A phonograph 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; starting in the 1940s polyvinyl chloride became common. In recent decades, records have sometimes been called vinyl records, or simply vinyl or even vinyls.
Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two records simultaneously.
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.
A magnetic cartridge, more commonly called a phonograph cartridge or phono cartridge or (colloquially) a pickup, is an electromechanical transducer that is used to play records on a turntable.
Technics SL-1200 is a series of direct-drive turntables originally manufactured from October 1972 until 2010, and resumed in 2016, by Matsushita under the brand name of Technics. S means "Stereo", L means "Player". Originally released as a high fidelity consumer record player, it quickly became adopted among radio and disco club disc jockeys, thanks to the direct drive, high torque motor design, making it initially suitable for pushbutton cueing and starting of tracks on radio and in dance clubs. It is still extremely popular with audiophiles.
A record changer or autochanger is a device that plays multiple phonograph records in sequence without user intervention. Record changers first appeared in the late 1920s, and were common until the 1980s.
Roksan is a British manufacturer of high fidelity audio products for domestic use, based in Rayleigh, Essex. It is best known for its influential and innovative design for hi-fi equipment, and in particular its Xerxes platform for playing LP records.
The Vestax Corporation was a Japanese musical instrument, turntable and audio equipment firm founded by Hidesato Shiino in 1977. The company started by designing and manufacturing electronic guitars. In the 1980s, Vestax produced multitracks recorders and later move to making DJ mixers, professional turntables, compact disc players and signal processors. Debt troubles lead to the company's bankruptcy at the end of 2014.
The Linn Sondek LP12 is a transcription turntable produced by Glasgow-based Linn Products, manufacturers of hi-fi, home theatre, and multi-room audio systems. Its name is derived from the 12" vinyl LP.
The PT01 was the first portable belt-driven turntable manufactured by Numark. An identical model called iPT01 was also manufactured by Ion Audio.
Elektro-Mess-Technik (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 vinyl record format characterized by a speed of 33 1⁄3 rpm, a 12- or 10-inch diameter, and use of the "microgroove" groove specification. 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 has remained the standard format for vinyl albums.
The Numark Pro TT-2, Pro TT-1+, Pro TT-1 and TT-100 were a family of private label, high end, direct drive DJ phonograph turntables sold by Numark during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Only in production for a few years, these models were among the early versions of the "Super OEM" manual DJ turntables made by the Hanpin Electron Co., Ltd. of Taiwan. The Pro TT-1, Pro TT-1+, and Pro TT-2 models incorporated a LCD display on the top plate to show turntable settings which included a unique 12 segment animated element to indicate platter rotation and direction.
The Roksan Xerxes transcription turntable is a record player named after the Persian king Xerxes I and produced by London-based Roksan Audio. Designed by Roksan co-founder, Touraj Moghaddam, the Xerxes is a belt-driven turntable with a solid plinth. Launched in 1985, the sound quality of the product positioned it as a strong competitor against the established industry leader, the Linn Sondek LP12. Many reviewers use the Xerxes as a reference turntable.
The Rega Planar 3, together with its successors, the P3 and RP3, is a well-known budget audiophile turntable by British hi-fi manufacturer, Rega Research available since 1977. It was a belt-drive deck that broke from convention, by employing a solid plinth in lieu of the compliantly-suspended chassis or sub-chassis used in many quality turntables since the early 1960s.
The Audio-Technica AT-LP120 is a mid-range direct-drive turntable introduced in 2009 by the Japanese audio equipment manufacturer Audio-Technica. The AT-LP120 was intended to be a viable replacement for the long-running Technics SL-1200 series of turntables that was set to be discontinued in 2010. It supports both phono and line-level output using a built-in preamplifier.
