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Vision 2000, c.1971. courtesy, thevinylfactory.com Crosley Crosley Dansette Junior Record Player CR6234A Side View with
Front Speaker Open Lid with records playing
age design really took off in the late 1960s and Panasonic engineer Shuichi Obata solved this
early ‘70s, impacting the look of everyday problem with the direct-drive SP10 turntable in
household technology from TVs to toasters. For 1969, which operated via motor. Since then,
example, the Electrohome Apollo series housed its direct-drive turntables continue to be produced
machinery in a tinted dome, and came complete alongside belt-drive turntables, and the idler-
with two spherical speakers. Similarly, Weltron wheel, which uses a system of gears operated by
2005/2007 turntables resemble UFOs, with their motor. For those who have an SP10 in their attic,
flattened round bodies containing a radio, speakers, these machines will sell for at least a $1,000
cassette deck, and turntable. Further abstracted online. In August, 2017, Panasonic announced it
was the Vision 2000, launched in 1971, in which is re-launching the SP10 at the IFA 2017
the turntable appears suspended in the center of a tradeshow in Berlin. Panasonic describes it as
large Plexiglas bubble, conjuring images from the the brand’s “most premium turntable ever,” com-
1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. plete with a heavy 7KG platter made of brass,
The popularity of record players was not aluminum and rubber. The price is yet to be
restricted to the United States. In Japan, toymakers revealed, but it appears to be aimed at
mass-produced them in cheap plastic with eye- audiophiles able to invest at a high level.
popping colors and unexpected forms. One of the After the advent of digital music and mp3
most bizarre examples to come out of Japan was players in the late 1990s, many began to mourn
the AT-727 Sound Burger designed in the early the loss of vinyl LPs. The once annoying crackle-
1980s by Japanese manufacturer Audio Technica and-pop noise that alerted people to dust and
as an alternative to the recently-invented portable scratches, or the clicks and skips produced by
walkmans. The battery-powered player consisted Advertisement for a Westinghouse Duo cheap plastic record players have now become
of two eight-inch arms that clamped 45 and 33.5 record player, circa 1948. symbols of nostalgia among listeners. The revival
RPM records between them, leaving the vinyl and of vinyl LPs and record players in the last ten
needle exposed. Although short-lived, the Sound years attests to the desire to slow things down
Burger was reportedly popular enough in Japan and experience music as the artists originally
that Sony tried to make a U.S version which intended: carefully, methodically, and socially.
stood upright, called the Flamingo. Flawed from Among younger generations, an interest in
the outset, both players relied on mechanized mid-century design has propelled the
pressure to move the needle, often damaging the manufacture of inexpensive record players by
record. However, both models can command companies like Crosley, who go so far as to
between $500 and $1,000 on the secondhand imitate the look of vintage players from the era.
market, making these a unique and visually Record players continue to connect people to
stimulating collectible. an era of music that has become, like these
By the 1990s, it was clear that record players machines, an antique. Yet the phonographs and
were becoming an obsolete technology. However, sound gadgets of yesteryear make for fascinating
turntables experienced a renaissance among the collectibles by virtue of their unique designs and
re-mixers and hip-hop artists of the early ‘80s historical technology. Maybe it’s time to dust off
such as Grandmaster Flash, who invented the that old LP and give it another spin.
distinctive “record scratch” sound popular in the
genre. More sophisticated turntables allowed Erica Lome is the Peggy N.
artists to control two separate records at once and Gerry Curatorial Associate at the
experiment with mixing their sound. Disk Concord Museum. She received
Jockeys (DJs) tried using the traditional belt-drive her Ph.D. in History and
turntables but found that the belt would Material Culture from the
frequently break from attempts to manually Advertisement for Motorola’s 1957 University of Delaware.
manipulate the record while it was spinning. Calypso portable record player
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