Abbey Road Vinyl / User Guide
21
Playing Back the Record
Playing back a record on a turntable is simple in concept and demanding in application. A turntable is made up of many
elements, each of which carries with it its own characteristics—for better and for worse.
Turntable
The turntable is the circular, spinning platform upon which the record rests. A quality turntable must deliver a correct,
consistent rotation speed, without short-term irregularities such as wow (a once-per-revolution speed distortion) and flutter
(short-term speed changes). To prevent motor noise from passing acoustically to the audio chain, most turntables from the
1970s and later were belt driven. Certain audiophile turntables used an isolated direct-drive turntable that was an integral
element of the driving motor. These turntables are typically expensive to produce.
Tone Arm
The tone arm is a lightweight counterbalanced cylinder or lever that connects the chassis of the turntable with the pickup
cartridge. It must weigh very little, so as not to distort and damage the grooves. Yet it must have sufficient mass to track well
and to prevent passing motor rumble to the cartridge. Philosophical disagreements over tone arm specifics have led to lost
friendships among vinyl record enthusiasts.
When a lacquer is made at the mastering studio, the grooves are cut with a lathe. The cutting head is always perpendicular to
the axis of rotation of the disc. However, when playing back the record, the stylus—at the end of the tone arm—is moving
more obliquely near the inner part of the record than at the outer part. This can result in
phase distortion
, a difference in the
frequency response of the cutting head and the playback device. The shape and design of the tone arm influence the phase
distortion. Certain turntables offer linear tracking, in which the stylus moves laterally with respect to turntable rotation. This
reduces phase distortion, but such turntables are expensive and relatively rare.
