Most spoken word records or "talking books" for the blind were pressed on 10" records which played at 8 1/3 RPM! My grandmother, who was legally blind, listened to them on a special phonograph especially made for playing spoken word records. These special low speed record players had only 2 speeds: 8 1/3 and 16 2/3 RPM.
The tape is running at half the speed of a normal cassette. Depending on the tape, they would roll off around 8-10KHZ. With tape wear over time that degrades some. The heads on the player need to be cleaned and demagnetized periodically to restore playback fidelity. The playback heads do wear out over time. I worked in a place that used to service them. They get user a lot
My grandfather had a 3-speed talking books player: 33, 16, 8 (33 1/3, 16 2/3, 8 1/3). Talking Books records were 16 RPM until 1967 when they started making them at 8 RPM. Before 1967, the players had only 33 and 16, so they had to apply again for the new player with the new 8 RPM speed.
it sounds like 'regular' fidelity sounded prior to high fidelity in 1955. All radios before then sounded just a tad more 'dull' than after hi-fi was introduced but it's very impressive for 16rpm, in my opinion. Thanks for posting it
For those who haven't gone through all the old comments: The song is "A Taste Of Honey" By Herb Alpert and the Tijuana. It was a major hit in the USA in the fall of 1965 (especially among adults), and won the "Record Of The Year" Grammy award that year. 16 2/3 RPM records saw very limited use in the US. LP (33 1/3) phonographs were already ubiquitous in the US, but 16's did see use in a mobile record player (which did not sell well) and talking book records.
Sound's Amazing I don't know why these didn't catch on. My grandparents had a stereo that had 16 33 45 78 speeds on it years ago. Never seen a 16 mph record being played before.
some ceramic carts are surprisingly good. Ceramic really isn't that horrible if/when done right :). There's definitely tracking issues here. Worn stylus, maybe, or a worn record. It could be (even) better!
WOW! I have NEVER watched a 16rpm record in action. And I never thought they put music on 16's, just audiobooks. Interesting. Five stars and favorited!
whoops! Thanks intersonus! As a stereo buff AND Mac user, I should know better! Sucks getting old. Isnt it interesting that we listen to highly compressed music in real life, but long for analog and have to watch what we USED to have thru a tiny little 2" x 2" window, with audio thats even more compressed. Respect for those who have real analog at home! jon
I'm with Trance88 I never see a 16 RPM record and I have been looking all the time. They sound pretty darn good and can give hours of music. Thanks for the post. I don't why they were not made more common.
I recall the 16rpm setting on most of my parents' record players, but I don't think we ever had a 16-2/3 record to play. Only good for slowing down the 33s and 45s' for a laugh. I suppose loss in fidelity not comparable to slower magnetic tape speeds. Sounds good. :)
You are one of the few people out there that has remembered the 16 rpm setting on a phonograph, and as a child there were no 16 rpm records available that I knew of, but it was fun to play a 33 1/3 rpm on the 16 rpm setting for fun.
@@lydiagray1627 16 rpm records really were kind of scarce in the consumer market. They had been developed for 'spoken word' recordings (aka talking books and similar), but there was considerable expectation that the format would be improved for use with music. There were even efforts to do so, but with only very modest success, and 33 and 45 records were more prevalent and readily available, so.... yeah, 16 rpm never really did take off, and by the early 1970s, newer record players were being made without that setting.
16rpm speed was mainly used for "audiobooks" on records, by subscription, for the blind. Those records had to be returned after listening. It's why you find tons of 70s players with 16rpm on them, but no records from then.
there were 2 kinds of record "plastic"- a styrene blend, and vinyl. The styrene was stiffer, wouldnt bend/flex as easily, and was notorious for surface noise. Virgin vinyl was blacker, glossier, and more pliable, and very silent-no needle noise. 16 rpm really shows surface noise during quiet passages. Judging by how amazingly clean this lp sounds, my guess is that it was pressed on virgin vinyl.
i LOVE this song.. there's a great consignment shop up the road from me but I couldn't find many Herb Alpert LP's of 45's. The ones I did didn't have this song.. But I picked up a 45 with "Flamingo" and "So What's New".. can't complain too much :)
Our late '40s "stereo" cabinet had settings from 16rpms to 78. We never had a 16 rpms record, but every now & then we'd play a record at that speed just for slow-mo!
I saw God on 4 hits of LSD in 1974. That was trippy! The music sounded great! Little Feat, Derek & the Dominos, Pure Prairie League & such. I had to drive 240 miles that day!
That sounds pretty darn good. You'd think at 16 2/3 the WOW & FLUTTER would be much more obvious. Esp with the longer horn notes. Sounds nice. Cool vintage turntable too.
I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 16 RPM record till I purchased an old Cabinet HiFi from Goodwill yesterday. I got a few Herb Albert LP's myself. My favorite has to be Whipped Cream & Other Delights, simply for the album artwork.
I also own a Garrad 4HF on the same base it looks great and sounds great too, and im restoring a second unit too. Nice Video thanks for putting it on here to show
I saw one for sale at Goodwill, it was in a small plastic green suitcase housing, but was missing the cartridge in the tonearm. It said 'property of the U.S. Government' or something like that, specifically made for the blind. It had a built-in speaker and only 16 2/3 & 33 1/3 speeds to choose from.
When I was in high school we had our language courses with 16RPM records to learn the proper pronunciation. The teachers would play them in class and were made to be used with our textbooks. You could choose which language you wanted to.learn whether German Portuguese Castilian Spanish French or Dutch
The book is called Audio and Visual Systems - Principles, Maintenance and Troubleshooting by RG Gupta. Pages 78-87 go into great detail on the subject. You can preview the book (and these pages) for free on Google
I think that this is fascinating! When I was a child we had a phonograph that had four speeds, 16, 33 1/3, 45 and 78 rpm's . Many people that I have spoken to have never heard of a phonograph that plays records at 16 rpm's, that was a brief time in history, but fun to remember, if you play a 33 1/3 rpm record at 16 rpm's , it sounds funny!
In Australia , out first family radiogram from Phillips had all these four speeds as standard. Not a high end model , but a suitcase like portable with latches and a carry handle. Valves rather than transistorised. Only found one 16 and 2/3 rpm record. Came with a car magazine for the launch of the 1972 HQ Holden car. A very thin flimsy flexible record. That speed was conmon on Australian market record players in the sixties. The records much rarer, not really taking off for normal music ranges.
...In addition, that Garrard is in beautiful condition - if there were any idlers worn, etc, you'd hear the "wow" (wavering), but it is rock solid- a great piece of American industrial engineering, and in great shape. And how about that sweet, fat analog sound! Play THIS thru a Macintosh amp and a pair of klipschorns - bada-BOOM!
They had a lot of good tunes but then he dumped the band, got in bed with Burt Bacharach, went & did This Guy's In Love or whatever the hell it was & went over the hill! God I hated that song & all that Bacharach did, like those Crapenters tunes, LMAO!!!
Very cool, especially considering that the first song on a 16 RPM has the same fidelity as the last song on a 33 RPM - but I'll bet the last song on that 16 RPM sounded pretty bad! Thanks for running the audio direct so I could hear how it really sounded - great job!
Thank you for sharing a 16rpm I always wanted to own one, I heard there are plenty in Canada, I just don't see myself going there to get one. Heck I want a wire recorder now :) thanks for sharing ....
As far as the 78 goes, yes it exerted a lot of energy but that was due to the weight and reproducing mechanism more so than the speed. Another thing to consider is the RIAA curve. Bass frequencies are cut to about -20 db (or more) and high frequencies are boosted when the record is cut. When it is played back the opposite occurs within the pre amp. This is why acoustically recorded 78s sound like crap played on modern equipment. This wasn't taken into consideration until about 1926
In the US there was a record label called Dancetime, run by a bandleader named Will Kennedy, that put out 16 rpm stereo LPS of instrumental dance music. I have one that was apparently made as a giveaway item for Magnavox dealers. Can't play it at 16 though; at 33 it sounds like Benny Hill music!
Yes, 'Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' (not Herb Alpert and 'the Tijuana' lol. ;-). Back in the early 70s, we had the US standard 33 1/3 albums of his: 'Going Places', 'South of the Border' and the famous 'Whipped Cream and Other Delights'. We even played them on a Garrard turntable, with a tall spindle so you could stack up 2-3 records and have them play one after another. I wonder how many 30 somethings have ever witnessed that awesomeness? (The funny thing about Alpert - I always thought he was Latin. lol.)
Most of the classroom record players, like Califone, Newcomb, and Audiotronics, will play 16 rpm records. I know there were some special background music system records made for Seeburg that play at that speed, but they have a 2" center hole, and were leased along with the system. This is the first regular consumer record I have seen at that speed.
Actually, the reason for 78 speed is that back in the very early days of flat records (1900 or so) the commonly and cheaply available wind up motor just so happened to spin at around 80 rpms. 78 was developed as the standard a little bit later. 33 1/3 was developed in the 30s but didn't take off til later. 45 was RCA's answer to Columbia's 33. The RCA engineers were basically told to come up with any speed... 33+45=78. Interesting, huh? There's a great book that goes into detail about this
Sears carried them in the 1960s only for talking books, though. I never saw one until now. I used to play 33s and 45s at 16 rpm, but that's another story in itself.
This is so cool! I'd sure like to have one of these albums. Most of the 16 2/3rpm records were either special background music records or talking books. Most of the various artist compilation albums we got in the U.S. had 20+ songs and some were truncated, plus every one that I have is 33 1/3rpm and don't have the best sound quality.
Cool, someone has a 16 2/3RPM record like me. i got A 16 2/3 story single baried in 1000 records i have. Mybe i will find again someday. Awsome video, LOL.
Most of the record players we had has this 16 rpm setting but this is the first record I ever heard in that format. We only had 45 rpm singles and 33 1/3 rpm LP's. It is odd to look at.
Of course it's impossible to tell with RUclips audio, but it doesn't seem to sound all that awful. I only recall hearing one 16rpm vinyl that sounded like ass! :-) Great vintage Garrard you have. Thanks for posting.
I think 16 rpm disks were the same size as 78 rpms, so they held about the same as a 33 1/3 disk. 78 rpms put so much physical energy into the needle that there was no need for electronic amplification - you could just attach the needle directly to a big horn and get a respectable volume. Once vac tubes & electronic speakers became affordable, high speed was no longer necessary, and 16 became possible. 16 2/3 x 2 = 33 1/3. I don't know how 45 & 78 fit in. I bet patents were involved.
This song "A Taste of Honey" was very popular in the early 1960's - the Beatles also did a cover of it. A turntable that played at 16 speed was very hard to find back then as most popular models played the 3 standard speeds of 33-45-78.
That is not exactly true. The four speed turntables were made until the late 80's Gerard and BSR still.made them the cheaper models did not have the lower speed and the higher end ones also did not provide the 78 speed either
In Australia , out first family radiogram from Phillips had all these four speeds as standard. Not a high end model , but a suitcase like portable with latches and a carry handle. Valves rather than transistorised.
Really impressive. Mystery solved. I always wanted to see and put my hands on a 16 rpm record but never got the chance. I am in Brazil. Thank you for posting. I wonder how long lasts the side?
I'm no expert, but from what I've could find, the "Super Long Playing" 16's were the same size as a standard LP (12 inches) but had about 30 minutes of playing time per side.
Well it is basic physics - more speed = more energy to move the needle. It's not surprising that a thicker needle would be needed to deal with all the energy of a disk moving at 78 rpm. As for the RIAA curve, I don't know if there is any way to do that if your player is just a needle connected to a horn, so that would be why that was only done once electronic amps became the norm.
Great for first time in my life i see something like that. Anyway,did you know that recording songs 16 2/3 rpm can not record high frequences because they are just "overwritten".
In Italy this song was used to introduce "Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto", in English: "All football -or soccer if u're American- minute per minute", a popular transmission of Radio RAI. What is the name of the song? BTW, compliments for this rare and very good record :)
+Pokemon ash pikachu Rider Nagano Because even with a 12" record, 78 rpm records with those old 'fat' grooves only allowed about 4, maybe 5 minutes of music. The standard 10" disc was only good for 3-4 minutes, so longer play (like for a symphony) wasn't really practical. To make that work, they'd span a long performance over several records, which you'd buy in a book not unlike a photo album - which is why even today, a long-play record is often called an 'album'. The 12" 33 rpm 'microgroove' record allowed (at the time) up to about 25 minutes of music per side. You can see the advantage, I'm sure. The 78's role was replaced by the smaller, more durable, and easier-to-handle 45 'single'. The larger hole in the middle of the 45 was due to a format war that took place between Columbia and RCA, or so I've been told. Also, 78s with their faster speeds CAN theoretically deliver higher fidelity - assuming the rest of the technology (the cartridge, the amplifier, the speakers) can keep up. The technology prevalent at the time could NOT keep up. The microgroove 33s and 45s could deliver the same fidelity with longer play (33s) or better durability and smaller size (45s). The technology for high fidelity came along later, by which time 33s and 45s were already established as standards. Some modern record players do have 78 rpm settings because it doesn't cost a lot to add that compatibility. You do, however, have to use the proper needle for a 78, which most modern record players do NOT have (You're supposed to swap the needle out; older record players had a 'flip' stylus). Playing most 78s with an LP needle (or vice-versa) will damage the record and possibly the needle as well. And yes, a 16 rpm can play on a 33 record player, though of course it will sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. If you pipe the sound into your computer, however, software like Audacity can be used to return it to a normal playback speed, with some loss in fidelity. The best option would be to play a 16 rpm record on a player that handles that speed directly, but I think they stopped making those in the mid-1970s. On the plus side, they're all built like tanks and an hour or two spent cleaning and re-lubing a used one will usually restore it to perfect operating condition. You see them on eBay from time to time; I just picked one up myself for $30 and shipping.
If a 12 inch 16 rpm record can hold 40-60 minutes per side, maybe a 16 inch record (used for radio transcriptions) can hold 90? Because 16 inch records are larger, the sound quality at 16rpm on the outer edge would probably be like that of a 12 inch at 33 1/3 rpm - I'm just guesting.
I still think 16 RPM should have been used more. Double LP sets could have been released on one 16 RPM disc! And about the sound quality; well this sounds damn good to me. The main reason why LPs sound like crap towards the end is because of people who don't think they need to ever replace the stylus. And people who never replace the stylus deserve the resulting sound quality and damage to their LPs anyway.
![Lil Uzi Vert - Chill Bae [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D7F42F_JM3U/mqdefault.jpg)
Most spoken word records or "talking books" for the blind were pressed on 10" records which played at 8 1/3 RPM! My grandmother, who was legally blind, listened to them on a special phonograph especially made for playing spoken word records. These special low speed record players had only 2 speeds: 8 1/3 and 16 2/3 RPM.
My grandfather too, in the 1970s. And cassettes with 4 mono tracks that ran at 15/16 ips. Some readers sounded kinda muffled.
The tape is running at half the speed of a normal cassette. Depending on the tape, they would roll off around 8-10KHZ. With tape wear over time that degrades some. The heads on the player need to be cleaned and demagnetized periodically to restore playback fidelity. The playback heads do wear out over time. I worked in a place that used to service them. They get user a lot
My grandfather had a 3-speed talking books player: 33, 16, 8 (33 1/3, 16 2/3, 8 1/3). Talking Books records were 16 RPM until 1967 when they started making them at 8 RPM. Before 1967, the players had only 33 and 16, so they had to apply again for the new player with the new 8 RPM speed.
it sounds like 'regular' fidelity sounded prior to high fidelity in 1955. All radios before then sounded just a tad more 'dull' than after hi-fi was introduced but it's very impressive for 16rpm, in my opinion. Thanks for posting it
For those who haven't gone through all the old comments:
The song is "A Taste Of Honey" By Herb Alpert and the Tijuana. It was a major hit in the USA in the fall of 1965 (especially among adults), and won the "Record Of The Year" Grammy award that year.
16 2/3 RPM records saw very limited use in the US. LP (33 1/3) phonographs were already ubiquitous in the US, but 16's did see use in a mobile record player (which did not sell well) and talking book records.
And now look what trash wins Grammys.
Sound's Amazing I don't know why these didn't catch on. My grandparents had a stereo that had 16 33 45 78 speeds on it years ago. Never seen a 16 mph record being played before.
unbelievably good sound for music off a 16rpm record-I owe it to the turntable-no noticeable wow & flutter.
very wonderful!, take care those masterpíece records... simply wonderful! regards
Surprisingly, it doesn't sound too bad. I'm guessing it has a ceramic cartridge.
Could also be a piezoelectric cartridge with salt crystal.
@@robfriedrich2822whaat?
some ceramic carts are surprisingly good. Ceramic really isn't that horrible if/when done right :).
There's definitely tracking issues here. Worn stylus, maybe, or a worn record. It could be (even) better!
@@robfriedrich2822 more proof that you don't need a magnetic cartridge to get high fidelity
WOW! I have NEVER watched a 16rpm record in action. And I never thought they put music on 16's, just audiobooks. Interesting. Five stars and favorited!
When I was a child we had a phonograph with 4 speeds on it, among them , 16 rpm's , it was fun as a child to play a 33 1/3 record at 16 rpm's!
I'm 31 and I loved this so much I just need to get myself a new old record player, get it restored and some records out of the forgotten to play with.
Wow, a great song and a rare opportunity to hear a 16rpm record! Great! Thanks a million! :D
wow my parents still have this same exact turntable!!its the last piece of technology they ever bought :)
Thanks so much for this video. You got me to listening to Herb Alpert! I can't believe what I've been missing all these years!
Have you ever tried playing it on 78? ;-)
That would be crazy!
i`m turned lesbian
Great Record ! I love those 16 2/3 rpm records.
whoops! Thanks intersonus! As a stereo buff AND Mac user, I should know better! Sucks getting old.
Isnt it interesting that we listen to highly compressed music in real life, but long for analog and have to watch what we USED to have thru a tiny little 2" x 2" window, with audio thats even more compressed. Respect for those who have real analog at home!
jon
this was filmed with a SHARP scientific calculator, a very impressive stuff by the time.
huh?
@@muzhikforchaplin1203 its a joke about the bad camera quality
@@cheesemanthe2nd Or maybe Sharp calculators can make videos like this... 🤣🤣
I'm with Trance88 I never see a 16 RPM record and I have been looking all the time. They sound pretty darn good and can give hours of music. Thanks for the post. I don't why they were not made more common.
I recall the 16rpm setting on most of my parents' record players, but I don't think we ever had a 16-2/3 record to play. Only good for slowing down the 33s and 45s' for a laugh. I suppose loss in fidelity not comparable to slower magnetic tape speeds. Sounds good. :)
And slowing down Alvin and the Chipmunks.
You are one of the few people out there that has remembered the 16 rpm setting on a phonograph, and as a child there were no 16 rpm records available that I knew of, but it was fun to play a 33 1/3 rpm on the 16 rpm setting for fun.
@@lydiagray1627 16 rpm records really were kind of scarce in the consumer market. They had been developed for 'spoken word' recordings (aka talking books and similar), but there was considerable expectation that the format would be improved for use with music. There were even efforts to do so, but with only very modest success, and 33 and 45 records were more prevalent and readily available, so.... yeah, 16 rpm never really did take off, and by the early 1970s, newer record players were being made without that setting.
16rpm speed was mainly used for "audiobooks" on records, by subscription, for the blind. Those records had to be returned after listening.
It's why you find tons of 70s players with 16rpm on them, but no records from then.
there were 2 kinds of record "plastic"- a styrene blend, and vinyl. The styrene was stiffer, wouldnt bend/flex as easily, and was notorious for surface noise. Virgin vinyl was blacker, glossier, and more pliable, and very silent-no needle noise. 16 rpm really shows surface noise during quiet passages. Judging by how amazingly clean this lp sounds, my guess is that it was pressed on virgin vinyl.
Groovy tune. I've never seen a 16 RPM record in person. Nice turntable for sure!
i LOVE this song.. there's a great consignment shop up the road from me but I couldn't find many Herb Alpert LP's of 45's. The ones I did didn't have this song.. But I picked up a 45 with "Flamingo" and "So What's New".. can't complain too much :)
Our late '40s "stereo" cabinet had settings from 16rpms to 78. We never had a 16 rpms record, but every now & then we'd play a record at that speed just for slow-mo!
*1947 AL 2021 TIEMPO MUY BUENO PARA ESCUCHAR BUENÍSIMA MÚSICA SIEMPRE ME GUSTO EL SONIDO REPRODUCIDO POR LOS TORNAMESA DE ÉPOCA SALUDOS EL SALVADOR*
I have all the other speeds, but not 16 rpm or is it 16 2/3's . but i love this song. trippy to see the record turn so slowly.
I saw God on 4 hits of LSD in 1974. That was trippy! The music sounded great! Little Feat, Derek & the Dominos, Pure Prairie League & such. I had to drive 240 miles that day!
That sounds pretty darn good. You'd think at 16 2/3 the WOW & FLUTTER would be much more obvious. Esp with the longer horn notes. Sounds nice. Cool vintage turntable too.
I wonder what the last track at the end of this side sounds at 16 rpm.
#metoo
I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 16 RPM record till I purchased an old Cabinet HiFi from Goodwill yesterday.
I got a few Herb Albert LP's myself. My favorite has to be Whipped Cream & Other Delights, simply for the album artwork.
The woman on the cover was pregnant
How do you know that
@@pyotyrprepka6422 I heard the same thing. I believe she said that in an interview.
I heard the same song from Herb Albert's 'Whip Cream' album, when my dad bought the record around the time it came out. It blew me away.
Yep, what a great album. My grandma had a lot of Herb Albert records. I've got a few of them now and I still play em, "Whip Cream" being one.
I also own a Garrad 4HF on the same base it looks great and sounds great too, and im restoring a second unit too.
Nice Video thanks for putting it on here to show
I saw one for sale at Goodwill, it was in a small plastic green suitcase housing, but was missing the cartridge in the tonearm. It said 'property of the U.S. Government' or something like that, specifically made for the blind. It had a built-in speaker and only 16 2/3 & 33 1/3 speeds to choose from.
Truly unexpected find !. Till now I had only seen english courses on 16 rpm. Truly valuable video !
When I was in high school we had our language courses with 16RPM records to learn the proper pronunciation. The teachers would play them in class and were made to be used with our textbooks. You could choose which language you wanted to.learn whether German Portuguese Castilian Spanish French or Dutch
I just put this video in my favourites. This is the first time I have seen a 16 rpm record playing.
The book is called Audio and Visual Systems - Principles, Maintenance and Troubleshooting by RG Gupta. Pages 78-87 go into great detail on the subject. You can preview the book (and these pages) for free on Google
i have never heard of 16 rpm and i colect records
I think that this is fascinating! When I was a child we had a phonograph that had four speeds, 16, 33 1/3, 45 and 78 rpm's . Many people that I have spoken to have never heard of a phonograph that plays records at 16 rpm's, that was a brief time in history, but fun to remember, if you play a 33 1/3 rpm record at 16 rpm's , it sounds funny!
an aunt of mine had this same LP. she lived in south africa for a while in the early 1970s.
Then somebody crazy enough do a half speed master for 16 2/3 the lathe was running at 8 1/3 RPM.
In Australia , out first family radiogram from Phillips had all these four speeds as standard. Not a high end model , but a suitcase like portable with latches and a carry handle. Valves rather than transistorised.
Only found one 16 and 2/3 rpm record. Came with a car magazine for the launch of the 1972 HQ Holden car. A very thin flimsy flexible record.
That speed was conmon on Australian market record players in the sixties. The records much rarer, not really taking off for normal music ranges.
Wow! so clean
FENOMENAL RELIQUIA DE MI EPOCA JUVENTUD...GRACIAS...🌹🌹👍👍
this would be my first time actually seeing a 16.66 rpm record ever before
...In addition, that Garrard is in beautiful condition - if there were any idlers worn, etc, you'd hear the "wow" (wavering), but it is rock solid- a great piece of American industrial engineering, and in great shape. And how about that sweet, fat analog sound! Play THIS thru a Macintosh amp and a pair of klipschorns - bada-BOOM!
I suggest you play more songs from that album!
That song was "A Taste of Honey" from the "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" album. "The Lonely Bull" was his first album - great song!
They had a lot of good tunes but then he dumped the band, got in bed with Burt Bacharach, went & did This Guy's In Love or whatever the hell it was & went over the hill! God I hated that song & all that Bacharach did, like those Crapenters tunes, LMAO!!!
Very cool, especially considering that the first song on a 16 RPM has the same fidelity as the last song on a 33 RPM - but I'll bet the last song on that 16 RPM sounded pretty bad! Thanks for running the audio direct so I could hear how it really sounded - great job!
Thank you for sharing a 16rpm I always wanted to own one, I heard there are plenty in Canada, I just don't see myself going there to get one. Heck I want a wire recorder now :) thanks for sharing ....
I use minidiscs, handiest format ever even in 2019!
As far as the 78 goes, yes it exerted a lot of energy but that was due to the weight and reproducing mechanism more so than the speed. Another thing to consider is the RIAA curve. Bass frequencies are cut to about -20 db (or more) and high frequencies are boosted when the record is cut. When it is played back the opposite occurs within the pre amp. This is why acoustically recorded 78s sound like crap played on modern equipment.
This wasn't taken into consideration until about 1926
Hello!
DOES ANYONE FIND THIS CREEPY? ...I MEAN HOW SLOW THE RECORD SPINS
These 16rpm records are very popular
Hope they make a return like they are doing
this is also the signature tune of a popular radio broacasting in Italy "Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto" (All football/soccer minute by minute).
I love the Garrard 4hf I have 4 of them one is on the same plinth as yours
In the US there was a record label called Dancetime, run by a bandleader named Will Kennedy, that put out 16 rpm stereo LPS of instrumental dance music. I have one that was apparently made as a giveaway item for Magnavox dealers. Can't play it at 16 though; at 33 it sounds like Benny Hill music!
We had a Zenith stereo console. I'd play Jimi Hendrix's If 6 Was 9 at 16rpms. I was probably 15 or 16 at the time. Such a trip.
I saw God on 4 hits in 1974. I was on acid, not God.
Yes, 'Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' (not Herb Alpert and 'the Tijuana' lol. ;-). Back in the early 70s, we had the US standard 33 1/3 albums of his: 'Going Places', 'South of the Border' and the famous 'Whipped Cream and Other Delights'. We even played them on a Garrard turntable, with a tall spindle so you could stack up 2-3 records and have them play one after another. I wonder how many 30 somethings have ever witnessed that awesomeness? (The funny thing about Alpert - I always thought he was Latin. lol.)
Even if it's a 16 rpm, it's always something that can change your journey..... And, why not, your life!!! Herp, you're the best. By Renato
Great song
Most of the classroom record players, like Califone, Newcomb, and Audiotronics, will play 16 rpm records. I know there were some special background music system records made for Seeburg that play at that speed, but they have a 2" center hole, and were leased along with the system. This is the first regular consumer record I have seen at that speed.
very nice depth
One side of a 16RPM is about two sides of 33RPM. A double LP (33 RPM, four sides) is on a single record (two sides) in 16RPM.
Actually, the reason for 78 speed is that back in the very early days of flat records (1900 or so) the commonly and cheaply available wind up motor just so happened to spin at around 80 rpms. 78 was developed as the standard a little bit later. 33 1/3 was developed in the 30s but didn't take off til later. 45 was RCA's answer to Columbia's 33. The RCA engineers were basically told to come up with any speed... 33+45=78. Interesting, huh? There's a great book that goes into detail about this
Great sound!
Nice quality sound
Sears carried them in the 1960s only for talking books, though. I never saw one until now. I used to play 33s and 45s at 16 rpm, but that's another story in itself.
I love this song! Thanks for sharing!
This is so cool! I'd sure like to have one of these albums. Most of the 16 2/3rpm records were either special background music records or talking books. Most of the various artist compilation albums we got in the U.S. had 20+ songs and some were truncated, plus every one that I have is 33 1/3rpm and don't have the best sound quality.
Truncated. Love that word. I use it too!
for a 16rpm the quaity is really good!!
That is the Muzak-format...the later Kodak-SLP cassettes used in supermarkets ran on half-speed
Cool, someone has a 16 2/3RPM record like me. i got A 16 2/3 story single baried in 1000 records i have. Mybe i will find again someday. Awsome video, LOL.
Yes, it can. The difference exists in the speed it is played back at. It is the same size as a normal 33 1/3 rpm LP.
Sounds great! thanks for the upload
Most of the record players we had has this 16 rpm setting but this is the first record I ever heard in that format. We only had 45 rpm singles and 33 1/3 rpm LP's. It is odd to look at.
Of course it's impossible to tell with RUclips audio, but it doesn't seem to sound all that awful. I only recall hearing one 16rpm vinyl that sounded like ass! :-) Great vintage Garrard you have. Thanks for posting.
Very cool...surprisingly good sound
The name of the song is "A Taste Of Honey"
wow, that's really it.didn't sound familiar untill i'd read your comment though
These 16 and two rhirds records are more popular than ever
Wow, I thought you could only find background music and instructional voice on 16rpm.
Must be very rare - nice player too!
I've never actually seen a 16-2/3 rpm record before. It looks like it's crawling! I'm surprised the audio quality is as good as it is.
I think 16 rpm disks were the same size as 78 rpms, so they held about the same as a 33 1/3 disk.
78 rpms put so much physical energy into the needle that there was no need for electronic amplification - you could just attach the needle directly to a big horn and get a respectable volume. Once vac tubes & electronic speakers became affordable, high speed was no longer necessary, and 16 became possible.
16 2/3 x 2 = 33 1/3. I don't know how 45 & 78 fit in. I bet patents were involved.
This song "A Taste of Honey" was very popular in the early 1960's - the Beatles also did a cover of it.
A turntable that played at 16 speed was very hard to find back then as most popular models played the 3 standard speeds of 33-45-78.
That is not exactly true. The four speed turntables were made until the late 80's Gerard and BSR still.made them the cheaper models did not have the lower speed and the higher end ones also did not provide the 78 speed either
In Australia , out first family radiogram from Phillips had all these four speeds as standard. Not a high end model , but a suitcase like portable with latches and a carry handle. Valves rather than transistorised.
It's Herb Albert. I Have his Whipped Cream Album and it sounds exactly the same as this song.
wow! this would be the very first time ive ever seen a 16.66 rmp before.
Sounds great - thank you!
Really impressive. Mystery solved. I always wanted to see and put my hands on a 16 rpm record but never got the chance. I am in Brazil. Thank you for posting. I wonder how long lasts the side?
About 40 minutes on each side
44minutes
Quality is surprisingly good.
I'm no expert, but from what I've could find, the "Super Long Playing" 16's were the same size as a standard LP (12 inches) but had about 30 minutes of playing time per side.
I have a record of Billy May's Orchestra playing this.
Well it is basic physics - more speed = more energy to move the needle. It's not surprising that a thicker needle would be needed to deal with all the energy of a disk moving at 78 rpm. As for the RIAA curve, I don't know if there is any way to do that if your player is just a needle connected to a horn, so that would be why that was only done once electronic amps became the norm.
yea the later gramophones had the horn built into the cabinet. I totally want one of those things, but they're litterally impossible to find lol
From what I've heard,16rpm record tend to be of lo-fi but its not the case from what I can here this video. The quality is rather decent.
Very loungey version of "A taste of honey"! I'd never heard a 16rpm disc before.
marvelous
Great for first time in my life i see something like that. Anyway,did you know that recording songs 16 2/3 rpm can not record high frequences because they are just "overwritten".
In Italy this song was used to introduce "Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto", in English: "All football -or soccer if u're American- minute per minute", a popular transmission of Radio RAI. What is the name of the song?
BTW, compliments for this rare and very good record :)
the more rpm the more sound better then why edison diamond disc and shellac are discontinued?
also why at lp 120 usb have with 78rpm?
and wait! does 16 rpm can play on at lp 120?
+Pokemon ash pikachu Rider Nagano
Because even with a 12" record, 78 rpm records with those old 'fat' grooves only allowed about 4, maybe 5 minutes of music. The standard 10" disc was only good for 3-4 minutes, so longer play (like for a symphony) wasn't really practical. To make that work, they'd span a long performance over several records, which you'd buy in a book not unlike a photo album - which is why even today, a long-play record is often called an 'album'. The 12" 33 rpm 'microgroove' record allowed (at the time) up to about 25 minutes of music per side. You can see the advantage, I'm sure.
The 78's role was replaced by the smaller, more durable, and easier-to-handle 45 'single'. The larger hole in the middle of the 45 was due to a format war that took place between Columbia and RCA, or so I've been told.
Also, 78s with their faster speeds CAN theoretically deliver higher fidelity - assuming the rest of the technology (the cartridge, the amplifier, the speakers) can keep up. The technology prevalent at the time could NOT keep up. The microgroove 33s and 45s could deliver the same fidelity with longer play (33s) or better durability and smaller size (45s). The technology for high fidelity came along later, by which time 33s and 45s were already established as standards.
Some modern record players do have 78 rpm settings because it doesn't cost a lot to add that compatibility. You do, however, have to use the proper needle for a 78, which most modern record players do NOT have (You're supposed to swap the needle out; older record players had a 'flip' stylus). Playing most 78s with an LP needle (or vice-versa) will damage the record and possibly the needle as well.
And yes, a 16 rpm can play on a 33 record player, though of course it will sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. If you pipe the sound into your computer, however, software like Audacity can be used to return it to a normal playback speed, with some loss in fidelity. The best option would be to play a 16 rpm record on a player that handles that speed directly, but I think they stopped making those in the mid-1970s. On the plus side, they're all built like tanks and an hour or two spent cleaning and re-lubing a used one will usually restore it to perfect operating condition. You see them on eBay from time to time; I just picked one up myself for $30 and shipping.
If a 12 inch 16 rpm record can hold 40-60 minutes per side, maybe a 16 inch record (used for radio transcriptions) can hold 90?
Because 16 inch records are larger, the sound quality at 16rpm on the outer edge would probably be like that of a 12 inch at 33 1/3 rpm - I'm just guesting.
Love it!
I still think 16 RPM should have been used more. Double LP sets could have been released on one 16 RPM disc! And about the sound quality; well this sounds damn good to me. The main reason why LPs sound like crap towards the end is because of people who don't think they need to ever replace the stylus. And people who never replace the stylus deserve the resulting sound quality and damage to their LPs anyway.
Love it👌♥️🎶
I was 47 when I first found this video. Now guess how old I am....
A Taste of Honey, yeah stuck in my head, too
awsome!