[Vintage-Audio] Re Cartridges and Styluses

Mon Jun 30 19:52:00 2003

I think digital is getting a bad rap because there is so many very 
bad CDs out there and the CD is getting blamed. A well made CD can 
hold it's own with any LP (unless you are a bat). Now admittedly 
all (good) things are made from tape, but this is 15 or 30 ips on 
a $20,000 deck. Now comes DVD 5.1 at 24/48 and DVDA at 24/96 and 
of course the invincible SACD. If these are made with even a 
little care they can easily eat up anything in commercial media.

WBob

Robert J. McKee wrote:
> Duane, Pete and list...
> 
> The 3.0 and 1.0 mils were tip radii for playback rather
> than depth.of the cut by the chisel-shaped cutter.  Logic
> also says that the depth of cut will vary by frequency
> and amplitude with the 45/45 stereo system.
> 
> I do not know if the 3.0 mil stylus for 78's were ever
> made in any but the conical shape.
> 
> The 1.0 mil LP stylus had many variations as an ellipse
> of various angles and other modified shapes in order to
> achieve more intimate contact with groove walls and to
> avoid pinching.
> 
> There were mass-market players selling console furniture,
> rather than sound, to the unsuspecting.  Probably the
> most well-known was Zenith Radio Corporation with
> their saturation advertising of the airwaves touting the
> advantages of their 2G tone arm.  Tracking at "just two
> grams.... one fourteenth of an ounce" the announcer
> says.  This was the signal to the casual listener that
> tracking
> force was important because pressure was "the cause"
> of record wear.  The man on the street could now brag
> "I have a Zenith 2G."  (But he still stacks his records,
> shuffles the stack like playing cards to read the labels,
> allows them to get dusty and puts them in the album
> without the protective sleeve.)  Many of the popular
> slick magazines had their inner front or back cover in
> full color carrying the same Zenith message.  It was true
> saturation advertising in every sense of the word.
> 
> Shure was the leader in pushing light tracking AND
> trackability.  But as everyone on this list knows, the
> arm as well as the cartridge plays an important part
> not only in tracking, but in the sound from a cartridge.
> 
> So here we are today with a nearly fifty year old
> vinyl system that will kick-butt on every digital system
> under a hundred grand and most that cost even more
> than that.  Ain't it great... then there is the reel-to-reel
> tape system which far out-sonics the vinyl record.
> 
> Hope that causes some memory recall among my
> fellow geezers out there and gives you younger folk
> some new info on how evolution took place.
> Bob McKee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 2:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Cartridges and Styluses
> 
> 
> 
>>Pete,
>>
>>Some were 1 mil and others were 3 mils in depth. The older
> 
> vinyl required
> 
>>anywhere from 3-6 grams, remember putting a penny on the
> 
> tone arm? That penny
> 
>>weighed 4.11 grams!
>>
>>There was a change in the depth and width of the grooves
> 
> somewhere back there
> 
>>and the stylus and tracking weight changed also. I believe
> 
> it was the late
> 
>>sixties to early seventies, but I would not swear to it. I
> 
> do know that there
> 
>>were several variations in the fifties.
>>
>>Yep, I remember those flip over stylus/cartridge units. Did
> 
> they ever come for a
> 
>>turntable though, or just a record changer?
>>
>>Duane W8DBF
>>
>>
>>----------
>>From: [email protected]
>>To: [email protected]
>>Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Cartridges and Styluses
>>Date: Monday, June 30, 2003 12:43 PM
>>
>>I thought the tracking weight had to do with the type of
> 
> stylus and/or
> 
>>cartridge and the type of tone arm and its balancing
> 
> mechanisms. I seem
> 
>>to recall  playing 78's required a different stylus size
> 
> than for 33 or
> 
>>45 records but not a different weight. Many of the ceramic
> 
> cartridges had
> 
>>the typical turnover mechanisms (1 side of the cartridge for
> 
> playing 78's
> 
>>and the other side for 33 and 45 playing; each side with a
> 
> different
> 
>>stylus size) mounted in the arm head. Many magnetic
> 
> cartridges required
> 
>>changing out the plug in stylus. I don't recall ever
> 
> considering the type
> 
>>of vinyl when using the various measuring tools to set up
> 
> the initial
> 
>>parameters on a tone arm.
>>Pete
>>
>>On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 08:51:35 -0400 "Duane Fischer, W8DBF"
>><[email protected]> writes:
>>
>>>
>>>During the seventies, what was the typical tracking weight
>>>recommended for a
>>>stylus used to play stereo records of that era?
>>>
>>>The same question, but for the sixties?
>>>
>>>What about the mono recordings of the middle fifties and
>>
> then stereo
> 
>>>into the
>>>middle to late sixties?
>>>
>>>When did the vinyl industry go from the thicker recordings
>>
> to the
> 
>>>flimsey 33 1/3
>>>records that flexed if you wanted to fan yourself with
>>
> one?
> 
>>>
>>>When the vinyl record itself was changed, did the tracking
>>
> weight
> 
>>>change? If so,
>>>to what?
>>>
>>>What was the tracking weight recommended for playing the
>>
> mono 45 rpm
> 
>>>records?
>>>What weight is now recommended for the reissues still
>>
> available from
> 
>>>oldies
>>>specialty record stores?
>>>
>>>The wisdom used to be to change the stylus every thousand
>>
> hours of
> 
>>>use, I think.
>>>Does anybody know the truth of the issue? The goal is to
>>
> minimize
> 
>>>wear on the
>>>grooves and to maximize the fidelity.
>>>
>>>Thanks to all for sharing your experience on these issues.
>>>
>>>Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>>
>>
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