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

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 8:12 am
by Orchorsol
Marco Gilardetti wrote: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).
I bow to your greater knowledge and experience Marco, many thanks! I guess I was assuming the head of the turntable in question was an early one, the type of which most are cream in colour and twist to change styli, as opposed to the later black/silver type with the flip-under styli - but I could be wrong - and I don't know whether the change coincided with the move from Rochelle salt to ceramic, but I suspect that might be the case.

I must say in the past I've been surprised several times by how good these little Philips players can sound. They seem to punch above their weight.

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

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:13 pm
by poodling around
Marco Gilardetti wrote: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).
Hi Marco,

I am sorry, as I have only just seen your comment re: the stroboscopic disc.

I don't have a scanner so will take a photo of it for tomorrow if that is any good ?

Also, it has a crease across it and is slightly 'warped' (does not lie flat) so I am unsure as to how useful the photo would be but I will post the photo tomorrow unless it is pointless under the circumstances. :(

Sadly by the way, I am unable to find a competent electrician to wire it up and test it for me.

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

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:27 am
by poodling around
Marco Gilardetti wrote: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).

Well, the good news is that I found a scanner hidden away.

The disc did not lay exactly flat and there is a crease.

I hope that these copies are of some use though.

The diameter (the length of the line through the centre and touching two points on its edge) of the disc is 10 cm.

Oh, the stroboscopic disc had two different sides - copied below.

I wonder what 60 and 50 c/s means ?

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

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:50 am
by fran604g
C/S = cps = Hz = cycle per second; frequency. In this case of the mains voltage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz

Fran

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

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 5:26 am
by poodling around
fran604g wrote:C/S = cps = Hz = cycle per second; frequency. In this case of the mains voltage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz

Fran

Thank you very much Fran.

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

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 5:59 am
by fran604g
You're very welcome.