HMV Speed tester on Ebay
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- Victor VI
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- Auxetophone
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
I have one of these, they are great!
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- Victor IV
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
So these actually work pretty well, huh?
- epigramophone
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
I use the low-tech method, counting the revolutions of a small piece of paper sandwiched between the record and the turntable.
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- Victor VI
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
I used to do that but now cheat regularly with a stroboscope. I own four different HMV Speed testers and yet I've never actually tried one out!
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- Auxetophone
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
I would say yes, as long as you want to calibrate the machine at 78rpm. This obviously won't work for all applications, like Pathé machines for instance. It's certainly a good starting point and they are easy to use.Garret wrote:So these actually work pretty well, huh?
- Henry
- Victor V
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
OK, I give up. How does the darn thing work?
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- Auxetophone
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
You place the device on the turntable spindle (there's a hole in the bottom) and as the turntable is rotating, the gold disc on the top will become flush with the top of the tester at 78rpm. If the disc is above the surface of the tester, it's going too slow, and if it is below the surface, it's going too fast. There is a calibrated weight inside that reacts to centrifugal force and raises or lowers the gold disc in relation to speed.Henry wrote:OK, I give up. How does the darn thing work?
Here is mine:
- Henry
- Victor V
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
Aha! Thanks for the explanation.
- epigramophone
- Victor Monarch Special
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- Personal Text: An analogue relic trapped in a digital world.
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Re: HMV Speed tester on Ebay
This rather battered contraption is a Columbia Speed Tester, calibrated to be "correct" at 80rpm.
Like the HMV it locates on the turntable spindle, but displays a coloured indicator. Green indicates speed 80, white is too slow and red is too fast.
Unfortunately my example is broken, so I have never seen it in action.
Like the HMV it locates on the turntable spindle, but displays a coloured indicator. Green indicates speed 80, white is too slow and red is too fast.
Unfortunately my example is broken, so I have never seen it in action.