[NostalgiaRadioTime]

I just completed restoration on this extremely well preserved example of the first 33 1/3 rpm record player, introduced by Philco in the summer of 1948. As I scanned in a previous post, this unit had all of the original paper work for it. And I had the special 10" LP of Bing Crosby tunes that Philco dealers gave out to anyone who purchased one of these phonograph attachments.

Outside of replacing the 3 capacitors, a new idler wheel, new rubber motor mounts, new fiber board bottom, mercury switch alignment, and a new cartridge, this wasn't a very difficult restoration. The cabinet has a few scratches, but nothing to really detract from its appearance. Turtle wax worked wonders! The biggest challenge was trying to find a way to mount a replacement cartridge, as the original cartridge is nearly impossible to find. I wound up using a piece of that hard pink foam insulation and sculpting out a frame that would fit under the tone arm to hold the new cartridge in place. Surprisingly it worked well and cannot be seen. Hats off to V-M (thevoiceofmusic.com) for their excellent selection of cartridges and idler wheels. They have the exact idler wheels for most of the post war Philco phonographs.

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

   

   

   

   

   

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

A few more pics...

   

   

   

   

[Marsupial]

That is amazing! I'd like to find one of them.

I am sure it plays better than the current Chinese record players and sure looks way better.

[marty]

Hi All;
It looks Fantastic !!!! Does it plug into a Philco Radio to be able to play Or Does it have its own Amp and Speaker ??

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Thanks, Gentlemen. It plugs into a standard "RCA" jack. A simple connection, really. Just the power cord and a cable with the male connector on the end. None of my Philcos have a factory jack installed, so I had to play it through my 1940 Coronado, but it has a nice sound, as you can hear on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSZJR5XUUfk

[morzh]

Hate to rain on your parade - and this is a beautiful piece no doubt - but today's turntable Chinese or not play better...much, much better.

Although I am yet to see a Chinese turntable, unless you count Technics and such that were built in Taiwan when they still were building turntables for playing music and not just for DJs manually rotating the records. I own one. You can not even start to compare.
Let's not confuse the preservation and nostalgia with the real performance. Technology improved and yes became cheap. Does not mean it is bad. Chinese or not. (and yes there are bad Chinese goods...many of them).

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Have to agree with you, morzh. Keep in mind, too, that this is only mono. Your stereo records will still sound a whole lot better on a modern turntable, be it made in China or where ever.

[morzh]

I am sorry for offtopic but here's something about Chinese made electronics.
Notwithstanding that even the most expensive electronics today is often made in China, even if the final assembly is in UK/Skandinavia/US and such.

I used to work, not so long ago, 6 years or so, for a company that makes prosumer home automation, web-control, hospitality and audio-video companion equipment. Rather expensive. We were in the same line of business as Crestron if you know what I mean - they are the 600 pound gorilla of the business. They were small, but still have decent market share and are still in business.

The owner of the company, a fairly young guy, an expert in video, one day came to me and said "let me show you something". He showed me 3 or 4 $30 - 40 DVD players, and then showed me $200 Sony and another expensive one from JVC. He said "I have just compared the quality - they give Sony a run for their money, and if you think Sony is reliable - think again, I had several failures recently." "I decided" - he said - "that I will ditch expensive units and will from now on buy cheap ones, as the failure rate is the same or better, and for this kind of price I can buy them every half a year. Does not make sense to buy brands anymore. No Sony for me!". He only said it about the DVD - he still praised the brands' TVs (not all, some better than others).

But....they all use the same tehcnology. It's just one is some "Shenzhen Audio" and another one is Samsung.

[Marsupial]

what about those modern chinese record players?
http://www.oaktreevintage.com/crosley_tu...ntable.htm
[Image: http://www.oaktreevintage.com/web_photos..._pa_XL.jpg]

I own one and

1- it have issues tracking anything that isn't pristine
2- it sounds bad. Very bad. Altough that might just be a bad amplifier design with no adjustment, I am thinking about adding a preamp with tone control.

Are those supposed to be better quality?

[morzh]

Oh these....I did not even know they make them. These are truly POC ones but then I do not understand why anyone would buy those. I thought they put only CD players and FM radios inside.

[Marsupial]

I bought mine for the wooden box, planing to put something else in it. When I have time I'd like to convert it to an internet radio.

with luck I'll find a turntable from the 70s or 80s that fit in there, or a more recent one that is more reliable than that crap.

[morzh]

No, 70-80 record players, the HiFi types, whether direct or belt drives, won't fit if only for the reason that their turntables are the size of a LP vinyl and if you look at yours the vinyl is almost the size of your cabinet from front to back. You could try to fit a tonearm from a modern one onto that player but it is a serious project and in my opinion ain't worth it. Also the drive is probably crappy so no matter how good the tonearm and the pickup are, the drive alone will kill all the advantages.

And in the end it will still look like a cheap Chinese crap.

Maybe you could find an old player cabinet of a good size. Then it might work.

But IMHO....tell you that, milk is for babies...that is everything is good in its place. An old radio is good by itself, its miracle is that century old technology that still is working today and the magic of bringing it back to life. You know, that old beautiful floor model that you open up and play an AM station or put an old 78 RPM disk and listen to a 80-year-old Rio-Rita or La Cumparsita recording.
Not to argue about tastes but I fail to see how converting an old radio to an internet device makes sense; certainly would not excite me.

[Marsupial]

I have a "floor model" console - 47-1230. People like how it looks and are amazed it still picks up AM and FM stations.

The point of converting a crappy radio into something useful is that - the challenge. It is not an "old radio" but a modern one with a look that fits older styles - purposely made "retro"
But it lacks in everything - sound, functionality. and I really could use a supplemental squeezebox.

You know, some people don't understand the fun of having more than 3 antique radios - doesn't make it less fun for those who likes restoring them.

but, back to topic, I like what Mr. NostalgiaRadioTime did with that radio. I am surprised at the fact it was RCA-compatible connector, while there wasn't much radios with that kind of input.
Oddly, the audio connection between the phono and radio amp on the 47-1230 is RCA-styled (& compatible) and I always wondered if it was an early shot at those type of connectors.

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Here's a picture of the connector / cord on the backside of this M-15 phonograph.

   

[Arran]

I'm sure radiotvphononut would have something to say about that "Crosley". Even the cabinets on those China "Crosleys" are crap, it's MDF board with oak veneer. In any event I hope you didn't pay too much for it Marsupial, for what they charge for one of those in London Drugs if I wanted a fancy cabinet for a better phonograph it would be cheaper for me to buy the materials I want at Windsor plywood and make one to order.
With regard to many consumer electronics I'm starting to see more items made in other Asian countries other then China. We briefly had a Sony Blue Ray/DVD player that was made in Malaysia, briefly in that it was not compatible with our current Toshiba TV.
One problem that many of these consumer electronics have, regardless of brand, is that they use cheap electrolytic capacitors that dry out and fail prematurely, usually Chinese mystery brands but some are Taiwan brands, also made in China. In spite of them being listed on the Mauser website Lelon brand caps are garbage, almost as bad as Capxon or Su'scon, the spec sheet may say that they are 105 degree caps, or low ESR, well maybe when brand new but not after a year.
Regards
Arran