"Magic Brain" Victrola

[JHolmesesq]

These things are great! I found a video of another one here:

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=hkHxXL4 ... re=related[/YouTube]

I have to say, I let out a yelp at the way it practically throws that 12" record off the turntable :S

[gregbogantz]

Barry, you will undoubtedly have to replace or rebuild the "magic tone cells", aka the crystal pickups. RCA was fascinated with this "magic" terminology during the 1930s. Also, you'll probably find that the platter turns at a considerably wrong speed. The platter motor (there is a separate one for the change cycle mechanism) is a 4-pole, split phase design that requires a phasing capacitor. When this capacitor is not the correct value (nominally 1.1 mfd), the speed of the motor and turntable is affected. And the rubber idler wheels and a few other rubber bits will require restoration. The tonearm operates with a series of counterbalance springs that apply the upward and downward tracking forces, so you have to get those adjusted correctly. Other than that and a good cleaning, there isn't too much involved in getting the changer to work. But it's a fun piece of automation and makes great show-and-tell for friends. Have fun with it.

[Guest]

Jewel-lite scanner? I assume they just mean that it uses a sapphire stylus or (?) Now that's what I call marketing, from the name of this feature I was picturing a laser beam shooting out of a ruby and reading the grooves. : ) I think I've got one or two of these sleeves in my collection, I'll see if I can dig one up and look at it some more. Anybody thinks that this machine drops records haphazardly, it is almost gentle compared to my Victor 10-50. The only danger I can imagine with these record-dropping players is if the record already has a crack in it.