[Scott Dorsey]

Edi Zubovic edi.zubovic[rem wrote:
Yes, fineline styli have a profile resembling a chisel with long
contact areas and I find them superior for most of LPs especially
those thin ones, after oil crisis in the 70s . That was also the time
when improved cutting allowed more densely packed grooves ie. more
time without too much sacrifice in dynamics. You need something extra
light and a really big compliance for those. Yet I have some
mirror-like LPs with really unsatisfactorily dynamics (eg. Probe
Records, Three Dog Night - Seven Separate Fools). I'd be the 8th one
if I wouldn't treat this record with special care. It seems to me that
merely a fingerprint is a big issue there. What a difference compared
to older 180 g LPs cut to be loud enough.

People want to put a whole symphony on one record, and they have to
sacrifice something, and level is the first thing to go. The more time,
the less excursion.

I had a strange thing with a Shure 15 VXMR some ten or more years ago
when I found burnt vinyl at the stylus tip and had to carefully scrape
it off with a razor blade. I suspect a tracking issue with my Dual
1218 tonearm. I haven't seen that later.

I would be very very suspicious of those Dual things. As autochangers
went they were some of the best but you sacrifice a lot with your arm
design in order to make that mechanism work. They always seemed very
resonant to me.

Hovewer, for standard mono LPs, those with M in an inverted triangle,
you can use a 1 mil stylus and set the tracking force quite lavishly -
they were made for that. If there's mistracking, you'll not only hear
it, you'll actually see it. Heh.

We call this "Gradoing" as in "since I bought those cheap tires, I can't
keep my car from gradoing all over the road."
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."