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Stylus Drag

Hello all,

I was wondering, does stylus drag vary significantly based on the musical content of a record: frequency or dynamic vs slow passages? If it does vary based on the musical content is this amount insignificant relative to the amount of overall drag arising from the friction of the needle in the groove?

The resaon I'm asking is to understand that even if the speed setting is compensated for stylus drag if at a micro level it is still varying based on the musical content and if this is heard sonically.

Thanks,

Andrew
aoliviero

Showing 3 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,086 posts
 
You don't hear the change in pitch as such. You hear it as a shaky soundstage. Speed variation causes the tonearm to decrease and increase skating forces. This makes the soundstage less solid. This is why speed stability is so important.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,086 posts
 
The fact that a platter slows when the stylus is in the groove is not the same as what as referred to as stylus drag.

That is how I define stylus drag. What else would it be??
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,086 posts
 
In any motor, AC or DC, if the load increases the current in the motor will increase too. This provides a feedback mechanism that functions well even on open loop systems. For an AC motor that runs off the line, if the motor has any torque at all it will be able to compensate for stylus drag with ease (the voltage of the AC line contributes to torque while the frequency determines the speed) as it might just draw a little more current to stay on speed and with the AC line, there is essentially an infinite supply.

With a DC motor (open loop- not sure if that is the right term as many DC motors have internal electro-mechanical speed controls) the limitation *can* be the stability of the power supply. There are a lot of variables here depending on design so calling out generalizations can be risky.
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