http://antiquerecordplayers.info/how-should-i-go-about-buying-a-turntable.htm Tue, 22 May 2012 11:27:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 http://antiquerecordplayers.info/how-should-i-go-about-buying-a-turntable.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2141 Keith B Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:17:02 +0000 http://antiquerecordplayers.info/how-should-i-go-about-buying-a-turntable.htm#comment-2141 OK. Record players can be stand alone or part of a stereo system. If it is stand alone it will have a speaker or speakers. Really old ones have 3 speeds. 78, 45, 33. Newer ones (relatively speaking) will only have 45 and 33. Those are the most common. Modern records (or lp's) are vinyl. Really old ones can be metal w/ a vinyl coating. Most important thing is to be sure it comes with a needle and that you can readily find replacement needles. That can be tricky these days. The needle is in the end of the arm which is what reads the record and makes the sound. It plugs in the end of the arm. Most have swing arms. Just before CD's took off they also had linear tracking. In a swing arm the arm pivots across the record at an angle. In linear it goes straight acrosss (like a CD optical scanner). There were some very expensive ones back in the day. Your best bet is likely a record player that is part of a component system. When CD's were becoming popular many stereos came with record and CD players. A few years later they stopped making records though so they went away. But many people held onto the old records before going digital. Good stereo brands are the same as today. Sony, Sansui, Sharp, Fisher, Pioneer and so on. See if you can find out the type of needle used so you can look for a replacement source. That will be the most important thing when getting a record player. I hope this helps. Would you like to hear about rotarty dial telephones???? OK. Record players can be stand alone or part of a stereo system. If it is stand alone it will have a speaker or speakers. Really old ones have 3 speeds. 78, 45, 33. Newer ones (relatively speaking) will only have 45 and 33. Those are the most common. Modern records (or lp’s) are vinyl. Really old ones can be metal w/ a vinyl coating. Most important thing is to be sure it comes with a needle and that you can readily find replacement needles. That can be tricky these days. The needle is in the end of the arm which is what reads the record and makes the sound. It plugs in the end of the arm. Most have swing arms. Just before CD’s took off they also had linear tracking. In a swing arm the arm pivots across the record at an angle. In linear it goes straight acrosss (like a CD optical scanner).
There were some very expensive ones back in the day. Your best bet is likely a record player that is part of a component system. When CD’s were becoming popular many stereos came with record and CD players. A few years later they stopped making records though so they went away. But many people held onto the old records before going digital. Good stereo brands are the same as today. Sony, Sansui, Sharp, Fisher, Pioneer and so on. See if you can find out the type of needle used so you can look for a replacement source. That will be the most important thing when getting a record player.
I hope this helps. Would you like to hear about rotarty dial telephones????

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