Recently spotted a Columbia GMX-3 mixer on eBay. A portable mixer from Japan which is designed to be used with a pair of GP-3 portable turntables. Interesting piece of kit, but from what I can find online the turntables are only mono although they do have pitch control and built in speaker. Each device runs on either 100/110VAC (with built in tranformer) or batteries.
Going on recent eBay prices it would cost over £350 (US$560) to buy a pair of turntables and a mixer.
BERLIN — Justin Timberlake says he thinks vinyl records sound better than digitalized tunes.
The 29-year-old pop musician and actor told German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau on Thursday that he loves putting on records featuring oldies from the Beach Boys and early Beatles, claiming they “sound warmer” and “more vintage” than digital versions. The Associated Press
This is being sold as new, only out of the box once to photo & test.
What doesn’t quite add up to me is why the seller would have removed the It’s A Sony sticker from the front of the player and stuck it on the cardboard box. Weird. Anyway, I guess you could try to stick it back on, but I doubt it would go back all that cleanly.
So if money’s no object and you want an almost Fresh-Out-the-Box clean example, throw in a bid now.
Update:
It only received one bid, but sold for US $1,200.00!
After the question posed by A.R. on this post, and my request for a “magical chemical solution” he did some amazing detective work and found a possible solution to the yellowing problem that many Sony PS-F5s and PS-F9s exhibit in their old age. This is mainly brought on by exposure to Ultra Violet radiation which reacts with chemicals in the ABS plastic of the case.
Some vintage gadget enthusiasts have come up with a home-brew chemical gel that can be applied to yellowed plastic which restores it to its original colour. This wonderful sounding product’s called Retr0bright.
“We have now proved on several forums that plastics yellowing can be completely reversed in hours without damage using our mixture.”
There are a number of recipes on their Wiki. Thankfully all of the chemicals involved are easily obtainable (at least here in the UK) and all are safe apart from Hydrogen Peroxide, which is the main ingredient in hair bleach and is to be treated with respect. Be sure to wear gloves and goggles and work in a well ventilated room.
I was initially concerned about any chemical solution affecting the printing on the case, but then I saw this Lego piece in the Retr0Bright gallery, which is painted. The paint appears unaffected by the process:
Although the Problems and Pitfalls page on the site does show some examples of label fade, the printing on the PS-F5 is generally of good quality with a heavy black ink, so hopefully this won’t be too much of an issue, especially if the Sony’s not too yellowed, and therefore doesn’t require many applications.
There are other examples in the gallery with stickers and paint too, all of which suggest that it should be safe. Something I’m not sure about is whether the smoked transparent plastic on the front of the case would need to be removed prior to applying the gel. Maybe masking would be safest, attempting to remove the glued in smoked panel may cause breakage.
I’d like to give this a try, but would really appreciate it if anyone out there has a spare case (or piece of case, ideally one with some printing) for their PS-F5 that they’re willing to experiment on and report back to the site so I can let everyone know for sure that this works on our Sonys and is safe.
“There were an incredible number of people at first that said this was impossible – that was until they saw the pictures, then tried it and proved it for themselves. The usual reaction was ‘No way!’ then ‘WOW!!’.
In addition to the 2 new record shops which have opened in our town in the last year, Resident Music in Kensington Gardens, Brighton has made things better for vinyl lovers, as they report in their latest newsletter:
“We’ve finally finished our shop move around which has made space for our lovely new expanded vinyl racking (a customer told us this morning that he’s no longer afraid of the vinyl section as it is now possible to browse without getting stressed out – so spread the word!).”
This looks very nice, but you’re going to need deep pockets to get this one. It’s already over US$500 with 3 days to run!
eBay Link
Update: It sold for US$910!
The UK’s Independent newspaper has an interesting story about the disappearance of record shops in London’s Soho. It’s more complicated than just being a lack of customers.
Thankfully, Brighton & Hove in the UK (where I live) seems to be going against the grain as usual (which is one reason it’s such a great place to live) and I have recently discovered two new record shops that have opened in the last year: Up Tight Records on Sackville Road in Hove (01273 774 832) and Monkey Music Emporium on Baker Street in Brighton (07814 955 217). Monkey Music is also selling a great range of quality turntables and Hi-Fi. Resident Music on Kensington Gardens in Brighton has also started stocking vinyl again.
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.
