Playing vinyl on my Credenza

[SittingRabbit]

My friend from high-school, who has been into victrolas since a teenager, said he's seen conversions for playing vinyl on victrolas, like a lightweight sound box that could play vinyl without hurting the record. Has anyone here seen one and where I could get one?

Thanks everyone!

[PeterF]

Yeah, sort of. But how many vinyl discs have you got that spin at 78 rpm? There are some from the fifties, but not many.

Probably not worth the pursuit.

[SittingRabbit]

Yeah, sort of. But how many vinyl discs have you got that spin at 78 rpm? There are some from the fifties, but not many.

Probably not worth the pursuit.

Hmmm, you have a point!

[OrthoFan]

I've never seen a lightweight reproducer/adapter kit that would enable an acoustic phonograph to play vinyl records.

If your friend mean's "modern" vinyl LPs that spin at 33 ⅓ rpm, there's also the issue of the microgrove--which is about ⅓ the width of a standard 78 groove--to consider. Along this line, a stereo LP groove is modulated horizontally as well as vertically, so the needle or stylus would have to respond accordingly or it would scour the bottom of the groove.

Of course, there were kiddie acoustic phonographs available throughout the 1970s that would "play" vinyl 45 rpm recordings, notably the Close-N-Play phonograph:

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

A few of my friends had one and I remember that they generally sounded horrible; probably because the records were all chewed up.

OrthoFan

[Jerry B.]

There are many many empty Victrola cabinets in the wild. Why not buy an empty Victrola cabinet, put a modern turntable under the lid and put the receiver in the record storage area. Many Victrola cabinets could be used without modification so, at some future date, it could be properly restored. A larger Victrola cabinet, like a VV-XVI, is wide enough for a receiver and a good candidate. Just a suggestion...

Jerry Blais

[52089]

There is someone on eBay from time to time who makes and sells a counterweight spring setup to reduce the tracking weight to where you could possibly play a vinyl record without completely destroying it the first time. I know of no one here on the board who uses one of these. Ever.

[SittingRabbit]

Lol, these are really neat ideas gentleman! I didn't know that 45 groves were different. I thought that if it were light enough, maybe with a wood needle, and slowed the speed down somehow, I could play some Alice Cooper, Doobie Bros, etc on it, or some Ozzy haha! Those, plus my classical records.

[BillH_NJ]

The stylus tip size is different for 33 and 45 rpm records (labeled as “micro groove” when first marketed) and the tracking force is MUCH lower than you could achieve with any acoustic reproducer, generally 5 to 10:grams for early ceramic cartridges and under 2 grams for better cartridges from the past few decades.

[SittingRabbit]

The stylus tip size is different for 33 and 45 rpm records (labeled as “micro groove” when first marketed) and the tracking force is MUCH lower than you could achieve with any acoustic reproducer, generally 5 to 10:grams for early ceramic cartridges and under 2 grams for better cartridges from the past few decades.

I figured it'd sound like crap, but neat anyhow. I think he said the sound box was designed with a 45s needle with the same angle too.

[edisonplayer]

I always thought that it wouldn't be possible to play vinyl 78s on a Credenza since the tonearm would be too heavy.edisonplayer