any turntable historians on DU?

[oustemnow]

My question regards the general evolution of the device, not a prticular model.

I remember turntables, at least many that I had seen in the past, used to be constructed so that the record would be suspended above the actual spinning disc by some sort of protruberance on the spindle and held in place by a sort of arm device that you placed over the record. When you pressed play or what have you, the record would drop onto the spinning disc.

Thankfully, it seems, new turntables don't have that feature any more. But why the hell did they have that feature in the first place? Vinyl being a delicate medium to begin with, why take the chance of damaging your records by having them artlessly drop every time you played them? (Don't even get me started on people who would stack records to be played one by one, on top of each other; way to maim you LPs, fools!) And isn't it more work to construct a turntable with that whole dropping/arm contraption than one without? Was there some benefit of that descign that I'm failing to see? And, when did they phase out that whole seemingly idiotic design?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. The drop arm was constructed circa late 50's early 60's

as a convenience feature for playing 45's so that the user could stack up to (I think) six 45's (remember the insert in the 45's so that they could play on the spindle?) and have them play continuously before changing records.

[Philostopher]

3. What's really strange is ...

One of the console/tabletop stereos my folks had actually had a big spindle designed for 45s, so you didn't have to put the inserts in them. It was roughly the same mechanism used on the spindle, but had a plastic body the size of the hole in a 45.

I agree it was probably intended to use with singles -- they didn't always work well with vinyl albums, either; often more than one would drop because they were really too heavy for the mechanism.

[oustemnow]

6. D'oh! completely forgot about singles

even had a few of them when I first started buying music. Once again, NSMA is the font of knowledge.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. LOL

You're too cute sometimes :D

[oustemnow]

10. yeah but it fails to make up for most of the time,

when I'm just not damn cute enough.

[Tinoire]

2. Are you kidding? It was a great feature

back then ;)

You could place 4-5 albums on it and have non-stop music for hours.

The 20th century equivalent of loading 5 CDs into a CD player.

It didn't damage your albums... I still have a DUAL model like that and treasure it. It drops the albums most artfully :)

Peace

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. LOL when I dj'd with vinyl

we were downloading from a boat party in Newport Bay and one of the guys dropped an entire CRATE of vinyl in the bay. Not wishing to lose out financially, I donned a wetsuit and my scuba gear and dove for the records...they are fine..I still have them. :D Vinyl actually can susatin alot of punishment and still be useful...the jackets even dried out.

[BlueJazz]

5. LP's also have a raised rim that is suppose to....

....protect the grooves on a vinyl record.

[DancingBear]

8. The "drop arm" was a convienence feature

It was touted as new and improved, and was marketed with the theory that "you don't have to get up and change a record." This was a BIG plus back in the early/mid 60's, as the plethora of "labor saving devices" were hitting the marketplace. There were even multiple schools of thought as to how the "suspended" records should be supported - companies like Dual had supports built into a central spindle, while Garrard marketed a separate clamping device on the exterior part of the table itself.

I really don't know why it was phased out - someone probably realized all the stress on both the LP's and the arm/cartridge assemblies (tracking angles, etc.) was not good.

P.S. Why did you ask - are you an audiophile, perchance??

[oustemnow]

11. not really an audiophile

but I was just playing some vinyl (Elvis Costello's Armed Forces, not that you asked or anything) and when I put the record on I just realized how damned long it had been since I'd seen a turntable designed like that. And, as usual when I have an informational bug up my ass, I headed for the Lounge to have it extracted.

[DancingBear]

12. Ah yes, the lovely vinyl

It is making (somewhat) of a comeback these days - some specialty companies are re-issueing classic jazz/rock LP's on what is known as "heavy" (180 gram) vinyl. Sounds fabulous!

But then of course, all analog stuff (properly maintained) beats digital every way but Sunday.

[oustemnow]

13. most of my bedrock stuff is on vinyl

the stuff that really got me into music in the first place. As most of it's stil in pretty good condition, I'm not going to replace it with CD. (Glad I didn't come of musical age during the eight-track "innovation.) It is heartening that they're releasing stuff on vinyl more frequently again, but I buy most new stuff on CD. They've long since figured out how to master for CD, so I've come to regard the sonic differences (which there still are) not so much as better/worse, but just different.

[DancingBear]

14. Good point

Although as an audiophile and (former) worker in the field of high-end audio, I can still (clearly) hear the difference. There is a pronounced harshness in digital (due to its inabilty to accurately reproduce an analog signal) that I can't seem to overcome, although SACD and ongoing advances in mastering techniques/sampling are closing the gap. Plus, I'm a tube guy (analog) all the way when it comes to amplifiers.

Hey, don't knock 8-track. Nothing better than a 30 second gap in the middle of a song while it changed tracks. :)

Geez, that shit was AWFUL.

[MikeH]

9. I Remember That Feature On My Parents' Family Phonograph

My parents got that particular model record player in the early 1950's; I would say 1954 or earlier, and we had it and played stacks of LP's on it a lot until about 1968, when they got a stereo. Their new stereo also had that feature.

I definitely remember that phonograph and records being played on it while we were living in an apartment we had lived in until 1955.

I don't think I remember any "serious" phonographs (as opposed to children's phonographs) not having that feature when I was a kid.