"01-27-15: Onhwy61
The empirical evidence is that no one has reported any ill effects attributable to repeated playing using better quality equipment properly setup."
How do you know that? Its not like there's a hotline where people report this type of thing. One way or another, a record will wear out eventually, just from use, no matter how good the gear or setup is. Best you can do is prolong it from happening. But that's really not the issue here. This discussion is just about whether the record get really hot, and possibly deforms/melts when you play it. If all records do this, to some extent, its considered normal operation.
Honestly, the problem here is really 2 fold. First, I think many people, whether its in this thread, or any of the others, get caught up in the argument and want to win it, as opposed to finding out what the real answer is. For the most part, I think its unintentional, but its a factor none the less. Now, before anyone asks, yes, I have gotten caught up in this type of thing myself. I'm no different than anyone else.
The other problem is that there's not too much current info on anything involving vinyl playback. For the mainstream consumer, its a format that died sometime in the late 80's. But there is some information out there. And every time I see a comment on this issue, by someone that knows audio well, and is an expert on vinyl playback, they all say the same thing. The record gets very hot and/or melting occurs at the point of contact, when you play it. I just happened to see another comment when I was shopping on Needle Doctors web site. He's one of the last, big, well known vinyl experts. This is a direct quote from him pertaining to record care.
"Last, remember that every time you play a record, you are in essence damaging it. On a micro level, the diamond melts the groove as it passes through. The groove will wear down whether you like it or not, so just enjoy your records and do what you can to slow the deterioration. "
Its pretty much the same thing every other TT expert says. Now, I know that someone can argue that he didn't include scientific data or test results that can be verified. So, as far as winning or losing the argument goes, I loose by default. No question about it. So, back to reality, even though I lost the argument, I still can't find an expert in vinyl playback to say anything other than the record melts when you play it.
