how do record players read the music on vinal records?

Question

im confused at exactly how the needle reads the music that is on a vinal record. and how does it communicate the music to the speakers?

Answer 1

The music is not read! The needle, in the cartridge, has a tiny tab on the end of it. The cartridge holds a container of magnetic material. When the cartridge is not being used with a record, that is, you are not playing the record; the needle is suspended equally on both sides in this field of magnetism, or at the zero position.

If you draw three straight lines on a piece of paper, each an inch apart then you have a visual graph of what is happening. The middle line is Zero. The top line is maximum + and the bottom line is maximum - (minus). If you take a pencil/pen and make up and down lines starting with the zero line, going up towards the + line and then down to the - line, and make each of these up and down swings longer or shorter but always go thru the zero line before going in the opposite direction.

This represents the grove on the record. There is only one continuous grove. As the record turns with the needle in the grove swings from left to right from its fixed point in the cartridge according to the length of the record grove. As the needle moves to one side it packs the magnetic material in the cartridge together and that cause an electrical signal, that is as long as the needle packs in that direction, to be sent out from the cartridge. As it swings down, thru zero the packing is shifted to the other side of the cartridge, sending a signal out of the opposite side of the cartridge.

That is why there are two wires connected to the cartridge.
This electrical current is passed to the pre Amp to make it stronger and then to the power amp that makes it strong enough to drive a loud speaker.

Notice that sound is not sent to the speakers, only electricity! This principle was used to make the record, only a microphone was doing the packing action relative to air pressure generated by your vocal cords.

Answer 2

First, it is "vinyl".

Next, get a music box. Open the box so that you can see the roller with raised dots. Now, play the music box. You will see a comb full of needles being plucked by the dots to produce the music. This is exactly how it works... but instead of being able to see the dots, they are far too tiny to see with the naked eye. The needle still fits in the groove. As the dots pass along, the needle jumps producing the sounds you hear.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The groove of a stereo record has two walls, perpendicular to each other. Each wall has one of two channels; left and right. As the stylus moves along the groove, it is moving up and down as well as left and right. It is an analog system; loudness is represented by the depth of the cut. Obviously there is a limit to the ratio of the loudest sound to the softest sound; which unfortunately, is less than the ratio typically found in a live performance. To get around that, the volume ratios are compressed. There are also frequency response limits.

If you wish to know more about the pickups, Google "variable-reluctance pickup cartridge"

Answer 4

It picks up the vibrations from the cuts in the groove and transfers them through the needle

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_record