In Reply to: At least the objectivists are good for something! :) posted by kerr on May 16, 2007 at 08:15:35:
The RIAA even has standards for high frequency loss from the number of plays (though the numbers are easily met by modern equipment.)I'll grant you that with a good tone arm and cartridge on a well-aligned turntable the wear process is very slow, it is still there. You have mechanical contract between a very hard substance and a relatively soft plastic. (Optical playback solves the wear issue but precious few of those items in actual use.)
The question then arises when a record is so "worn out" as to be unusable. If you only play a record on a good system a few dozen times over it's life you might not notice any wear. If it was a favorite and you were playing weekly for a number of years, I'd suspect that after some hundreds of plays that there would be an audible difference between a virgin version and the well-played one (and that doesn't even include the increase in background noise from exposure to dust and other surface damage.)
I know vinyl records are well loved by their advocates, but that doesn't mean they are without some clearcut physical limitations.
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Follow Ups
- Re: vinyl does wear each time played - mls-stl 05:27:32 05/17/07 (23)
- Re: vinyl does wear each time played - Todd Krieger 21:00:08 05/17/07 (3)
- Re: vinyl does wear each time played - kerr 04:39:56 05/18/07 (2)
- Re: vinyl does wear each time played - thetubeguy1954 07:07:37 05/18/07 (1)
- "... A Diamond Dragging Along a Piece of Vinyl...." - Todd Krieger 10:00:28 05/18/07 (0)
- So do your ears ... - Dave Pogue 19:08:45 05/17/07 (1)
- Yes, with lifetime durabililty like LPs, "who could ask for more" ! - cheap-Jack 08:32:08 05/18/07 (0)
- "Wear" yes - "Wear out" no. - kerr 07:35:20 05/17/07 (11)
- Re: semantics in action - mls-stl 13:57:05 05/17/07 (9)
- Re: semantics in action - kerr 04:36:06 05/18/07 (4)
- Re: you're a good example... - mls-stl 19:36:46 05/18/07 (3)
- You're forgiven... - kerr 05:21:07 05/21/07 (2)
- RE: Thanks, but I don't worry too much about forgiveness around here - mls-stl 14:21:06 05/21/07 (1)
- Ok - kerr 04:51:52 05/22/07 (0)
- "I know people who would consider any reduction in audio quality as unacceptable." - Analog Scott 14:01:00 05/17/07 (3)
- Re: "I know people who would consider any reduction in audio quality as unacceptable." - mls-stl 14:15:28 05/17/07 (2)
- Re: "I know people who would consider any reduction in audio quality as unacceptable." - Analog Scott 15:17:25 05/17/07 (1)
- Re: You seem to want the last word; consider it yours. nt. - mls-stl 20:09:02 05/17/07 (0)
- Science can predict a lot however... - Wellfed 09:54:44 05/17/07 (0)
- Vinyls wear out. So is our hearing. - cheap-Jack 07:14:38 05/17/07 (4)
- Re: Vinyls wear out. So is our hearing. - kerr 07:41:27 05/17/07 (3)
- Imagine what your system would sound like if you lisened to everything Nousaine had to say - Analog Scott 13:21:23 05/17/07 (0)
- Same applies to Belts' 'phenomenal' discovery. - cheap-Jack 07:53:22 05/17/07 (1)
- This violates the subjectivist in me - kerr 09:03:22 05/17/07 (0)