Lost post RE: retro turntable

I could have sworn I saw a really cool retro portable turntable photo in some post here at TC while I was surfing from work today. Now I can't find it, no matter what key words I plug into search. I think it was a blue case, w/ big retro dial on the front.

Any ideas?

There are a few portables on the market these days, I sell a Newmark on the Dionysus website, for $99.00, it's pretty decent. I take it with me on road trips, to the swap meet, thrift stores etc to needle drop on 45s. Kristine and I listened to some Soul albums while having an outdoor dinner on a beautiful Pasadena Tuedsay evening!

There was a picture of a retro turntable posted on page 96 of the Tiki Finds thread, under the Collecting Tiki thread.

he following website offers various retro styled turntables for sale
http://www.bulverdehometheater.com/crosley.htm

Vern

That's the one! Thanks!

Pretty cool but watch out...keep two sets of records! The tonearms and carts they use in those "retro" machines are vinyl-grinders!

If you have a couple of dollars you may consider finding an old tube unit and getting a re-furb. Tubes sound fantastic!

A lot of the new machines that play 78 don't have the flipover stylus. Plus these darned things don't run on batteries!

I have the Crosley model that Restoration Hardware stocks. The crazy electronics (bless his heart) nerd who masters the vinyl for my label took the darned thing (he had the same opionion as me) and installed a Tetrad cart (those have the flipover but aren't very loud,) added a pre-amp, a seperate treble and bass control, a counter weight to lighten the tonearm and batteries, along wtih a switch so it can play the vertically cut Edison '78s (of which I own none.) DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

DJLee... Do you know if these Crosley units normaly use a cartridge (and do they use one that is as simple to change out as it would be on a regular modern turntable)? Or do they simply have "needles" that can be replaced and not much else? Also... Do they usually feature additional speaker outputs? It seems that most of the "retro" turntables made nowadays use the cheapest of components.
I sure like the looks of a few of them but the radios I've seen from Crosley look good only when turned off (which may be because not much looks good with modern radio blasting out of it). Once you touch them, too, you find that they feel like cheap, cheap, cheap plastic and not the Bakelite that they are designed to resemble (not that I would expect them to crank up Bakelite production in the 21st century, but higher quality plastic is available). Even many of the "metal" looking pieces are chrome-plated plastic. And the turntables that have CD players built in (and sport digital displays) can look kinda weird.

[ Edited by: Traitor Vic on 2005-07-02 00:26 ]

Hi

Yeah it would be a task to replace the cart in those things...they do have a cart (you need some kind of moving coil to amplify the signal from the stylus...though if the cart is magnetic like they have been since the '70s you need an additional pre-amp to boost the sound.) The carts and styli are just awful! The turntables are plastic, the cases are made of streched material and can actually rip!

In conclusion? Most of the Crosley reissues blow chunks. Yeah they may look ok (with the lid closed) but in this case retro = retardo!

Dang it! And to think my Mom tossed that beautiful RCA Hi-Fi tube job (actually had a Stereo Output if you wanted to go to expense of buying a Stereo Needle and a second speaker in 1959) that I had made her promise to save for me. Oh, well... Back to the Thrift Shops.

On 2005-07-03 21:21, Traitor Vic wrote:
Dang it! And to think my Mom tossed that beautiful RCA Hi-Fi tube job (actually had a Stereo Output if you wanted to go to expense of buying a Stereo Needle and a second speaker in 1959) that I had made her promise to save for me. Oh, well... Back to the Thrift Shops.

Her and thousands of other folks...that's why those things are so hard to find! I say hunt though, it's so well worth it once you find a nice unit and have it refurbished...nothing sounds as beautiful as tubes!