How long should vinyl last?

As noted in earlier responses, vinyl can and does last a long time. One thing to be wary of is vinyl's "memory" effect. Dragging a diamond thru the vinyl grooves distorts them slightly during playback. You need to allow enough time between plays for the grooves to "reset" back to their original configuration. Instant replays of a track are not good for the grooves. Your proposal to play the record only once a week more than satisifes that condition.

One manufacturer whose products are extremely gentle on vinyl, Bang & Olufsen, gets slammed regularly in these forums. Too bad, because B&O tonearms have been optimized for their cartridges and present the lowest effective tip mass to the vinyl of *any* turntables out there. It is virtually impossible to scratch a record with a B&O turntable, can you say that about any other rig?

-RW-

I sold hi-end hi-fi back in the late 70s and early 80s. I became quite familiar with the offerings from Denon, Revox, B&O, Yamaha, NAD, AR, Thorens, and several others that escape my memory right now.

No, I have not measured all the rigs out there, who has? But I can state, unequivocally, the the B&Os were the most gentle to the vinyl. Did they sound the best? No. But, for most folks, they sound plenty good enough, and their ease of use is a major bonus.

And, I'll bet ya a dollar that *nobody* has approached the low effective tip mass that B&Os come by naturally - it's hard to beat a tonearm and cartridge that have been designed from the get-go to work together. No alignment issues to deal with whatsoever.

As a demo, I used to grab the tonearm on a B&O and literally scrape the needle back and forth across a record's surface, after turning the volume down, of course. Subsequent replay of the record showed no aural indication of damage. Sold a lot of B&O turntables with that demo [smile]...

-rw-

What is with you, WC65Mustang, heavy flow month? I *already* admitted that the B&O stuff was not the best sounding, but it sounds plenty good enough for most folks - including me.

As for the "effective tip mass" issue, this enables the record to played more often with less damage. In addition, if the buyer accidentally bumps the turntable or tonearm, they will not damage their record(s)

One other thing, dude, turn off the CAPS lock, nobody needs to shout around here...

-RW-