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A record changer or autochanger is a device that plays several phonograph records in sequence without user intervention. Record changers first appeared in the late 1920s, and were common until the 1980s.
The record changer with a stepped center spindle design was invented by Eric Waterworth of Hobart, Australia, in 1925. [1] He and his father took it to Sydney, and arranged with a company called Home Recreations to fit it into its forthcoming phonograph, the Salonola. Although this novelty was demonstrated at the 1927 Sydney Royal Easter Show, Home Recreations went into liquidation and the Salonola was never marketed. [2] In 1928, the Waterworths traveled to London, where they sold their patent to the new Symphony Gramophone and Radio Co. Ltd. [3]
Eric Waterworth built three prototypes of his invention, one of which was sold to Home Recreations as a model for its proposed Salonola record player as cited above, which is now reportedly in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences in Sydney. [4] The second prototype went to England with Eric and his father, and was sold as part of the deal with the Symphony Gramophone and Radio Company. The fate of this machine is unknown. The third prototype was never fully assembled, and lay in pieces under the Waterworths' house for something like sixty years. After Eric's death, the family found the disassembled parts of the machine and offered them to the Sound Preservation Association of Tasmania. The offer was accepted, and an enthusiastic member began the task of reassembling the prototype. Only a few small parts were found to be missing, and enough remained to finish assembling it and restoring it to a crude working condition. This prototype record changer is now on display at the Sound Preservation Association of Tasmania resource centre in the Hobart suburb of Bellerive. [5] [2]
The first commercially successful record changer was the "Automatic Orthophonic" model by the Victor Talking Machine Company, which was launched in the United States in 1927. [6] On a conventional gramophone or phonograph, the limited playing time of 78 rpm gramophone records (averaging a little over four minutes per 12-inch side, and a little over three per 10-inch side) meant that listeners had to get up to change records at regular intervals. The Automatic Orthophonic allowed the listener to load a stack of several records into the machine, which would then be automatically played in sequence for a much longer uninterrupted listening time.
By the late 1950s, Garrard (of Britain) and Dual (Germany) dominated the high-end record changer market in the United States. [7] From the late 1950s through the late 1960s, VM Corporation (Voice of Music) of Benton Harbor, Michigan, US, dominated the lower-priced original equipment manufacturer (OEM) American record changer market. [7] Most VM record changers were sold to OEM audio manufacturers such as Zenith and installed in console-sized, portable or compact low- to mid-priced stereo or mono systems. VM record changers sold to OEMs were not labeled with the Voice of Music trademark on the unit itself; only those retailed by VM Corporation, either as separate components or integral parts of VM phonographs, were labeled with the VM (Voice of Music) trademark on the changer. Outside the US, VM record-changer technology was licensed to several manufacturers. Telefunken, of then West Germany, was one such company to sign a licensing agreement with VM Corporation. [7] [8] By the mid to late 1960s, a British company BSR–MacDonald displaced VM as the world largest record-changer manufacturer and dominated the OEM changer market in the US as well.
Garrard, in 1960, introduced a high fidelity record changer with a professional grade balanced tonearm and heavy cast non-magnetic platter, both features previously found only on manual turntables. To distinguish it by its superior performance, it was called an "automatic turntable." The name, and the improved performance, caught on and other manufacturers began producing automatic turntables with professional-grade features and performance.
Most mid-priced consumer record players of the 1950s through the 1970s were equipped with changers, but they started to decline in popularity as cassettes and compact discs replaced vinyl records in the 1980s and 1990s. [9] Record-stacking changers eventually became rarer due to the gradually growing belief that they contributed greatly to record wear and "warping," and were eventually superseded by manual turntables which served as separate parts of component systems or were integrated into compact systems that played one record at a time and were felt by some to save record wear by gentler treatment during play.[ citation needed ]
Record-changer mechanisms were sometimes complicated. They typically held a stack of records on an extended central spindle supported by an arm (separate from the tonearm housing the cartridge and stylus which played the records). Some units had feelers that could detect the size of each record (the three standard sizes being 7, 10 or 12 inches) and accordingly position the tone arm at the start of the disc (its outer edge). Some used a variable-size sensor which allowed sizes other than the standard three to be played. [7] The simpler models required the record diameter to be set manually, and hence did not allow records of different sizes to be stacked together. The following automatic size detecting devices were the most popular (with examples):
Three-size sensors:
Variable-size sensors:
Audiophiles [9] eventually disdained record changers because of the perceived compromise in fidelity resulting from changes in tone arm angle with the height of the stack, and concerns about changers' seemingly rough treatment of discs, particularly due to slight but cumulative damage to the spindle holes as the records were dropped from a height of a few inches onto the record or stack below or the turntable platter; as well as some sliding and rubbing of the discs together, scratching the record labels in the process, because the dropped disc didn't immediately accelerate to the rotational speed of the spindle or discs below it. Most of these fears were unfounded in changers made after 1953. More advanced changers, such as the TD-224 model from Thorens and the ADC Accutrac+6, partially addressed these problems. [7]
Numbering of the sides of the discs in many double and triple albums, and boxed sets of records (both 78s and LPs) in a certain sequence enabled them to be stacked and played on record changers. After the discs were stacked and one side of each disc had played, the entire stack would be turned over and replaced on the changer shelf. Thus, to be heard in the proper sequence, each disc of a four-disc set would contain, respectively, "sides" 1&8, 2&7, 3&6 and 4&5 –a practice known as "automatic sequencing", "changer sequencing" or "auto-coupling". In pre-LP days, classical symphonies and concertos, and later, original cast albums, would be recorded using this format.
This "drop-automatic sequence" was designed for record changers which simply dropped records rather than reversing the stack as it was played in sequence. Other record changers, including some made as far back as the 1930s by RCA and GE in addition to the much later Thorens TD-224, were capable of reversing the stack automatically. The RCA and GE units kept the records stacked on the turntable and slid the top record to the side after playing it. A separate sequence, the "slide-automatic sequence," was made for these changers, with sides coupled 1&5, 2&6, 3&7 and 4&8.
Some record changers could play both sides of each record. Manual sequence (sides coupled 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 and 7&8) worked with these. Examples were the Markel 75, Capehart turnover, Fisher/Lincoln, Garrard RC-100, and Thorens Symphony CD50/CD53 changers.
During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Victor released 78 rpm record sets in all three sequences (with set numbers preceded by M for manual, DM for drop-automatic or AM for slide-automatic sequencing), for players of each of the three kinds it manufactured. Columbia used MM for drop-automatic sets of three or more records, X for manual and MX for two-record drop-automatic sets.
Some radio station copies were produced in "relay sequence" to be played by a DJ on two turntables with no break between sides, which were coupled as 1&3, 2&4, 5&7 and 6&8. The slide-automatic sequence also allowed uninterrupted play with two turntables.
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue recording and reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record". To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, very faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves which were coupled to the open air through a flaring horn, or directly to the listener's ears through stethoscope-type earphones.
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to select a specific record. Some may use compact discs instead. Disc changers are similar devices that are intended for home use, are small enough to fit in a shelf, may hold up to hundreds of discs, and allow discs to be easily removed, replaced, and inserted by the user.
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. In other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album.
A phonograph record, or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. Starting in the 1940s polyvinyl chloride became common, hence the name vinyl.
There are three main types of phonograph turntable drives being manufactured today: the belt-drive, idler-wheel and direct-drive systems; the names are based upon the type of coupling used between the platter of the turntable and the motor. In a belt-drive turntable the motor is located off-center from the platter, either underneath it or entirely outside of it, and is connected to the platter or counter-platter by a drive belt made from elastomeric material.
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at 33+1⁄3 rpm.
The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes, playback speeds, and appearance. However, since the commercial adoption of the gramophone record, a wide variety of records have also been produced that do not fall into these categories, and they have served a variety of purposes.
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
Thorens is a formerly Swiss manufacturer of high-end audio equipment. Thorens is historically renowned for the range of phonographs (turntables) the manufacturer produces. In addition to audio playback equipment, Thorens is also a historical producer of harmonicas and cigarette lighters, most notably the button actuated "automatic lighter".
The Garrard Engineering and Manufacturing Company of Swindon, Wiltshire, was a British company that was famous for producing high-quality gramophone turntables. It was formed by the jewellers Garrard & Co in 1915. The company was sold to Plessey, an electronics conglomerate, in 1960. During the period 1976-1978, Garrard developed demonstrators of the novel video disc technology. Although the team recognised the future potential of this data storage technology, Plessey chose not to invest. After several years in decline, Garrard was sold by Plessey to Gradiente Electronics of Brazil in 1979 and series production was moved to Brazil (Manaus). The remaining Garrard research and development operation in Swindon was reduced to a skeleton operation until completely shut down in 1992. Then, Gradiente licensed the Garrard name to Terence O'Sullivan, who operated as Loricraft Audio, in 1997.
Elektromesstechnik (EMT) is a manufacturer of phonograph turntables and professional audio equipment, including a well-regarded line of artificial reverberation devices beginning with the EMT 140 plate reverb. The company was founded by Wilhelm Franz.
The LP is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of 33+1⁄3 rpm; a 12- or 10-inch diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a vinyl composition disk. Introduced by Columbia in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound, it remained the standard format for record albums until its gradual replacement from the 1980s to the early 2000s, first by cassettes, then by compact discs, and finally by digital music distribution. Beginning in the late 2000s, the LP has experienced a resurgence in popularity.
Voice Of Music was the premier brand of V-M Corporation, an American audio equipment manufacturing company.
Birmingham Sound Reproducers (BSR) was a 20th-century British manufacturer of record player turntables, and, for a time, housewares.
A 45 rpm adapter is a small plastic or metal insert that goes in the middle of a 45-rpm record so it can be played on the standard size spindle of a turntable. The adapter could be a small solid circle that fits onto the spindle or a larger adapter that fits over the entire spindle of a record changer, permitting a stack of 45s to be played. These are often referred to as 45 spindles. A few manufacturers supplied a complete change of spindle for 45s.
The Seeburg 1000 Background Music System is a phonograph designed and built by the Seeburg Corporation to play background music from special 162⁄3 RPM vinyl records in offices, restaurants, retail businesses, factories and similar locations. Seeburg provided a service similar to that of Muzak.
Aretino was a United States record label, in business from about 1907 to 1914.
SME is a brand name of an English company that produces high end tonearms and turntables, whose name has become synonymous with the industry standard detachable headshell mount.
The Technics SL-J2 is a quartz-controlled direct-drive fully automatic turntable system produced by Technics between 1984 and 1988. It features a linear tracking tonearm with an optical sensor that allows for the kind of track-skipping more typical of CD players. The sensor also detects the size of the record sitting on the platter, which allows the needle to drop precisely on the first track.