How do vynil records and gramophones work?

Question

How does the mechanical reading of a vynil record differ from the manner in which laser reads CDs?

Answer 1

The essential difference is that a vinyl record is an analogue device, while a CD is digital. The viny record actually contains a series of very fine pits on the surface of the spiral groove that takes up its entire face. When the needle (or "stylus") passes over the pits, the vibration of the arm is translated into audio data. A CD, on the other hand, is imprinted with data in the PCM or pulse-code modulation format, where the sound data is sampled and quantized into discrete values. There is still a physical pitch inscribed on the disc, but so fine that it requires a laser to read.

Answer 2

The record is full of very small groves which vibrate a stylus (needle) the later styluses were made using a magnetic system in which as the needle went over 1 of the thousands of grooves in the record it creates a very small voltage as the needle goes up and down between two magnets which create the electricity.
It the needs to go through a preamplifier stage followed by an equaliser stage to correct the imperfections in the sound. It then went onto the main amp stage.

A CD is the modern equivalent of the record player. It is a digital system that reads lots of one's and zero's which is called binary code. This system is advanced enough that a small scratch will not make to much difference as the microprocessor can read ahead of its self and in many occasions it can deter what was supposed to be where the scratch was.

Answer 3

The difference between gramophone with a record and CD player with CD is in decoding the embedded signal in the sound carrier.

The record is an analogue carrier, which contains waves of the sound recorded, so the pick-up needle vibrates in compliance with the waves on the record and makes very weak electrical signal (by moving a magnet between two coils, which induces electrical signal, suitable for electronical amplification) signal, that goes to amplifier and then to the loudspeakers.

The CD contains a digital representation of a wave signal, in shape of 0s and 1s. The laser picks those signals, decodes them to analogue signal that goes to the amplifier.

An experimental device was made in recent years, which combines the analogue record with digital (laser) pick-up. It's performance was extraordinary good, but it's price is like 15.000,00$, which makes it unaffordable for the purpose it was made for, because records are fading away, and CD players are much cheaper and have better sound carrier than the record.

Answer 4

Don't listen to the other answers, the idea of grooves in a plastic disc making sounds is absurd.
vinyl records are just like modern Cd's except they use a bigger laser and gramophone records use the natural vibrations of coal gas to make music.

Answer 5

Each side of a record has one spiral groove. Its shape wiggles from side-to-side, proportional to the wave-form of the sound that it represents.
The stylus tip vibrates in the groove as the record rotates. A tiny magnet on the arm supporting the diamond stylus thus vibrates next to a coil of wire connected to the pre-amplifier. The vibrations induce tiny, oscillating voltages in the coil (Lenz's Law) which are amplified by a power supply until they are powerful enough to drive a loudspeaker.
Before you ask, stereo reproduction uses 2 coils, each at 45deg. to the vertical, matching the shape of the groove.

Answer 6

a needle travels along the grooves in the record, which has tiny peaks and troughs in it, like a little mountain range. These bumps are interpreted as vibrations, and come out through the speaker as sound.