[Golden_Era]

Looking for thoughts on whether placing the cartridge down at a select track on the record instead of playing from the lead off groove is a bad thing?

I was under the persuasion that bringing the stylus down onto the music grooves themselves could be damaging to it. I suppose ideally finding the dead wax in between tracks would be best but that can be quite difficult on some records.

I'm just wondering if in the past I've actually caused some damage to styli by doing this? I haven't attempted it with my new setup at all. Paranoid. Lol. 

[bacobits1]

Do it all the time, no problem with the cue lift. Use a small light to find the between song groove if needed. Still may not hit it exact. I usually hit the mute switch, or if none turn volume down.

[plastico]

I do it all the time as well. This is the "pause" feature on the turntable!
Cheers, Doug

[Letitroll98]

I think dropping the needle down hard anywhere on the record is what might damage the stylus, but dropping gently in a track can't hurt anything, otherwise playing a record would damage the stylus.  However I have put clicks and pops in the record with misplaced needle drops, usually noticed at the beginning of favorite tracks.

[sunnydaze]

Looking for thoughts on whether placing the cartridge down at a select track on the record instead of playing from the lead off groove is a bad thing?

I was under the persuasion that bringing the stylus down onto the music grooves themselves could be damaging to it.

Ummmmm......no!   

[Golden_Era]

Apologies for the juvenile question. Past experience with bad tonearm/cartridge mismatch resulting in damaged styli is why I asked. Thought maybe it was part of the problem I was having but obviously seems to be a non issue. Thanks!

[Golden_Era]

I'm 35 been into vinyl for about 4 years. Wasn't even raised with a basic knowledge of the technology sadly lol.  However this is my venture away from my starter Denon DP-300F which had no problems queing mid record. My second table the REGA P2 was damaging my styli which brought about me raising the question. The problem itself seems to be in the 220 tonearm and the horrible auto anti skate feature. Made cartridge selection very limited. 

[toocool4]

It’s not a problem, I do it all the time but I just turn down the volume while doing it.