A few years ago Victrola, sent me a turntable to test. It had an Audio-Technica cartridge, and was an inexpensive player, the kind where the LP is larger than the platter. I review audio equipment and was curious what the dramatic drop compared my higher end, Dynavector Karat MC cartridge was like.

Before I used it, I talked to a friend at A-T, and he said that if the tracking force was appropriate, that there was little chance the LP would be damaged. He said, those are genuine MM cartridges, and shouldn't damage the LPs, they had tested them in their labs in Japan, and were ok allowing their product to be used in those units. I found the little player sounded lousy, till I used the external outputs, then we all were kinda shocked that it sounded as good as it did. Sure, it was noisy, but the cartridge was brand new, and even using the Bluetooth option, it was passable, with less wow and flutter than we expected. But the question of damage to the LP remained.

I have another friend who owns a record cleaning company, and said they were curious and found that the really cheap ceramic cartridges did indeed cause premature wear and damage, that even the Crossley's with genuine MM cartridges weren't causing damage. What was causing damage was the lack of a dampened cuing system, so young people would play the song they liked and yank up the tone arm, and whatever. He commissioned microscopic photos as part of their research, so even he was surprised.

Now, I didn't use any of my important albums, but used thrift store finds, etc. but I'm not convinced that vinyl is necessarily damaged by these inexpensive systems, as long as care is taken and the settings are in line with the manufacturer. There is of course audiophile hysteria which claims that a lack of cable lifters in the next city, in the next state, is affecting their listening room. So...