The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Any previous discussion was not mine. Forgive me if in re-stating the obvious.

That might have been me I too have been experimenting with 3D printed soundboxes and tried a variety of different materials.

I would be cautious of using too little tracking force. ......Using too little force will result in the needle not being able to stay in contact with the accelerations of the groove wall during high modulation. This is because ALL acoustic reproducers of ALL brands have very high moving mass of the diaphragm and stylus bar and linkage as reflected at the stylus tip. When the needle is allowed to leave the groove wall temporarily, it slams back into the wall slightly later with even more instantaneous acceleration which will nick or gouge the groove wall. This is the classic definition of mistracking and it will result in permanent record damage. It is a common belief and misunderstanding that "lighter is better". So it is often the case that users, particularly of modern playback equipment, get their tracking force set too low which results in actually MORE record wear than when the tracking force is optimum for that particular pickup and stylus. Most acoustic reproducers are designed to operate at around 100 grams of tracking force at the needle tip. Much less than this amount will produce mistracking which will be heard as distortion, blasting, and/or buzzing when playing loud passages. Continued use of this too light tracking force will permanently damage the records.

Yes, you are correct Mr Stuff. And I would also invite you to discuss same. Your opinion is as valuable as your data. I sometimes find data confusing when too many parameters and caveats are involved. Despite an interest in science, I would make a bad scientist.

Greg Bogantz makes the following point on another thread which I think informs the conversation here.