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Stylus Drag

Hello all,

I was wondering, does stylus drag vary significantly based on the musical content of a record: frequency or dynamic vs slow passages? If it does vary based on the musical content is this amount insignificant relative to the amount of overall drag arising from the friction of the needle in the groove?

The resaon I'm asking is to understand that even if the speed setting is compensated for stylus drag if at a micro level it is still varying based on the musical content and if this is heard sonically.

Thanks,

Andrew
aoliviero
jkorten
36 posts
 
I have an older VPI MKIII with the stand alone motor assembly. Stylus drag is exactly what tells me when my belt is getting too stretched out and the motor needs to be re-positioned.

It is especially apparent when there is a loud sustained line (kraftwerk or other electronica). The pitch sags when the volume increases. This is the 9lbs platter btw.
halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
I do agree with Dover......that the better your TT becomes at maintaining accurate and constant speed under heavily modulated passages.....the more you tend to hear the imperfections of the record pressings such as off-centre holes?
For every solution.....another problem is revealed :^(
tonywinsc
583 posts
 
I call it record runout. Runout is the periodic side to side motion that can be seen in the record and even the tonearm as the record is spinning on the platter. It is caused by the centerline of the record hole being offset to the centerline of the record grooves. When it is visible with your eye and in many cases even the tonearm is seen swinging side to side, that is near the maximum tolerance; but still within tolerance! In the other thread I posted the industry tolerances for the center hole position and its impact on WoW & Flutter. The higher quality pressings I found, have pretty low runout but some old Columbia pressings from the 70s are probably the worse that I have seen. Ironically, my stereo test record had pretty bad runout which I corrected by filing the hole out; but now I have to center the record on the platter.
tonywinsc
583 posts
 
I meant to also say that the outside diameter of records are not always round. You really have to reference the grooves to find the true center of the record. I'm guessing that they trim the OD of records with a knife to remove the flash, if they trim them at all when they come out of the die. That's typical in most molding processes. So you can't count on the OD of the record to be concentric to the hole or the grooves either.
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