Guess-o-rama Part 2......

[tolivac]

TT's that play 33 or 78.

Heres an interesting TT that can play 33 ,45 or 78 and its as easy to use as a CD player-even resembles one-It tracks your record with a laser. No stylus touching the record.--but you pay the price for the laser conveneince.The machine sosts $20,000.Would be pretty cool though-

http://www.elpj.com

 

[westytoploader]

Interesting laser turntable; would certainly make records last longer from frequent playing. That pricetag is certainly a shocker though!

We also have a 1980 Technics turntable (direct-drive I believe). I'm not sure but I think we bought a new stylus for it off eBay...probably in a box somewhere. Will definitely have to hook it up again for those Bruce Springsteen and Jefferson Airplane albums (as well as many more!)

Does anyone know if vinyls are still being produced, or have they been completely phased out? I've always wondered...

 

[tolivac]

Vinyl is still being made in limited quanties by some small recording companies.Sadly all of the major labels have converted their record pressing plants to make CD'sI have several Technics TT's from radio stations.They were workhorses in those during the 70-80's-then stations quickly switched over to CD's.SP-10's and SL-25's were the most common.SP10 was the best-TOL Technics TT. SL 25 was a lower class one sold to radio stations looking for a less expensive machine.Have installed and repaired both.Esp amusing when a DJ spills Coke in a Technics machine-the soda creates some wild leakage path on the motor control board-the TT Oscillates instead of turning.Great for RAP music!!If you want new vinyl-have to check at a record store-they may be able to order it.Best is used records-Found many in Salvation Army stores and other places that have used books or records.There is a very good Used book-record store in Denton,Texas-don't know if its still there-haven't been out there in several years.My mom lives out there.Go to that store when I visit her.

 

[kenmore1978]

Turntables

What did the Technics SP-10's have that the SL-25's lacked?

I seem to remember something about a turntable in the Fifties that used a beam of light to play records, anbody elese ever hear of this?

A freind of mine had a changer that could be programmed to paly tracks out of order. It used a photoelectric cell to detect the blank space between tracks. It also used a little "elevator" that would screw up the spindle, and lower the bottom record of the stack to the turntable instead of dropping it like othere changers did.

 

[ironrite]

Philco had a machine in the late 1930s or early 40s, it played music "on a beam of light." What is used was a regular steel needle connected to a mirror on rubber mounts. A small light source hit the mirror and in turn the mirror bounced the vibrating light beam into a photo cell. Thus music played on a beam of light.

I saw one of those machines many years ago, very nice set up, and I regret not buying it. Beautiful art deco cabinet with gold plated hardware and it had Philco's wireless remote control. A box, about the size of a shoebox with a dial, much like a rotary phone, you would use to control the phono and radio.

There are some record jackets from the 40s 50s showing an RCA "Magic Brain" turntable that would play both sides of a record. Hopefully this link will come through, showing that illustration

http://www.shellac.org/wams/wmbrain.html
I found the link, showing the "beam of light" and also click the link on the page for the "mystery box."

http://www.philcorepairbench.com/phono.htm

 

[jasonl]

Interesting changers

Check out this website. This guy has videos of an old Victor Victrola changer as well as a Thorens TD-224 (a dream tt for me) and Lincoln changer. The Lincoln looks and sounds like a jukebox and plays both sides.

So much fun way to hear music.

http://www.myvintagetv.com/changer_videos.htm

 

[ironrite]

Thanks Jason for that link! A friend in Phoenix has one of those Victor machines. Very grand and a lot of fun to watch in action. If the mechanism isn't working right, it becomes more fun when the records sail across the room as they're flung from the turntable.

A few years ago I had a post war Capehart 400 series machine. Though their automatic changer wouldn't fling records, if not loaded correctly, the whole stack would simply slip down in the mechanism and would be crushed!

Who would think these machines could be so violent! LOL

 

[tolivac]

WOW!! very interesting and informative link on the changers-Now THAT's a DJ-They may be better than thesome of the human ones I dealt with--At least the changer would not try to reset the transmitter remote OL reset on a shorted tube!!though the thorens would not "intro" records before playing them.
The Photoelectric Phono cartridge mechanism from Philco sort of reminds me of an analog film soundtrack head.
On the Technics SP10 TT's Their motors and platters were heavier duty than their other ones.The platter was heavier to better dampen out rumble-and wow and flutter.The motor had a greater number of poles to prevent "cogging" of the platter.The cogging of the TT causes a "jittery" sound to the music played-esp piano music.The cogging is from lower priced DD TT motors that had fewer poles and lighter platters-the TT would almost move in a "stepper" style fashion.You could also see it by shing a line operated strobe light onto the TT with a strobe disc on it.The strobes in DD TT's are derived from the oscillator that drives the TT motor.You won't see the cogging or speed variations with that.
also the SP10 had options like an Obsidian TT base and arm with a wood arm mounting board.The arm mount is blank to you can drill it to fit the tonearm you wish to use-could be the Technics arm or the SME arm(the radio station group I worked at we used the SME arms)those were sold thru Shure at the time.You could also mount the SP10 in your own base or TT desk.the SP10 had a separate power supply unit that plugged into the 120V line and then a cable from it plugged into the TT unit.You could put the power pack within 6 ft of the TT-Technics claimed it reduced noise and the more powerful DD motor required it.The supply transfomrers were too big to mount inside the TT unit.also the SP10 had a built in automatic electro mchanical brake that engaged when the TT was stopped at the TT unit.Made it easier for a jock to cue records-the platter stayed still while the record could be slipped Q-ed.The brake had to be adjusted on rare occasions from wear.-to prevent dragging upon startup or engaging too fast when the TT was stopped.the SP10 was a very nice TT.The SL15,25 were similar but less massive platters and motors and no brake.They had to be mounted on a base or TT desk.also like the SP10-had separate tonearms.

 

[retromom]

Radio anyone?

Back in my radio days we had two turntables and four cart machines. We mostly played music on lps and commercials on cart. We then evolved to more music on cart, then cd's, but continued to use the turntables because of our huge lp library.

My fav thing was to queue up the lps for play. Put the headphones on and listen to the "wa wa" that denoted the right spot. Our carts were also marked with things like "ends suddenly" along with the duration of the song. That way we knew to hit that turntable switch asap! The last thing we wanted was "dead air". Our coffee, soda, and bathroom breaks were usually taken during "Free Bird", "Inna Godda Davida", and "Do You Feel Like I Do". It was a miracle that I never spilled anything on the console board or turntables! LOL

 

[tolivac]

Inna Godda Davida

I only DJ'd at the college radio station.After that I was a radio engineer-operating and maintaining the radio equipment and installing new equipments.Inna Godda Davida brought back memories at that college radio station.Everyone knew I had a bad night from the food in the campus cafeteria when they heard me playing that.At the place I presently work food and drinks ARE NOT ALLOWED in their studios.Both the engineers and talent have eating and break areas.Some still sneak the food in though-found plenty of "petrified pretzels" behind the consoles.Now since I work at the transmitter the food isn't a problem-If you spill it in one of the transmitters-you could be killed!!That would be difficult though.
At the other stations-some had DJ eating areas and others did not.that explained the Coke in the TT or console.
Oh yes-cart machines-now miss 'em-computers and soundbite programs replaced the cart decks.and the cart machines replaced the station recorded record "transscriptions"-and the Scully and Neunman disk recorder lathes.Always wanted to operate one.they are interesting machines.the agency I work at had them into the early 70's-too bad I missed it.Enjoyed working on the cart decks and RR tape machines.In some radio stations computers and Scott systems or similar computer programs have replaced all that fun analog gear such as cart players,Tt's and RR recorders.In some cases CD machines as well.