Do you let your vinyl rest after playing?


Another one of this interesting issues
adeep42
That old chestnut's been whupped to death 1,000 times on this and every other vinyl forum. Search if you must, but I'm resting. ZZZZ....
I made the mistake of trying to answer this question for someone a few months ago. I'm not going to go through it again. You can find the answer in the very popular book, "Good Sound" by Laura Dearborne. (Don't know if I spelled the name exactly right.)
I will open up Pandora's Box and admit that I do prefer to let my records rest if possible. But it is not a big deal. Generally lighter tracking cartridges with broad contact patches are going to be a bit more forgiving of frequent repeated play. Like a Shure V15 or a Stanton 681 or other high compliant design optimized for VTF of 1.0-1.5 grams. Also microline or shibata stylii are gentler, all else being equal, than a conical or elliptical shape. But, properly set up cartridges are much more gentle than ones that are misaligned or have too little VTF (too light and the stylus will rattle in the record grooves, which causes damage). Best to err on the side of a bit heavy VTF. Anecdotally I can tell you that years ago I worked in hifi retail when LP was king. We played records for demo, over and over and over, all day, every day. Yes they got noisy after a while, but you would be amazed at how durable vinyl can be when played on a properly set up turntable. Don't get too worried about this. Life is too short. Enjoy your records.
After playing my vinyl, I ice it down and then give it the next 4 days off.
Treat it just as you would a starting pitcher in baseball. ;^)
When I was young I'd put it on repeat and make that vinyl sing all night long, but now that I'm older, it's me who needs time to recover. Damn!
I send my vinyl to hot yoga. Yes, warping can be a problem there but it sounds so effortless and relaxed after....