I am looking for a record player that would be good for playing 78 rpm records on. That is probably the only thing I would be using it for as I have little interest in anything besides early twentieth century music. I do not know much about record players (this will be my first one), but before I became too busy with college to pay any attention to the matter I had been reading an obscene amount of information about them online. I've unfortunately forgotten much of it but I put a lot of the recommendations from the pages I read into a text file and I'll just put down what I had typed there. These are some specifications that are more or less essential for my purposes.
-Variable speed control from 60 to at least 100 rpm (for all the records that weren't cut at exactly 78 rpm)
-Able to play vertical and lateral records
-Able to play Pathe records
I probably also need recommendations as to phono preamp, cartridges, styli (truncated conical and elliptical), loudspeakers, graphic equalizer, etc. as I do not have any of that stuff, either. For the cartridges, the text file recommends Stanton 500 AL, Stanton 750 AL (P mount), Shure M44, Shure SC35, or Ortofon Pro. Stereo, not mono. For the styli, it says to get various truncated conical and elliptical styli for the different kinds of records out there. The phono pre-amp should have non-RIAA equalization or a "flat" setting or alternatively I would get a graphic equalizer (10 band minimum) to cancel out the RIAA curve. I have no idea what that last sentence even means anymore but it's right there in the text file so I guess it must be important.
Actually, I am wondering if it might not be a good idea to pick up an antique phonograph. I was originally thinking of getting a more modern turntable since that's what most of the sites I read generally suggested, but there are some flea markets and antique stores in a nearby town that have some antique phonographs that look like they might be good deals. The first one that caught my interest is a Brunswick phonograph that apparently works (the guy who owned it wasn't there at the time but from what I understand it seems like he might be someone who actually knows something about these things and can take care of them, unlike everyone else I've dealt with who can't tell me a thing about what they're selling) and looks like it is in at least decent condition. I can't say exactly which kind it is, but it looks like the phonograph on this eBay page:
He's selling it for $350, I believe. Is that a fair price? Would it fulfill the requirements I outlined above? If it does, it would be very tempting to get it as I imagine it would look quite nice in my study.
Lastly, I went to another antique shop and I found an Edison Diamond Disc C19 (Chippendale) Phonograph that looks like it's in pretty decent condition as well. I've been assured that it plays (the guy who owns it has apparently played records on it from time to time) and it even comes with the key and the manual. The storage space inside it is also almost completely filled up with Edison records. I know that the C19 only plays Edison records so I would have to get something else to play the other records that I'd like to play, but he's selling this phonograph for only $250 and that seemed like it might be a pretty good deal. I looked it up on eBay and it seems like it's going for a LOT more than that. What do you think?
If I decided to get an antique phonograph, what should I know about taking care of it and playing the records properly on them? What sorts of items should I get besides the phonograph itself? I think I read that one should replace the needle every time one plays a record on them (because of how heavily they track, if I remember correctly). Is that true? Also, should I decide to digitize my records, how would I go about doing that if I am playing them on an antique phonograph? If you have any web resources that you feel would be very helpful to me, please send the links my way.
Thank you in advance for all the advice. I'm sorry for asking so much. It is clear that I am going to have to review all of those sites I visited as after a month of doing nothing but studying for finals I am now only vaguely familiar with much of this stuff. It is so much to take in all at once!
Edited by DockBoggs - 5/20/11 at 12:45am
