Archive for the ‘All things vinyl’ 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, analogue, Related Devices | 1 Comment »
Record Store Day
Monday, April 12th, 2010
This Saturday (17th April) is Record Store Day. Promoting the wonderful place that is the record store. Get out and support yours this Saturday (and every other Saturday for that matter).
Update (30/4/10):
Record Store Day a huge success
Posted in All things vinyl | 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, analogue, video, Weird & Wonderful | 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.
Edit: 3/7/11
Just found another site with similar images but some more info on the mechanics of vinyl and styli. Check out Micrographia.
Posted in All things vinyl, analogue, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »
PS-F5 for sale on US eBay
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Looking for a special Valentine’s Day gift?
Posted in All things vinyl, Sony PS-F5 | No 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, analogue, Related Devices | 3 Comments »
Record ROM – PC to Portable Record Player
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Jack contacted me to let me know about his Record ROM; an interesting design concept. The PS-F5 gets a quick nod during the ideation drawings.
Posted in All things vinyl, Related Devices, video, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »
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, analogue, Uncategorised, video, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »
Records for iPhone  Digger’s Dream
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Here’s about the only thing that would make me consider getting an iPhone:
It’s an app that interfaces with the Discogs website (using their API) and allows you to browse through the huge online database of records and other media. A digger’s dream.
Hoping they bring out an Android version as that’s my planned next phone, as soon as a decent one is available.
Posted in All things vinyl | 2 Comments »