Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

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poodling around
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Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by poodling around »

I hope that it is okay to ask about this machine as it was made so recently.

Please delete this thread if I have made a mistake.


I recently came across this record player.

It is 'new' – by which I mean I acquired it in an unopened box.

I believe it was made in 1959.

Having read the instructions I think to power it, it needs a power cord attaching and the voltage changed to 240.

I am thinking about about finding a qualified electrician to do this as I am stupid and don't want to kill myself.

I wonder, is it likely to work 'as new' when this is done or after 60 years could there be problems ?

Incidentally, it will need (I think) further wires to an amplifier afterwards.

Thank you for any advice you can give.
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Damfino59
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by Damfino59 »

Hi-

I would think that some lubrication will be needed and maybe cleaning of the drive wheel with some sort of alcohol.

I can’t tell if you did receive a platter and cartridge headshell. The cartridge may be bad from just age.

I’m nearly 60 years old myself and require lubrication now and then. :lol:

This may help:

http://www.grammofoon.com/frameset.htm?&ContentFrame

Also there may be some more info here on the Lenco Heaven site:

https://www.lencoheaven.net

Check the forum on other turntables.

Also yours appears to have a pitch control?

Definitely get somebody qualified to do your electrical work and somebody familiar with vintage audio gear.

Regards,

Glenn

Phono48
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by Phono48 »

Before you do anything else, do you have the cartridge, which is the bit that fits on the end of the arm and carries the styli (needles). If you haven't, then a new one will cost you around £50, which will probably make the whole project a non-starter. Even if you DO have it, check that is working before proceeding further. Do you have the turntable?

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poodling around
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by poodling around »

Phono48 wrote:Before you do anything else, do you have the cartridge, which is the bit that fits on the end of the arm and carries the styli (needles). If you haven't, then a new one will cost you around £50, which will probably make the whole project a non-starter. Even if you DO have it, check that is working before proceeding further. Do you have the turntable?

Hi Phono48,

Yes, I do have the turntable and still packaged unopened reproducer - photo below.
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poodling around
Victor V
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by poodling around »

Damfino59 wrote:Hi-

I would think that some lubrication will be needed and maybe cleaning of the drive wheel with some sort of alcohol.

I can’t tell if you did receive a platter and cartridge headshell. The cartridge may be bad from just age.

I’m nearly 60 years old myself and require lubrication now and then. :lol:

This may help:

http://www.grammofoon.com/frameset.htm?&ContentFrame

Also there may be some more info here on the Lenco Heaven site:

https://www.lencoheaven.net

Check the forum on other turntables.

Also yours appears to have a pitch control?

Definitely get somebody qualified to do your electrical work and somebody familiar with vintage audio gear.

Regards,

Glenn
Hi Glenn,
Thank you very much for your advice and useful links.

I don't think that the instructions say anything about a pitch control - the lever on the right is a 'pickup lifting lever' apparently if that is what you were looking at maybe ?

The turntable and reproducer (as it is labelled) were in the box as well - photo 'above'.

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Orchorsol
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by Orchorsol »

It looks as though the outer ring around the speed control lever gives fine adjustment of pitch (as it's marked +/-) - useful feature. If you're lucky, the cartridge will still work and if so, they sound pretty good. The piezo element is Rochelle salt which is very susceptible to breakdown - I had a sealed one of those which had nevertheless gone - on the other hand I've found them still fitted to machines and still working, so it's a lottery.
BCN thorn needles made to the original 1920s specifications: http://www.burmesecolourneedles.com

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poodling around
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by poodling around »

Orchorsol wrote:It looks as though the outer ring around the speed control lever gives fine adjustment of pitch (as it's marked +/-) - useful feature. If you're lucky, the cartridge will still work and if so, they sound pretty good. The piezo element is Rochelle salt which is very susceptible to breakdown - I had a sealed one of those which had nevertheless gone - on the other hand I've found them still fitted to machines and still working, so it's a lottery.

Oh, I think I found it in the instructions after reading your post. They didn't seem to use the word 'pitch' back in the day maybe.

Where is the piezo element you mentioned please ? Is it in the replaceable stylus ?
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Orchorsol
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by Orchorsol »

poodling around wrote:Where is the piezo element you mentioned please ? Is it in the replaceable stylus ?
It's the crystal inside the cartridge head. If it's gone, you need to find another head - or, some people have devised ways of installing a piezo wafer into old crystal cartridges instead.
BCN thorn needles made to the original 1920s specifications: http://www.burmesecolourneedles.com

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe4DNb ... TPE-zTAJGg?

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poodling around
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by poodling around »

Orchorsol wrote:
poodling around wrote:Where is the piezo element you mentioned please ? Is it in the replaceable stylus ?
It's the crystal inside the cartridge head. If it's gone, you need to find another head - or, some people have devised ways of installing a piezo wafer into old crystal cartridges instead.

Very good. Thank you.

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Marco Gilardetti
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Re: Philips 4 Speed Record Player - AG2009 - Advice Please.

Post by Marco Gilardetti »

Dear Poodling, I see on the turntable a nice and very uncommon stroboscopic disc that also features the 16 RPM speed. You would do a great thing for mankind if you would find few minutes to scan it at high resolution and then post the image, so that other enthusiasts could print their own replica copies of it. I personally thank you in advance.
Orchorsol wrote:It's the crystal inside the cartridge head. If it's gone, you need to find another head - or, some people have devised ways of installing a piezo wafer into old crystal cartridges instead.
Dear Andy, I don't know if you're aware that not only rochelle salt was used in these cartridges, the latter ones were made with a ceramic crystal even though exteriorly they look nearly identical. Ceramic crystals are not as sensitive to humidity like rochelle salt was. I would say that rochelle salt pick-ups stood fairly well until the '80s, but on my experience their failure rate is at least 90% today, while the failure rate of ceramic pick-ups is nearly 0%, and the few that failed were basically broken due to mechanical reasons, not due to a failure of the crystal itself.

When I was younger and more spare parts were available and I used to do really crazy things in order to resurrect dead machines, I "implanted" a small crystal spare stylus inside a bigger dead cartridge. Quite amazingly the sound was pretty good. However, the crystal stylus proven to be very fragile and used to break whenever the arm fell accidentally (not such an unfrequent event with those records that don't feature a run-in groove).
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