Boys' Toys.

[Kirbstone]

A visitor at Christmas overwound our lovely old 1924 Thorens Leophone gramophone, breaking the main drive spring.

Rs TJK & 1924 Thorens Leophone.jpg

Our almost 5 year-old granddaughter was distraught that her favourite little dance no. couldn't be played anymore, so I used 'the Net' to find someone who could fix it, sent him the 'works' which I extracted and today I got a mail from him to say that he had done so and was about to send it back to me. Hu rray!

Meanwhile we have to make do with my 1980 Transcriptor Hydraulic Reference table which doesn't play 78s.

Somebody just told me that there are CDs nowadays.....

Tom

[Ray]

My turntable is similar. Michel Gyrodec SE V

[Kirbstone]

Great minds, Ray.

A lifetime of enjoyment indeed, courtesy of Michell Engineering

Tom

[crfriend]

Those are beautiful pieces of kit, both, Tom. You've done well for yourself.

A good pal of mine has an Edison-type turntable in his living-room which functions beautifully as well as a piano that he taught himself piano-tuning on ant which is quite playable.

My old Sony direct-drive DC-brushless turntable is still in storage, along with its preamp which will allow me to properly connect it to my new setup.

Many many moons ago I used to have a wind-up grammaphone, but that wound up with my younger aunt (whom I no longer talk to) and I have no idea whether it's still serviceable or not.

'Tis a pity a drunk did yours in, but fortunately these are simple things and can be restored by those who know how to do so.

[Big and Bashful]

In the run up to christmas I was recording a bit of a vocal for a friend on my 16 track portastudio, when I had a dose of accidental feedback into my stereo. Unfortunately my amps can kick out enough power to fry my vintage Celestion Ditton SL662 160w rms speakers, I have damaged both mid-range units. After a battle both units are removed and I have found a company in England who repair (rewind or replace diaphragms or whatever) old drivers so hopefully the speakers will live again, I am going to try and attach a photo of one of the speakers and the damaged driver sitting on top of it. Should be fun trying to get the file size down small enough, if I remember last time I tried to post a piccie!

[Ray]

This is what I have - and I love it. It can, depending on the type of music, sound better than my CD player. The CD player is almost three times the price....

[pelmut]

For playing discs: http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/other/wor ... G_3331.JPG
For playing cylinders: http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/other/images/Player.jpg
Record storage: http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/other/wor ... G_3333.JPG

[crfriend]

For playing discs: http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/other/wor ... G_3331.JPG

Impressive! And a tangential-tracker, too! Which looks home-made -- even more impressive but since you're in the recording business and an engineer not entirely surprising.

[pelmut]

For playing discs: http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/other/wor ... G_3331.JPG

And a tangential-tracker, too!

It is essential to get the replay geometry as accurate as possible, so that the cartridge signals can be correctly matched for the de-clicking process. Any tracking error results in a time difference between the signals from the two groove walls, which decodes as a spurious vertical signal and upsets the analogue computer (the silvery rack on the LHS above the two oscilloscopes). The box which carries the short pickup arm contains an optical angle-measuring system which controls a motor that tows the box along the track with a piece of string.

Which looks home-made...

There were commercial "parallel trackers" available, but none of them would cope with 16" broadcast transcription discs, so I had to make my own.

[Kirbstone]

Hi Guys,

Heavyweight replies, indeed!

Nice Gyro, Ray. It must be a good bit later than my old Hydraulic Reference table.

Celestion Dittons were where it's at way back, B&B, but I never bought anything so big.

Pelmut, You've blown my mind. I had never seen a tangential tracking device, and the fact that you made it up yourself to handle 16 in discs is one hell of a commitment. VERY impressive! And I see you have something like ten times my stock of discs, too.

Not being remotely technical, but wishing to spar with the (mostly deceased) Greats daily, I resort to thumping my noisiest toy, a little space for which was designated in our 'new' house, built 2003-4.

Rs TJK & beloved Bechstein.jpg

Tom

[Ray]

Fabulous. Good hifi is great but nothing compares to a real instrument.

[crfriend]

You know what you're missing, Tom? A harpsichord. That'd play very well with your other collection.

[Kirbstone]

Carl,

Never played one, but I do like the sound of them for Baroque & earlier stuff.

A cooper at Guinness named Cathal Gannon (1910-99) started making harpsichords based on 18th Century designs in his middle years and each one was snapped up either by museums, music schools or VERY rich private owners. He made scores of them, right into his dotage.

Tom

[Mugs-n-such]

Very nice toys indeed....and the moral of this story boys and girls, don't let drunk friends play with your toys!! Especially your valuable and cherished ones!!

[Gordon]

Here is my "boys' toy", an '09 Harley Ultra Gide. And yes it provides music to my soul. The wife and I go on a yearly 2 week vacation on it; not always with the trailer however.