9/6/2023 0 Comments Edison record players for saleWhile Colombia Records developed the 33 ⅓rpm LP (‘long play’) format in 1948, RCA Victor released an 45rpm format almost immediately to counter it. Then came a very different kind of war: a format war. The records themselves were initially made of shellac, but the shortage of resin during World War II prompted manufacturers to press on vinyl instead. Why 78? Because the motors ran at 3600rpm with a 46:1 gear ratio, producing 78.26 rpm. The first common speed emerged as 78rpm in the early 1900s when electrically-powered turntable motors came into being. The crudeness of the hand crank mechanism on early turntables meant that setting a record speed standard proved difficult. Image courtesy of PMC (opens in new tab)įirst things first, the all-important speed. How to add a turntable to your existing music systemĪ 1955 Collaro record player.In the mid-’60s, Acoustic Research’s The AR Turntable (pictured, above), which pioneered the three-point suspension turntable design, was among the most popular in the first wave of belt-drive models. The belt absorbed vibrations, thus helping to isolate motor noise from the platter. The belt-drive turntable was a much more efficient, simple and cost-effective method, with a motor off to the side driving a rubber belt that wrapped around the outside of the platter to turn it. As the wheel was coupled to the motor, vibration from it could impact the record’s sound, and the single-record-playing turntable that emerged didn’t require such a high-torque system. For the turntable to spin at the correct speed under the weight of a handful of records, torque was important, and thus the idler wheel drive – a rubber wheel that ran off the motor and sat underneath the platter, acting to isolate motor vibrations from impacting the platter and, therefore, the music playback – was the ideal drive system.īut the idler wheel method had its disadvantages. Records would be stacked on a spindle on top of each other, and when one finished the player would automatically spin the next record. The first stereo turntables were record changers that could play several records in a row. Turntables on the shelf today will mostly be belt-drive and, less typically, direct-drive systems, but the first record players sported what's called idler wheel designs. Image via Vinyl Engine (opens in new tab)
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