Dual turntables.

[whirlcool]

In the late 80's there was so much consolidation in the audio industry. A lot of European and American audio brands went out of business or were bought out by a conglomerate of some kind and left to die on the vine. Then while this was going on the Japanese brought to market electronics that were much cheaper that grabbed market share. It's almost surprising that Dual lasted as long as it did.

BTW, a Korean company bought the Dual name. In America it's known as Namsumg Electronics of Heathrow, FL. www.dualav.com They make car stereos and speakers in Korea for sale here. It seems the Korean company bought the rights to the Dual name and then sold those off to different companies in different countries so two you can have two Dual products from anywhere in the world and they will probably have been made by two different companies. There is no commonality with this Dual and the former Dual of Germany. Dual in America does sell a turntable, but it's a cheapie model made in Korea.

Walmart at one time sold the new Dual car stereos, but dropped the line after massive reliability issues.

 

[tolivac]

Sad that now Dual --one time a top name in Hi-Fi equipment is now relegated to a name put on cheap,trash truck food products.

 

[arbilab]

Yeh, you know....

Like Westinghouse, Bell & Howell, RCA, Frigidaire, Maytag, Hotpoint, GE. Tip of the iceberg.

 

[ovrphil]

Dual link

I know this is an old, old link -but does anyone know if Allen (Whirlcool) moved his Dual website? The link mentioned above is dead.

I have a couple Duals...10XX series. Thanks anyone, if you have any information about the website moving or just being retired by Allen.

Phil

 

[brucelucenta]

I like Dual, but I like Elac/Miracord better!!!

 

[ovrphil]

Bruce - I have a Miracord 10F, also - just acquired a Fisher Compact Electra VIII(1965) with one in it that works..but needs the usual cleaning and lubing, as it has sat a long time.

 

[vacerator]

I have a belt drive

Techniques model SL220. It works, but has a wow and flutter issue. I replaced the belt, it made no difference. Probably in the servo generator circuitry then.
I don't recall it being connected to power when a brown out or surge occurred.

 

[lordkenmore]

Techniques model SL220

Techniques model SL220. It works, but has a wow and flutter issue.

 

It is possible that cleaning the pitch control with some electronic contact cleaner will fix the problem. I know of two Technics direct drive turntables that benefited from this treatment.


[this post was last edited: 8/24/2017-21:11]

 

[vacerator]

Thank's John!

I don't remember if I tried that, but I will. I've had it since 1979.
I didn't use it for a long time. It has been in the same covered, but not dust proof cabinet for years and years.
I have many old LP's. I even have a Pickering cartridge, and an Audio Technica each in their own head shell.

 

[brucelucenta]

I still like Elac Miracord better. They will let you stack as many as 12 albums or 45's. Yeah, I know you aren't supposed to do that, but I like to and have a longer playing experience without having to change the record manually.

 

[lordkenmore]

Twelve records?!? That seems like almost too many. One audiophile complaint with changers is that the cartridge setup can only be right for one record in the stack--and so the more records there are, the more deviation one will have.

 

That said, I have heard others comment favorably about Elac Miracords. I recall one person in the modern era talking about them--for him--being better turntables than Duals. I recall another forum comment about one person who ran one when new/fairly new in college for hours a day with zero problems.

 

The one problem with Miracords is that there appears to be more of limited supply of parts out there.

 

As for changers, those generally reviled in audiophile circles. But it's interesting that I saw one post by an audiophile who used a changer for background just because it was more convenient. He used cheap, easily replaceable records IIRC so if the changer was hard on them there would be a smaller loss.

 

[lordkenmore]

I have to say that I've not been bothered personally with changing records. Manually actually works well for me in that I can change to whatever is the whim of the moment, rather than being locked on decision I made, say, 3 hours ago...

 

I actually prefer fully manual turntables, too. There are audiophile arguments that can be made--and have been made--such as "every dollar goes to performance". But the cold, hard practical issue for me is that if I return the arm manually, I have the arm lift up, and I know for certain it is up. If the turntable does it, the arm lift is down...and there is the risk that I won't be thinking, and casually drop the cartridge down onto the next record. (Even turntables that are fully automatic are not immune, since there are many times when I want to play a specific track, which means manually positioning the arm.)

 

[ovrphil]

Whirlpool Garrard link

Meanwhile, would anyone know if Allen moved his Garrard website link or just hung it up altogether? Thanks.

I have to say, even though I just got the '65 Fisher C.E.VIII, the Miracord is nice. I like the push button feature and it is so smooth.

 

[ovrphil]

Website archive found

To answer my own question and for anyone who wanted to know.....here's a link ,not maintained by Whircool, but it's still a useful resource. Some links are missing.

http://www.dual-reference.info