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RE: Got my cartridge back from SoundSmith

Posted by gordguide (A) on January 18, 2017 at 20:47:22

In Reply to: Got my cartridge back from SoundSmith posted by jedrider on January 18, 2017 at 19:46:44:

You don't say what model cartridge, so my advice might not be appropriate, but having set up hundreds, probably thousands of turntables, and with many different cartridges, the one absolutely consistent tendency of people who set their own tracking force is they want to set it on the low side of the recommended range because ... well, they think less weight means less record damage.

No1 ... playing records with a properly setup cartridge and tonearm produces almost zero wear on the album itself. I'd like to say zero, period, as I have many LPs with hundreds of plays on their clock and no discernible wear on them at all.

However, one sure fire way to damage an LP after just a single play is to set the tracking force too light, because mis-tracking permanently damages the grooves of an LP record. That's as in forever.

Generally speaking a cartridge will track the outermost grooves without problem unless grossly mis-aligned, but if the groove walls are busy enough and the tracking force light enough, it will start chipping away due to mistracking on the innermost grooves, nearest the label. Just so you don't assume that if it plays nice at first that everything is automatically perfect.

So, my advice is to set the tracking force at the highest recommended setting. No, it won't wear the records out sooner. It just might save them, though.

Edits: 01/18/17

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