Vintage Audio Activities...

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

The treble control went noisy on mine, I squirted some WD40 down the spindle and in a little while it went quiet. 8-)

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

Richard_C wrote: 29 Dec 2020, 23:20 In the 60's, maybe 50's USA, there were a few in car record players, Jaguar I think did one. I guess the tracking weight was cranked up or there was some sort of spring down force built in the arm. Now, a "proper" record deck in a DS would be a wondrous thing. Anyone?
Knowing how a DS rides it would likely be practical Richard ;) I once remember when my girls were little we went to a MaccyDees in my Activa for a burger and a couple of happy meals. One of my girls rested an almost full cup of pop on the rear transmission tunnel and there it sat, perfectly upright until we got home... Many Milton Keynes roundabouts were negotiated on that journey and not a drop of pop was spilt...

I remember seeing an in-car record player in a Ford Zodiac when I was around 11. It would only play 7" singles... Tracking weight, as you say, must have been enormous! I can't imagine the records lasting long...

Years later, there was a 7" portable record player available, not much larger than a 7" single and the portable transistor radios of the day. It was a bit like a precursor to a Sony Walkman! The details escape me at the moment but I'll see if I can dig out some more details...
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by xantia_v6 »

The in-car record players used a spring pulling a very lightweight arm against the record.

We had a mid-60s portable transistor radio with a record player built into the back. It could play 45s and full size LPs despite having dimensions of about 25cm x 13cm x 5cm. An LP would overhang on 3 sides while playing.

Found a video of one


I remember it having somewhat better audio and less wow than the video would suggest.
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

xantia_v6 wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 08:27 The in-car record players used a spring pulling a very lightweight arm against the record.
Ahh! So that's how they did it :D Thanks Mike :)

The topic of in-car record players was once briefly discussed on another forum I sometimes visit... It was a short discussion as most believed such devices didn't exist and were a figment of our imaginations...

I had to seriously question my memory of what was then well over 50 years ago when I last saw one...

On the topic of rare in-car entertainment systems, does anyone remember quadrophonic 8-track players? I believe Radiomobile made one and I once listened to either Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or Meddle on one.

I remember it was stunning :)
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

CitroJim wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 08:36
The topic of in-car record players was once briefly discussed on another forum I sometimes visit... It was a short discussion as most believed such devices didn't exist and were a figment of our imaginations...

I had to seriously question my memory of what was then well over 50 years ago when I last saw one...

On the topic of rare in-car entertainment systems, does anyone remember quadrophonic 8-track players? I believe Radiomobile made one and I once listened to either Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or Meddle on one.

I remember it was stunning :)
Jim, locked up in the vaults of our very own FCF you will find discussions on every subject under the sun and contributions from many valued sources...just a question of digging them out from time to time.

I'll shove a few up relevant to this thread from time to time.

Here's one from Malcolm
citronut wrote: 24 Aug 2014, 10:42
citronut wrote:
CitroJim wrote: I recall seeing a car with a record player in it - it looked like a very big CD player and the 45rpm single (all it could play) was fed in through a slot.
the one i remember was made by Bush,

heres a link to a car record player

http://gajitz.com/road-tunes-weird-vint ... d-players/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
i spoz it wernt just you hope skipping and jumping to the beat either
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

I wish my memory was a good as yours Neil :wink: :)

And my ability to search too...
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

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I've shoved up the car the record-player was in up on the interesting and awful dashboards and interiors thread.

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

CitroJim wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 08:36
On the topic of rare in-car entertainment systems, does anyone remember quadrophonic 8-track players? I believe Radiomobile made one and I once listened to either Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or Meddle on one.

I remember it was stunning :)
Just in case some younger FCF Members and Viewers haven't a clue what Jim is talking about here's a visual aid
from the FCF archives again :-D
Image
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Here's a record player from Phillips in an altogether more tasteful and stylish vehicle.

This is how it is described in Gazoline magazine...(via google translate of course) with the give away phrases omited.
Absolute masterpiece of Pinin Farina and undisputed star of the movie :?:, this convertible is of a dazzling elegance. She is so beautiful that it's hard to stop admiring her to take the wheel. But the sacrifice is worth it, because the :?: is a pleasure to drive: a velvety engine, a brilliant road holding, a cozy interior. It has only one fault: it costs an arm. But in case you lend a million euros, you should take advantage, right?
Image

..and the round disc with a hole in it......about to be placed in this

Image

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

I do remember (believe it or not) that Philips player, it was called and "Auto Mignon" if I have spelt that correctly, and did indeed have a spring that pulled the head down onto the record. You could probably unwind it by the time it had been played a number of times. :-D It did sound quite reasonable though - when the record was fairly new!

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by xantia_v6 »

CitroJim wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 08:36
On the topic of rare in-car entertainment systems, does anyone remember quadrophonic 8-track players? I believe Radiomobile made one and I once listened to either Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or Meddle on one.

I remember it was stunning :)
Back in the late 70s, my dad and I did some work on a Aston DB5 with one of those (I still shudder at the build quality of that vehicle, compared with a Jag of the same vintage). The vehicle had a positive ground electrical system and a Lucas alternator. Someone had fitted a new battery with the wrong polarity and fried the alternator and the tape player.

I remember my dad having to cobble together an alternator from parts, as a positive ground alternator was unobtainium and I fixed the stereo. I can't remember the extent of the damage, it can't have been too bad. We would have converted the car to negative ground, but the stereo had no polarity switch, and would have needed all the transistors changing from PNP to NPN or vice versa, so we just left it as it was.
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

..or mount the radio on an insulated base. 8-[

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by white exec »

Peter.N. wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 23:49 ..or mount the radio on an insulated base. 8-[
Peter
Funnily enough, I had to do that a long, long time ago, to get a radio working in a pos earth car. Can't now remember what car or radio, but not one of mine.
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

Peter.N. wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 23:49 ..or mount the radio on an insulated base. 8-[
And an insulated aerial base too....

Sometimes these things just have to be done!
xantia_v6 wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 18:34 Someone had fitted a new battery with the wrong polarity and fried the alternator and the tape player.

I remember my dad having to cobble together an alternator from parts, as a positive ground alternator was unobtainium and I fixed the stereo. I can't remember the extent of the damage, it can't have been too bad. We would have converted the car to negative ground, but the stereo had no polarity switch, and would have needed all the transistors changing from PNP to NPN or vice versa, so we just left it as it was.
At least car and stereo survived :D A near neighbour had the same happen - when our local tyre place replaced a duff battery - on a new'ish Audi and it wrote it off as beyond economic repair :shock:
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

Thanks Jim - I forgot about the aerial, a capacitor in the braiding should do the job.

Some years ago my aerial rigger got a new battery for his van and it burnt his alternator out! Terminals were wrongly marked or more likely the plates had been put in the wrong way round, I checked it and it was definitely back to front. Fortunately it was a Sherpa van with very little in the way of electronics - bring them back I say. :wink:

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