Baird Emerson Wondergram

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.

Emerson Ph1

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.

BE024461

Lots of photos and info on Electric Gramophone, including a complete strip-down.

wondergram-2

wondergram-3

wondergram-4


This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 1:18 pm and is filed under All things vinyl, analogue, Related Devices, Retro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


3 Responses to “Baird Emerson Wondergram”

  1. March 21st, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    Bob Shedlarz Says:

    Where can I find a new volume control and cartridge?

  2. May 23rd, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    george and sylvie carter Says:

    we’ve got one of these, it still works, is there any value in it?

  3. March 13th, 2014 at 3:28 am

    Adam Says:

    None whatsoever, please let me take it off your hands!

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