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Thanks! I just wondered if it might have been a U.K. make as I know that several of our turntable manufacturers sold quite heavily into the North American market at that time (BSR and Garrard particularly).

The part I could see didn't look like one of "ours" but I wasn't certain. Still don't recognize it now I can see all of it.

Ragnar,
In the U.K. 4-speed changer decks were common at this time throughout a large range of equipment, from the cheapest portable Dansettes right up to the fancy "radiograms" similar to this one. Of course, the 16 r.p.m. setting almost never got used!

4 speed wasn't that uncommon here either, but changers were rare. I think I've only seen one or two during all the time I looked for old equipment.

pauluk, here in the US, back in the heyday of vinyl (and I hate to admit that I'm old enough to remember it well), the most popular record changers in consoles and compact stereos were BSR's and VM's (Voice of Music). Guys into higher end component equipment usually went with Garrard or Dual. Most record changers were 4 speed, although I never saw records available in the slow 16-2/3 RPM speed. Myself, I have BSR, BIC, and Yamaha turtables, as well as a good collection of classic rock albums from 1965 to around 1980.

AFAIK, 16 2/3 RPM records were limited to "talking books" for the blind, or music recordings for (believe it or not) an automotive turntable sold by Chrysler as "Highway HiFi".

Yep and I think you were only able to get those records for the Chrysler HiFi thru the dealer only, or so I saw on some car show on the tube recently.

A.D

I've never heard of the VM decks. BSR (which, incidentally, stands for Birmingham Sound Reproducers) changers were common in low-end portable units and consoles in Britain, with Garrard being considered the more sophisticated units for higher-end equipment. Garrard also made a lot of transcription turntables and similar high-quality equipment, often used by the BBC and similar organizations.

Most, if not all of the Garrard turntables were fitted with terminal blocks on the motors which brought out both halves of the windings for easy parallel/series connection for 120 or 240V oepration (with suitable change of pulley for the 60Hz North American market).

Collaro was another popular make during the 1950s/60s era for mid/high-end use, and the Swiss-made Goldring-Lenco range was also popular for hi-fi separates (not auto changers).

That's what I've been led to believe too. I've been collecting records for as many years as I can remember, and I don't recall ever seeing a 16-2/3 r.p.m. disc.

I have some old 1950s (American) car commercials on tape, and a couple were plugging Chrysler's "Highway Hi-Fi" record players (for the Plymouth and Dodge ranges, if I recall correctly).

I just assumed that the little decks played regular 7-inch 45 r.p.m. records though.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-28-2006).]

The original Highway Hi-Fi players were produced from 1957-59, and played the special 16RPM LP recordings only available through the car dealer.

The extremely fine grooves required on a 16RPM LP record made the players a constant headache, and they often skipped and distorted on anything but the most pristine pavement. An "improved" version was introduced in 1960 which played the familiar 7" 45RPM singles, but the requirement to flip records after each song limited the appeal, and it was canceled after 1961.

Lots of info on these things here:
http://www.roadkillontheweb.com/arp.html

Last summer I was a traveling technician in a 1966 luxury railway car.
Since the electrical stuff was constantly giving us hassles I dug into the original documentation.
I found the car once had a special Lenco turntable designed to play HiFi in a moving railway car... it also had an Uher Report reel-to-reel and a HiFi radio. The amplifier was a boasting 8W!
Every compartment was fitted with a Blaupunkt car radio.

Unfortunately the salon equipment is long gone and the car radios don't work any more.

Paul, that picture is a BSR turntable. I have one just like it. I also have the replacement rubber wheels that allow you to use it on 50 cycle. My model is 120v only but they made 220v only as well as duel voltage units. I worked in a TV repair shop late 60's and repaired many of these. Robert

It's funny, because when I saw that deck in the first photo the parts which were visible shouted "BSR" at me. The changer support arm and some of the other features around the rear of the tonearm looked like classic late 1960s BSR, but when I saw the full deck in the later photo the controls and the pickup head seemed to say otherwise. Maybe that was a model which was exported heavily but not all that common here?



Thanks! That makes for some fascinating reading. I see the author is still constructing the Groucho page. A couple of the old commercials I have on tape are of Groucho plugging the DeSoto range, with particular emphasis on Chrysler's pushbutton transmission selector which was the "in" feature at the time.




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-06-2006).]