Dropping the Needle

[Stealth]

Will it cause damage to the speakers when you drop the needle to the record without muting the system? Is this safe?

[usai]

Accidentally dropped my needle. 1 speaker toasted

[caavoom]

Wow... Never heard of this before. Need to practice caution from now on.

[Jon Agner]

its possible if your dropped your needle hard and at the same time, your volume knob is turned to its max.

[Stealth]

its possible if your dropped your needle hard and at the same time, your volume knob is turned to its max.

Hi jon, do u mean that if my volume is just at normal listening level, and i gently drop the needle after placing a new record on the platter,
that's not harmful? Tks.

[Jon Agner]

its possible if your dropped your needle hard and at the same time, your volume knob is turned to its max.

Hi jon, do u mean that if my volume is just at normal listening level, and i gently drop the needle after placing a new record on the platter,
that's not harmful? Tks.

Well, that's how I do it, I would normally change records w/out bothering to turn down the volume, I haven't had any problems with it. There may be another cause as to why your speakers got toasted.

[TheAnalogSource]

I do not turn down volume while switching records but that is because my power amp has a protection circuit. However on case where I accidentally drop the neddle with a loud thud, you can see the amp goes on protect mode. I can just imagine how it will toast the tweeters without the protections. In fact, good thing also that my speakers have a blow up fuse for each driver.

[darkest_error]

That is why getting used to dropping needles as gently as possible should be achieved. As minute flicks (of random magnitude) produced by very small snap between the groove and the stylus tip as they engage/disengage from each other would then be greatly amplified by the amp and produce a loud click and/thud (or kaboom ) on the speaker/s. I sometimes still commit this error therefore need more practice pa and I would not mind lowering down the volume first just to make sure. Well, this would depend on your setup. If the amp's main volume would be at a distance away, then this would call for a more careful engaging/disengaging between the needle and groove. On the contrary the drawback might be, if you lower the volume first, you might not have an idea how good or bad your needle dropping act is. So I suppose for starters like me, lower down a bit before touching that arm so as not to fry those golden little windings. Although cueing devices would be a great help, but being independent from it might be better because not all tables do have that feature. That is, if you really want to learn and master the skill.

[usai]

Volume was set to normal listening level (10-11 o'clock). My 5.25in speaker got toasted because i didn't bother to lower the volume level. Tinamad na Ok lang sana if my speakers were 10 or 12 inchers.

[darkest_error]

Haha, yung katamaran talaga minsan ang nakakasira ng gears! Ako din minsan eh, lalo pag sobrang pagod. I sometimes tend to do sloppy needle drops, and they're not really good.

[Stealth]

Thanks guys! Nice discussions here.

[JATP]

i always turn the volume down whenever i switch records so it became a habit, so much so that i do it too whenever i switch cds