Archive for the ‘analogue’ Category
New Purchase – Sony APM 090 Speakers
Monday, August 8th, 2011
I recently bought a pair of these portable speakers from eBay. They’re a bit rough, but they work OK. Was just doing a bit of digging around online and found this image on AudioIdiots from the German 1984 Sony brochure:
They sound pretty good for their size. Powered by a 6 V AC adapter or 4 x C cells in the left hand speaker which houses the amplifying circuitry. I was initially a bit stumped as to why the right hand speaker also had a battery cover, space for 4 cells and the metal contacts for the speakers until I noticed a sticker stating “Put the spare batteries here”! So it’s both a way for Sony to save production costs by only having one moulding they used for both speakers and a way to carry a spare set of cells should you wish. I guess the metal springs & contacts are to stop the cells rattling around in there. The leads are both integral (main signal in and lead from right speaker which plugs into the left speaker with a mono 3.5mm jack. There’s room for them to stow away under the battery doors so they’re neat when not being used. They’ve also got wall hanging points, so I could mount them either side of my wall hung PS-F5 if I was so inclined…
Sadly I didn’t receive the carry handle, but happily both have their original “It’s a Sony” sticker.
Posted in analogue, ebay, Related Devices, Sony PS-F9 | No Comments »
Columbia’s Portable Mixing Rig
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
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.
Tags: columbia, diggin, gmx-3, gp-3, japanese, portable, record player, turntable
Posted in All things vinyl, analogue, Related Devices, Retro, video, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »
A More Vintage Portable Turntable?
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
(Thanks to Bill B for the image)
Posted in All things vinyl, analogue, Related Devices, Retro, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »
Becoming vinyl
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
“Music lovers can now be immortalised when they die by having their ashes baked into vinyl records to leave behind for loved ones.”wired.co.uk
Posted in All things vinyl, analogue, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »
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 »
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 »
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 analogue, Related Devices, Sony PS-F9 | 5 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 »
