They are adaptors for old 45 rpm records...vinyl discs. With these adaptors you could play a 45 record on a record player that only had the small thimble for playing 33 rpm records.
Surely you can come up with a better mystery part...DenO
Mine was solid...never had one of the new-fangled ones
Mine kinda looked like a Phenolic brownish-red solid toilet paper roll center with a 1/4" or so center hole to go over the shaft of the main stackable audio storage management system.
These things have historical value. They served their purpose well in those years but now the way they're being repurposed is the most remarkable of all. This is probably part two of the mystery part guessing thread..
BTW I don't get vinyl nostalgia. Clicks, pops and a media that slowly erased itself with each use. Ok maybe useful as an existentialist metaphor, and but not for music.
BTW I don't get vinyl nostalgia. Clicks, pops and a media that slowly erased itself with each use. Ok maybe useful as an existentialist metaphor, and but not for music.
I agree, and the use of a tube in audio systems is equally puzzling to me.
I never used erco's adapters, I have to admit I did't know the answer of the mystery. I grew up with both 33 and 45 records, we also had a few 78 records, I remember they were easy to break in pieces. Usually the 45-records (here) were made with the small hole and we could break out the inner part of the record to be able to use the adapter...
Record players here came with adapters, the white one on the picture is from late fifties or early sixties, the black one came from one of the latest player I bought, around 1990 I think. Both from Philips.
My Philips player is lacking this item. Unfortunately, as it's an automatic, that's a bit of a specialty item.
(About the size of two thin matchstick boxes standing end on end, with a couple of moving parts on the top end)
As for why they use tubes for amps, its because tubes have very linear amplification.
(Take a look at the datasheet of any transistor and you'll see the problem)
The reason they 'dropped out of sight' when the transistor cam on the market is that transistors are simple, not dangerous(no need for high voltages... ) and of course, they didn't need a noisy transformer on the output stage.
Have any of you tried to play a 45 without one of those adapters?
It isn't easy. I have eleven siblings. I think those adapter looked too much like toys to my younger siblings (nine of them are younger). To play a 45 without the adapter, I had to keep nudging the record a little until the hole didn't look like it was wobbling. Then very carefully place the needle. This would usually work even if the record wasn't completely centered.
@Micro, You're a good sport. Thanks for playing. You made this a fun thread.
Phil made it a funny thread. He ought to write Jeopardy questions.
@erco, you still owe me one million Fahnestock clips.
I think my sister still has every 45 record she ever bought. But without those inserts, one might be hard put to find a record player with a 45 RPM center post. The funny thing is that after I arrived in Taiwan, I got all of that stuff on CD as the Taiwanese were more than happy to produce anything that didn't seem to have an active copyright.
I just played "How much is that doggy in the window" and "Itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka dot bikini" to one of my English students this evening, along with 'The lion sleeps tonight'.
I agree, and the use of a tube in audio systems is equally puzzling to me.
You're being sarcastic, right?
Just about every pro recording studio I've worked in uses tube-based microphone pre-amplifiers. Some producers even insist on coming in with their own, because they've tweaked them just the way they want. The distinctive quality comes from tube-based amps having even order harmonics as a primary distortion product (even when not intentionally driven into distortion), matching that of most instruments, and the human voice. This gives the sound a warmth that most recordists and producers strive for.
I've just looked back at the previous posts and realized that Phil was hinting at the answer with every remark. That's cruel, I tell you! (and, unfortunately, funny)
Just about every pro recording studio I've worked in uses tube-based microphone pre-amplifiers. Some producers even insist on coming in with their own, because they've tweaked them just the way they want. The distinctive quality comes from tube-based amps having even order harmonics as a primary distortion product (even when not intentionally driven into distortion), matching that of most instruments, and the human voice. This gives the sound a warmth that most recordists and producers strive for.
BTW I don't get vinyl nostalgia. Clicks, pops and a media that slowly erased itself with each use. Ok maybe useful as an existentialist metaphor, and but not for music.
You have to consider listening habits. Audiophiles into vinyl tend not to listen to the LPs with headphones, where surface noise is the most obvious. With a good audio system and room acoustics even a fairly noisy LP will sound more than acceptable.
Music used to be engineered for the LP, and many CDs were (and some still are), engineered with the same same response characteristics meant originally for LP reproduction. The CD sounds okay, but it may not be what the engineer and artist intended.
Then there's the true nostalgia aspect. Having the actual LP to Moody Blues 'Nights in White Satin' -- THE major party makeout record of the time -- often brings back fun and fond memories. I know if does to me!
Finally, it's all what you're used to, I guess. I can't stand MP3 recordings. Overcompressed. It sounds like 8-track to me. I much prefer CD. (And no, I seldom play my LPs. It's too much of a hassle. But I'm not about to sell them. My copy of 'Mister Spocks Music from Outer Space' means a lot to me!)
No, not new or used. I'd have to mortgage my house to afford just the tubes! There are crazies out there that have made this stuff impossible for ordinary people to buy.
I think my sister still has every 45 record she ever bought.
45s are highly collectible, especially if she's saved the sleeves. Even more collectible are the airplay and comp versions of popular songs from Elvis, Beatles, whatever. They may be one-sided, have a standard spindle hole (they may be 45-size, but are actually 33-1/3), or may be marked Not for Sale.
Most of the MP3 turntables I've seen include the spindle insert, or it pops up from the center when needed. (That's how my 60s record player worked.)
As far as Martin_H's not getting the vinyl nostalgia and media that slowly erased itself with each use, their were some of us that used fancy needles and cartridges and we treated our vinyl like babies.
With a 45 you were "guaranteed to be satisfied" with at least half of your single item purchase.
With 33+1/3 LPs (albums) you might get 2 hits out of 8 to 12 songs - still true for CDs.
There were some albums that were 100% joy for me though: Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti for example.
their were some of us that used fancy needles and cartridges and treated our vinyl like babies.
Unfortunately, I was not one of these. I tended to be very inconsiderate of my records.
BTW, and for those interested, I'm fully away my description of the advantages of tubes is subjective, the subject of lots of debate, and wholly incomplete (second order harmonics, difference in single-ended versus push-pull, all that). I just wanted to point out that while it is a subjective matter, a surprising amount of audio you hear, from modern state-of-the-art recording studios, was passed through tubes. Like this one:
With a 45 you were "guaranteed to be satisfied" with at least half of your single item purchase.
With 33+1/3 LPs (albums) you might get 2 hits out of 8 to 12 songs - still true for CDs.
Though they often intentionally used to put a "dog" on the B-side, to save as many potential hits for separate records.
Sometimes they goofed, with two hits on the same 45. A very famous one is Elvis with "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog." And let's not forget the millions they lost pairing "Let's Spend the Night Together" with "Ruby Tuesday" on the same 45. The dopes!
It's also much more satisfying to flip through LPs (or even 45s) in the record shop than trying the same with CDs. I remember walking down town after school to flip through all the records and pick out the ones I wanted to listen to, so that a few of them would come home with me if I had the money. I had the flipping technique hands down. Can't really be done with CDs. Not to mention mp3.. and then there's the Album factor of LPs: The covers, sometime full booklets in the Right Size.
I was also one of those with a carefully set up turntable system.. hand-built turntable, super-balanced special pickup arm, and a pickup with a 0.6g needle pressure. Still got it, under a dust cover.
Finally, I only ever used those round 45 record adapters (as the black one in the picture posted by Moskog). Never saw a 45 with a center hole that wasn't round.. so never used those pictured by erco. Maybe 45s were different in Europe?
Those rectangular things posted by erco are changer adapters, not record adapters. They slide over the turntable's spindle, and the little ears that stick out of each side engage with the spindle's slotted changer mechanism, so you can add a stack of large-round-holed 45's to be played automatically. When I was a kid, we had one that was round instead of rectangular, but the principle was the same.
I've always wondered why 45's had the large hole. Was it to make it easier for jukeboxes to handle them? Or was it because they could be used with a self-contained changer mechanism that didn't require a separate stabilizer arm?
One summer, when I was in college, I worked a short stint at a record-pressing plant. The LP's were made semi-automatically in a press that worked like a waffle iron. The hot vinyl ooze was deposited in the middle, the two shells clamped shut, and the stuff that came out the edges was trimmed off by a blade. The LP's were treated with kid gloves in that plant. The 45's, OTOH, were made in screw-ram injection molding machines. Everything was automatic, and the finished records just rolled down a chute. They didn't receive nearly the kid-glove treatment that the LP's got.
Comments
Surely you can come up with a better mystery part...DenO
Mine kinda looked like a Phenolic brownish-red solid toilet paper roll center with a 1/4" or so center hole to go over the shaft of the main stackable audio storage management system.
Frank
-- Gordon
@Microcontrolled: Your dogged persistence and curiosity made it fun!
@everyone: Hysterically witty contributions from all. PhiPi has a very special gift !
Indeed! lol.
BTW I don't get vinyl nostalgia. Clicks, pops and a media that slowly erased itself with each use. Ok maybe useful as an existentialist metaphor, and but not for music.
I'm 34, but I had to ask someone older ....
I agree, and the use of a tube in audio systems is equally puzzling to me.
I never used erco's adapters, I have to admit I did't know the answer of the mystery. I grew up with both 33 and 45 records, we also had a few 78 records, I remember they were easy to break in pieces. Usually the 45-records (here) were made with the small hole and we could break out the inner part of the record to be able to use the adapter...
Record players here came with adapters, the white one on the picture is from late fifties or early sixties, the black one came from one of the latest player I bought, around 1990 I think. Both from Philips.
(About the size of two thin matchstick boxes standing end on end, with a couple of moving parts on the top end)
As for why they use tubes for amps, its because tubes have very linear amplification.
(Take a look at the datasheet of any transistor and you'll see the problem)
The reason they 'dropped out of sight' when the transistor cam on the market is that transistors are simple, not dangerous(no need for high voltages... ) and of course, they didn't need a noisy transformer on the output stage.
It isn't easy. I have eleven siblings. I think those adapter looked too much like toys to my younger siblings (nine of them are younger). To play a 45 without the adapter, I had to keep nudging the record a little until the hole didn't look like it was wobbling. Then very carefully place the needle. This would usually work even if the record wasn't completely centered.
@Micro, You're a good sport. Thanks for playing. You made this a fun thread.
Phil made it a funny thread. He ought to write Jeopardy questions.
@erco, you still owe me one million Fahnestock clips.
Duane
I just played "How much is that doggy in the window" and "Itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka dot bikini" to one of my English students this evening, along with 'The lion sleeps tonight'.
You're being sarcastic, right?
Just about every pro recording studio I've worked in uses tube-based microphone pre-amplifiers. Some producers even insist on coming in with their own, because they've tweaked them just the way they want. The distinctive quality comes from tube-based amps having even order harmonics as a primary distortion product (even when not intentionally driven into distortion), matching that of most instruments, and the human voice. This gives the sound a warmth that most recordists and producers strive for.
-- Gordon
+1
I guess you never owned a Macintosh Amp?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Laboratory
Still worlds ahead of any transistor amp IMHO.
Jim
You have to consider listening habits. Audiophiles into vinyl tend not to listen to the LPs with headphones, where surface noise is the most obvious. With a good audio system and room acoustics even a fairly noisy LP will sound more than acceptable.
Music used to be engineered for the LP, and many CDs were (and some still are), engineered with the same same response characteristics meant originally for LP reproduction. The CD sounds okay, but it may not be what the engineer and artist intended.
Then there's the true nostalgia aspect. Having the actual LP to Moody Blues 'Nights in White Satin' -- THE major party makeout record of the time -- often brings back fun and fond memories. I know if does to me!
Finally, it's all what you're used to, I guess. I can't stand MP3 recordings. Overcompressed. It sounds like 8-track to me. I much prefer CD. (And no, I seldom play my LPs. It's too much of a hassle. But I'm not about to sell them. My copy of 'Mister Spocks Music from Outer Space' means a lot to me!)
-- Gordon
No, not new or used. I'd have to mortgage my house to afford just the tubes! There are crazies out there that have made this stuff impossible for ordinary people to buy.
-- Gordon
45s are highly collectible, especially if she's saved the sleeves. Even more collectible are the airplay and comp versions of popular songs from Elvis, Beatles, whatever. They may be one-sided, have a standard spindle hole (they may be 45-size, but are actually 33-1/3), or may be marked Not for Sale.
Most of the MP3 turntables I've seen include the spindle insert, or it pops up from the center when needed. (That's how my 60s record player worked.)
-- Gordon
With 33+1/3 LPs (albums) you might get 2 hits out of 8 to 12 songs - still true for CDs.
There were some albums that were 100% joy for me though: Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti for example.
Unfortunately, I was not one of these. I tended to be very inconsiderate of my records.
BTW, and for those interested, I'm fully away my description of the advantages of tubes is subjective, the subject of lots of debate, and wholly incomplete (second order harmonics, difference in single-ended versus push-pull, all that). I just wanted to point out that while it is a subjective matter, a surprising amount of audio you hear, from modern state-of-the-art recording studios, was passed through tubes. Like this one:
http://www.avalondesign.com/vt737sp.html
-- Gordon
Though they often intentionally used to put a "dog" on the B-side, to save as many potential hits for separate records.
Sometimes they goofed, with two hits on the same 45. A very famous one is Elvis with "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog." And let's not forget the millions they lost pairing "Let's Spend the Night Together" with "Ruby Tuesday" on the same 45. The dopes!
-- Gordon
I was also one of those with a carefully set up turntable system.. hand-built turntable, super-balanced special pickup arm, and a pickup with a 0.6g needle pressure. Still got it, under a dust cover.
Finally, I only ever used those round 45 record adapters (as the black one in the picture posted by Moskog). Never saw a 45 with a center hole that wasn't round.. so never used those pictured by erco. Maybe 45s were different in Europe?
-Tor
I've always wondered why 45's had the large hole. Was it to make it easier for jukeboxes to handle them? Or was it because they could be used with a self-contained changer mechanism that didn't require a separate stabilizer arm?
One summer, when I was in college, I worked a short stint at a record-pressing plant. The LP's were made semi-automatically in a press that worked like a waffle iron. The hot vinyl ooze was deposited in the middle, the two shells clamped shut, and the stuff that came out the edges was trimmed off by a blade. The LP's were treated with kid gloves in that plant. The 45's, OTOH, were made in screw-ram injection molding machines. Everything was automatic, and the finished records just rolled down a chute. They didn't receive nearly the kid-glove treatment that the LP's got.
-Phil
Wow, I have a collection of several hundred vacuum tubes, including about a dozen NOS 12AX7. Maybe I should try to find out what they're worth.