Evidence of groove damage of TT setup?

In my own experience, many things that in my first few years of vinyl, I blamed on groove damage or vinyl inadequacies, turned out to be a result of my own cleaning or tuning inadequacies so I would look there first. I continue to be amazed at how durable vinyl is if reasonably cared for. I find that if a record is really trashed, it is trashed throughout - not just at the peaks. This is, of course, a gross generalization but that's what you asked for.

"Fatparrot is entirely correct about much older vinyl, especially rock albums..."

Hmmm, as it turns out, although out of character for me, that night I was listening to a few rock records I had just picked up second hand: Elvis Costello - 1977, Bee Gees - 1977, Boston - 1976, Billy Joel - 1978.

This Friday, I'll pull out some brand new stuff to make sure my system is still setup properly.

Many vinyl pressings have distortions due to cutting head overload or bad vinyl formula... for example, a record with loud passage distortions may not have that problem on the same title pressed in a different country... an import from England, Germany, Japan or Holland all sound just a little different and may sound better than a u.s. pressing with the distortion.

>>Fatparrot is entirely correct about much older vinyl, especially rock albums<<

That might be a generalization but many of us were very careful back in the old days. For that reason those same records sound even better today due to the extremely high level of contemporary vinyl playback equipment.

Pawlowski,

Here's a foolproof test to determine whether any particular stretch of groove is damaged, flawed or dirty - or not:

1. With the system powered up but the TT motor off, cue the stylus down just before one of the offending passages.

2. Move the platter slowly (always forward!) by hand. The music will make a low frequency growl.

3. If the vinyl has pressing flaws, was damaged by prior abuse or is grundged up with dirt you'll hear it very clearly.

At this slow speed no stylus will mistrack, so if you hear non-musical artifacts you'll know it's something on the record.

Best,
Doug