonds because nothing else will work. 
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
No amount of dust, grime or grit on an LP is going to wear down a diamond needle, no matter how long you use it
Curious then as to what DOES wear down the diamond on our carts in your opinion?
Just the sheer action of grinding through grooves at 11,000 PSI on average?
You do not think dirty records contribute to the wear process in any way, shape or form?
rodman99999
6,127 posts
 
http://www.pspatialaudio.com/stylus_wear.htm
terry9
2,333 posts
 
@rodman99999

At last someone with the data. More or less equal parts of diamond dust, grease, and some mixture of fluff and dust. Very close to a commercial grinding compound - you know, the way they shape the stylus in the first place.

Which is why I do US record cleaning. My Koetsu has minimal wear at nearly 1000 hours. That ElmaSonic just paid for itself.
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