3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEEDLE OF YOUR RECORD PLAYER
The needle is the part that follows the groove on your record and is transferred into an electric current. This electric current gets amplified by the built-in amplifier of the Crosley record player and makes sure you’ll hear the music out of your speakers. We give the needle some extra attention in this blog because of its importance in listening to records.
1: Needle or Stylus?
A needle or stylus refers to the same element on your record player. The stylus is built out of two components: The pin with the needle shaped (diamond or sapphire) tip and the plastic shell (cartridge) that holds the pin & tip in place. The tip is the element that you place into the groove of your record. The difference between sapphire and diamond is that sapphire is a softer material. This means you need to replace a sapphire needle more frequently.
2: Replacing your needle
To take care of your records it is important to replace the stylus after 500-1000 hours of playing time. That is about every 3 to 5 years. Crosley has needles with sapphire and diamond tips and they always are compatible with 33 ⅓, 45 and 78 rpm records.
Crosley has different needles for their record players. The two most common are the NP-6 with a sapphire tip and the NP-5 with a diamond tip.
NP-6 is compatible for the Cruiser Deluxe, Cruiser Plus, Voyager, Lancaster and Rhapsody
NP-5 is compatible for the Bermuda, Sterling, Portfolio, C62, the Gig and T150
Replacing a needle can be tricky. We created some videos to get you on your way.
Replacing a NP-6 needle
Replacing a NP-5 needle
3: cleaning your stylus
Records are not the only ones who collect dust. Your record player needle is a dust collector too! Luckily it is easy to clean, check the needle for dust before you play a record and your sound will stay crispy clean. There are different tools for cleaning the needle