The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Today I am excited to have picked up an A-250 in the wild. It has sat for the last decade under a blanket in a dry garage. I was told it has remained in the same family since it was originally purchased.

Overall, the cabinet and finish has remained in alright shape - no major scratches or gashes, just the standard alligatored fare - and I hope to clean it up a little further to get her shining.

The bedplate had gotten jolted at some point (likely a decade ago when it was moved) and has rested out of place on the wooden shoulder until today. I have included a photo (from the listing) showing how the bedplate sat.

The motor and/or gearing, however, are stiff and the turntable does not rotate freely - even though, and much to my dismay - it seems that the motor has sat partially wound for who knows how long.

My first questions are:

1) How best to clean to top of the bedplate? I have read these early ones are prone to flake and I do not want to damage.

2) Can the bedplate & motor be removed independently of the horn on these early models? It looks that way from a quick glance but I only have experience with the later standard type.

Congrats on your purchase!

Here's some info about how the motor and horn interact on an A-series DD:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42562&hilit=a250

By the looks of the record on the turntable, you need a new stylus.
If you lower the needle in the smooth black run-out area of the disc and brown lines appear, the stylus is damaged and will ruin any records you play.

Congratulations on obtaining an excellent example A250. I own one and it has given me many hours of pleasure playing diamond disks. I enjoy my A250 so much that I don't think I will ever part with it. The bed plate is where you have to be very careful to avoid flaking. Light cleaning with a microfiber cloth can even pull up flakes of paint. One of my main springs broke after so many years of use. I replaced it myself and you can read about that here. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=48067 I leave some tension on the spring between use and I give the crank around 12 turns for each play of one side of a disk.

Thanks all for the replies and helpful information on safely removing the bedplate. Some careful and light cleaning has vastly improved the bedplate.

Audiophile102 - thanks for sharing. Your series of videos on the A-250 motor are very informative

As 52089 and gramophoneshane have pointed out, the stylus is indeed bad. I believe when the last owners transported it, the reproducer was left in the machine to bang against the turntable.

I noticed the diaphragm in the reproducer is not original - is anyone familiar with the look of it? Or is it a homebrew? Coupled with the ID tape on the reproducer, it seems this was worked on by a third party at some point.

Modern replacements for the diaphragm sound much better than the originals and unless you are a stickler for authenticity you might want to buy one. Read about it here. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46161