Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

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Wolfe
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by Wolfe »

I've gotten good results with a conical LP stylus. The inexpensive "DJ" kind is best because they are designed to handle 3 + grams of tracking force.

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Marc Hildebrant
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by Marc Hildebrant »

More experiments ...The Standard LP Stylus 0.7 X 0.3 does work better at times if the side walls have noise since the bottom of the groove contains the information.

If I only had a high power microscope...

Marc

donniej
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by donniej »

I've had the best success playing vertically cut discs with the Ortofon OM series cartridges, I also have Stanton 500 and Shure M-44 but the Ortofon is the best for verticals. A LP stylus works well, but a 78 stylus is better. Regardless of cart, they either need to be wired for mono or a suitable pre-amp used (I have a Rek-O-Kut Ultra and Numark M6 USB mixer).

As for a high-powered microscope, check out the Hayear 34MP digital. With a 180X lens and an additional 2X screw-on bottom lens, you can get some great images for not a lot of $$. For the last 10 seconds of this video I show a saddle stylus that I made sitting on top of the groove of a stamper, it was shot with the Hayear microscope and either a 100x or 180x lens. Getting the angle to get the pic was however less than easy...

https://youtu.be/H5vZdb0TS-o

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Marc Hildebrant
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by Marc Hildebrant »

donniej,

How did you choose the "saddle shape" for the stylus ?

Marc

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PeterF
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by PeterF »

I can’t believe nobody has yet provided the information here needed to rewire the cartridge connections to enable it to properly read the vertical cut records.

Most folks just have two headshells, one wired for lateral and one for vertical, to enable fast switching.

You can monkey with stylus shapes all you want, but you still need to produce a signal in the first place.

I don’t have the details committed to memory but I bet a web search, or possibly a search on this very forum, will tell you which leads to switch.

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Wolfe
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by Wolfe »

That's what i'm talking about. Should'nt be any side wall if one is using a properly wired cartridge.
Marc Hildebrant wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 2:46 pm More experiments ...The Standard LP Stylus 0.7 X 0.3 does work better at times if the side walls have noise since the bottom of the groove contains the information.

If I only had a high power microscope...

Marc

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Marc Hildebrant
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by Marc Hildebrant »

PeterF,

The head shell can be re-wired to perform left minus right for the vertical motion, however that is not the best method. The best method is to :

1. Capture the Left and Right channels with an audio program. Use a Flat (no RIAA) preamplifier.
2. Adjust, if needed, the channel gains to make both L and R amplitudes equal.
3. Perform a Left minus Right operation to hear the music.

Marc

donniej
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by donniej »

Marc Hildebrant wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:10 pm donniej,

How did you choose the "saddle shape" for the stylus ?

Marc
As the beginning of the video mentions, I used the inverted groove of an early electrically-recorded Victor to create a saw blade with the Victor's exact dimensions. I also made one for a Diamond Disc but the "saddle" is so subtle that I doubt it would actually stay on top of a Diamond Disc stamper.

donniej
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by donniej »

PeterF wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:57 pm I can’t believe nobody has yet provided the information here needed to rewire the cartridge connections to enable it to properly read the vertical cut records.
Generally speaking, you swap the red and green wires.

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PeterF
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Re: Best Technique to Capture Groove Music from Diamond Discs

Post by PeterF »

Previously discussed: viewtopic.php?p=43461#p43461

Ah, good ole Greg.

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