Archive for the ‘analogue’ Category
Crosley Revolution- Still Coming Soon
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Crosley announced that their Revolution was imminent back in January. They had a nifty animation on their homepage, but that was about it. Now it’s mid May and they finally have a product page for it with some further information and a price, but it’s still not available for purchase.
Points of note
- Costs US$149.95
- Belt driven
- Black
- Manual (you have to lift the arm off the record when it gets to the end of a record)
- Auto shut off (it stops when it gets to the end of a record)
- Body is made of ABS (plastic)
- Plays 7s & 12s @ 45 & 33
- Output is through 2 x 3.5mm audio jacks (like the PS-F5) with the addition of an internal ADC providing USB output
- FM Transmitter, so you can tune any FM radio into the turntable for use as an amplifier (much like the PS-F9 does)
- Software provided for ripping vinyl to PC/Mac
- Powered by 6 AA batteries (no mention of an AC adapter socket)
- Included carry case
Thoughts
Initially I thought it looked like it was made from painted pressed steel, which would have been good for durability, but sadly that’s not the case (did you know that both halves of the PS-F5′s chassis are pressed steel, with the outer plastic shell covering them?). Be interesting to read the reviews and real life reports once this has been used in the wild for a while.
Surprising Exclusions
Considering the market for these is likely to be largely made of second-hand-record-shopping-collectors and thrift-store-diggers, many of whom DJ, I’m surprised they didn’t include a pitch control for portable party action. The Vestax Handy Trax sported one and can be used to great effect:
It’s not like these are ever going to replace a pair of Technics, but a pitch control is a cheap and easy addition missed out on. It may well have an AC adapter socket, but there’s no mention in the current spec. Another cheap addition which it would be strange to exclude.
It’s good to see that there are people who think there’s still a market for a wide range of turntables. The market for vinyl is certainly refusing to roll over and die. Some are even hoping to take cues from the mighty PS-F5 and create something similar. I think that coming close would be a tall order in today’s “make it as cheap as possible” throwaway world, but you never know. Who would have predicted 20 years ago that there would be a Soundburger II released in 2010?
Update (2/6/10): Crosley have now added that the Revolution has a built in FM transmitter (just like the Sony PS-F9. Added the info to the bullet points above.
Posted in All things vinyl, Related Devices, analogue | No Comments »
A Record Player About As Portable As You Can Get
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
GGRP have created an advertising mailer which is a record player that magically appears out of the cardboard sleeve of a 7″ record. See it in action here:
However, as with many seemingly new ideas, this one isn’t either. As Steve Roden from In Be Tween Noise kindly shows us.
From: Cardboard Record Sleeve Doubles as Record Player – Cardboard record player – Gizmodo.
Posted in All things vinyl, Weird & Wonderful, analogue, video | No Comments »
Discogs: Vinyl revolution – Interview
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Resident Advisor, an online dance music magazine, has a good article about Discogs: the music discography and marketplace which has a definite leaning towards music stored in grooves on vinyl.
RA: Discogs: Vinyl revolution – Interview.
Posted in All things vinyl, analogue | No Comments »
Enlarging The Groove 1000 Times
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Chris Supranowitz has made some images of a record’s grooves using an electron scanning microscope.
For comparison, here are the digital pits of a CD:
More images and the full details of Chris’ project.
Posted in All things vinyl, Weird & Wonderful, analogue | No Comments »
Sony PS-F9 for sale on US eBay
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Doesn’t seem to be working, but seems a reasonable price if you’ve got the skills and want to take the chance that you can get it going.
Posted in Related Devices, Sony PS-F9, analogue | 2 Comments »
Soundburger Emulator: Crosley Revolution
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Crosley, a company which knocks out some fairly ugly, cheesy retro type nastiness have apparently created a revolution. The only thing is that their revolution is a copy of a reasonably well known 80s Japanese portable turntable: Audio Technica’s Soundburger. Look forward to some direct comparisons of build and sound quality once the product’s out.
Their homepage has an animation which was saying that it’s coming on early January 2010, but they’ve now removed the date and the product’s still not on their product page.
Posted in All things vinyl, Related Devices, analogue | 1 Comment »
The Audiophile Club of Athens
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
An interesting short film from 2006 about Greek Audiophiles and their love for big, elaborate, expensive Hi-Fi.
Posted in All things vinyl, Uncategorised, Weird & Wonderful, analogue, video | No Comments »
For Sale: The world’s largest record collection
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
“This is a short film I made about the owner of the world’s largest record collection. This film probably best represents the direction I see myself going as a director. I love everything about it. It’s my baby.” Sean Dunne: Director
The Archive by Sean Dunne is the story of Paul Mawhinney’s record collection, which is now up for sale
I hope Paul’s collection gets preserved in its entirety somehow soon. Such a huge slice of history which, sadly, no one seems interested in.
Tags: Paul Mawhinney, record collector, record rama, world's largest record collection
Posted in All things vinyl, analogue | 2 Comments »
Crossley Traveller Portable Suitcase Turntable
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Not much technical information here, but first impressions are that it’s well made. On sale at the moment here too Posted in All things vinyl, Related Devices, analogue | No Comments »
Baird Emerson Wondergram
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
First produced in London by Baird in 1960, this is probably the first portable record player to have a similar form factor to the PS-F5. Definitely a direct ancestor.
The design is truly ingenious, open the lid, pop your disc onto the spindle and gently place the needle on the end of the tone arm into the groove and it starts playing. The record is spun by a pair of wheels set into the top of the case, they are spaced so that the innermost one drives 45s, and the out one drives LPs. To stop both wheels trying to drive the disc at the same time the inner one is slightly smaller, so that when you are playing an LP it doesn’t come into contact with the record. The speaker is on the underside, and you would think that the sound will be muffled, but they have that one covered. Three spring–loaded feet raise the player off he ground, allowing the three-transistor amplifier full reign to blast your socks off. Actually it’s not that loud but it’s enough to fill a small room – providing there’s not too much background noise…
From Dusty Gizmos.
Lots of photos and info on Electric Gramophone, including a complete strip-down.
Posted in All things vinyl, Related Devices, Retro, analogue | 1 Comment »
