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Stylus-Drag..Fact or Fiction?

Most audiophiles can't seem to believe that a tiny stylus tracking the record groove on a heavy platter could possibly 'slow-down' the rotating speed of a turntable.
I must admit that proving this 'visually' or scientifically has been somewhat difficult until Sutherland brought out the Timeline.
The Timeline sits over the spindle of the rotating disc and flashes a laser signal at precisely the correct timing for either 33.33rpm or 45rpm.
By projecting these 'flashes' onto a nearby wall (with a marker attached)....one can visualise in real-time, whether the platter is 'speed-perfect' (hitting the mark at every revolution), losing speed (moving to the left of the mark) or gaining speed (moving to the right of the mark).

RAVEN BELT-DRIVE TT vs TIMELINE 
Watch here how the laser hits the mark each revolution until the stylus hits the groove and it instantly starts losing speed (moving to the left).
You can track its movement once it leaves the wall by seeing it on the Copperhead Tonearm.
Watch how it then speeds up when the tonearms are removed one by one....and then again, loses speed as the arms are dropped.

RAVEN BELT-DRIVE TT vs TIMELINE
Watch here how the laser is 'spot-on' each revolution with a single stylus in the groove and then loses speed as each additional stylus is added.
Then observe how....with NO styli in the groove.....the speed increases with each revolution (laser moves to the right) until it 'hits' the mark and then continues moving to the right until it has passed the mark.

Here is the 35 year-old Direct Drive Victor TT-81 turntable (with Bi-Directional Servo Control) undergoing the same examination:-
VICTOR TT-81 DD TT vs TIMELINE 
halcro

Showing 1 response by chakster

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Audiophiles are strange.

It is obvious that adults can’t develop perfect pitch (see why), so most likely none of you can detect such a tiny difference in pitch/tone by ear in a blind test playing records on your turntable. Even professional and very well educated musicians does not have a perfect pitch. How to develop perfect pitch? Watch this. I found it very interesting.

If you could detect a difference in tone between 33.333 and 33.334 then you’re not a human, or you must be 1 of 10 000 people trained for a perfect pitch since you’re baby.

In other words: If your turntable spinning slightly faster or slower you can’t detect it anyway when it comes to such a tiny difference people describing here above.

C’mon: 33.333 or 33.334? Are you serious?

Only 1 out of 10 000 people might have a perfect pitch and the only reason for this is because they’re born in a family of musicians and they were trained in the first 4 years of their life. Just watch this video.


P.S. I am using top japanese DD turntables with two tonearms on each and all those DDs are stable as hell.

Stylus-Drag ? Even if the tracking force is 1-3g, how about 900g record weight we’re putting on top or the record each time we play it? "Stylus-Drag problem" does not exist for me. Happy listening.




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