Stylus Drag

The logic and our hobby don't fit together. I have no clue
why the low compliance carts are produced which is the same
(in my case)as that they make no sense to me. Despite of
this (subjective) fact I own 2 or 3 of those. I know that something
is wrong with me but have no idea what is wrong
with the low compliance MC's. Can someone explain to me why
those are still produced?

Regards,

Good question my friend.
J Carr would certainly have an answer if he was lurking?

Dear Henry, 'J.Carr would...'. Since when my Aussie friend
become diplomatic? J. Carr is a very nice guy so one need
only to ask? J. Carr WILL you be so kind?

Regards,

Hi Folks, thanks for your comments so far. Some comments from me:

I agree with Halcro that the Raven slows down when the needle hits the groove. I base this on the shift in speed as observed with the KAB strobe disk. So I usually set speed with the needle in the groove. So clearly stylus drag is impacting speed, but I can't tell if it deviates based on the fluctuations in modulation of the actual record on speed has been set taking average drag into account. But it apprears Halcro has observed changes in speed with havily modulated sections of the record using the TimeLine. The key question is whether or not this small change is audible.

I agree with Atmasphere and Mosin (in the other thread on turntable speed accuracy) that the best way to listen for speed stability is by assessing the soundstage expansiveness and the small, faint micro-dynmaic and timberal details in the recording, in addition to the sheer dynamics. These come across more clearly than possibly changes in pitch.

The best description I heard about TT's is that they are "rotating resonance machines". Very true! We need to worry about both speed and resonance.

Andrew

Yes, the only way to set the speed is with the needle in the groove. You are trying to make it perfect for the conditions in which you listen. You don't listen with the stylus on the tonearm mount, do you?

As for MC's having more drag ... I can only surmise that, since most MC's have Shibata or a fine line stylus, they sit lower in the groove than MM's which have more rounded tips. So there is expected to be more drag for MC's. At least that makes sense to me.