Watching some of these old videos, I find it interesting that in this one, Mat stated that he preferred his all-manual turntable over automatic units (though not so much that he was not willing to buy this quirky vertical model). But just a few months later, he had already tired of the manual turntable and had switched over to using turntables with automatic features.
Auto is the way to go if it sounds good. At the very least it needs an auto stop feature. Idk how adding that could make it sound “worse” for purists, unless it’s just because a 1000$ manual turntable sounds better than a 200$ player
Though it looks impossible at first, you can fit a replacement belt to these Sharp vertical record players without having to take out any of the components - it just needs the back removing and the door at the front opening. The replacement belt is fed through the back and then you loop it round the platter from the front - there is a small gap in the metal plate around the platter than the belt can slip through (you can't see it so need to feel for it). It took me a frustrating couple of hours of messing around to work it out, but once I got the hang of it, it only took 5 minutes to change a belt. By the way, these turntables are actually really good quality - Optonica was marketed in the early 80s as Sharp's high end brand. My favourite is the ghetto blaster version with the cassette and turntable!
Very nice piece of eighties technology. I had a complete system of Sharp Optonica for almost ten years. It was all aluminum and all i had to do was to change some lamps to the receiver.
Nice little machine, good to see that you were able to replace the belt and fix the pickup mechanism. It played kind of like what the CD player does. I like the fact that because it is vertical, you save a lot of space therr.
The numbers on the stylus/arm track are not time, but centimeters, which denote the records size. There are three numbers printed on the player cover: 30, 25 and 17. 30cm = 12" record; 25 = 10" record; and 17 = 7" record.
What?, the SL-10 was only linear tracking, it was not both sides play and did not have any sort of search system, at best it was just a small system that did nothing more than a regular turntable. I've had many many Technics components over the years, Technics never really got into the whole gimmick side of audio, unlike Aiwa,Sharp and Mitsubishi to name a few. The closest Technics ever came to the Sharp was the SL-15 which was programmable but was not both sides play, so Sharp didn't "shamelessly copy" anything. Further to this Sharp also had the RP-103 to RP-119 series which were a sliding drawer configuration which was a stack-able turntable system that was just like CD, only it came out 6 years before CD. So the Sharp IS in fact a very impressive machine, even by today's standards as there is still nothing that compares.
I have never owned this exact machine, so I wont/can't comment on sound quality, I do however own the RP-103, RP-113,RP-116 and RP-117 and although the sound quality on those is not brilliant, it is not as you put it, "straight garbage". I think you miss the point with these, you see these were never designed to hook up to your Technics Mosfet or you valve amps etc etc they we designed as compact units and portable units, when have you ever heard a brilliant sounding compact system?, they are convenience appliances that also show off the tech savvy engineering these companies had on offer, you sir miss the point entirely. I have one of my RP-117's connected to my Hitachi HMA-8500 MKII in my workshop (I'm a watchmaker) it is there because I love my LP's and I love the Sharp for its convenience, and although the audio quality is just a little harsh, it is a LOOONG way short of "straight garbage". I use it for exactly what it was built for, convenience, I can't get up and changes sides all day long, so instead I use my RP-117, I can program which tracks I want to hear and in whatever order and if I want I can select it to repeat what I want to hear, it's perfect for my usage and a brilliant flashback to days gone by. For quality I run my SL-1200, two entirely different animals.
What?.....you have no argument here pal, to quote your original and quite frankly vague statement " technics done it way earlier. This is a shameless attempt at copying the SL-10" So let's get that statement in perspective shall we?. First of all, Technics did not do it "Way earlier", they were both released at about the same time, secondly Sharp in NO WAY copied anything you twat, they were to entirely different formats, you claiming in your second reply "I was talking about vertical playability", no you weren't, you were claiming Sharp outright copied Technics, the mere fact that both were vertical playing formats and saying Technics copied Sharp is simply ludicrous, that's like saying that every upright radio was a direct copy of every other upright radio, it was the style that saved the most space and was the style every manufacturer adopted for practicality and portability, nothing more nothing less, your original statement is GARBAGE as is you one word reply. You have no idea what the hell you are talking about, so best you shut your mouth before you embarrass yourself any further....Twat!.
you definately were not wasting away your saturday. Ive become quite addicted to your posts and my 6 yr old enjoys watching too. heloves to watch the disassembly process now youve not only entertained but educated a young mind. so good job well keep watching.
Thanks for taking the time to show us this stuff. It's fascinating, and well presented. It's also nice to think that you are preserving not only the equipment (and the enjoyment of it), but also a lot of the genius that went into their designs.
Hipsters are the second most reviled tribe in today´s society, one step down from SJWs; equally smug and self-righteous, but fortunately more peaceful. Perhaps because their long beards don´t fit in a balaclava.
You should make a virtual library of your collection and offer individual pieces up for rent to movie production companies. Having the protagonist of the movie play a record in a machine like this would really set the tone for the era, :D
+Techmoan Have you considered getting a Edison Cylinder phonograph? Maybe getting one with a player/recording head? I would love to see you record on one of those(also would need an erasing machine that shaves used cylinders back into blanks for recording again). Maybe just a player review? Hope you consider one of those, and I think with that your collection will be that much more complete (with late 1800's tech).
This is honestly so interesting. I think the audio product videos you make are some of the best, I can tell you love exploring something usually forgotten :)
Techmoan Certainly did enjoy seeing you repair that thing!.. BTW I think its marvellous! I used to have a Technics direct-drive turntable, but it failed on me years ago (uneven speed). Back then I couldn't do anything about that and tossed it out.
i have one needs belts in UK near Newcastle but can't find anyone who repairs older equipment perhaps you could help or know anyone my email is johnpreid60@gmail.com. also a Mitsubishi vertical record player with tonearm problems
What a great bit of kit. I used to love the family record player as a kid. Sunday afternoon for 1 hours with headphones on after a good ol sunday roast. I miss the 80's for that. As much as I love digital music and the way you go about getting it, nothing beats being watched like a hawk flicking through the old record collection, carefully removing it from the sleeve and listening to real music, full is hiss.
I love those old gadgets. I, myself, have a Mitsubishi X-10 Vertical Linear Tracking Belt Drive Turntable with a Tape Deck. Alas, it needs work but does power-up. Great videos, Techmoan.
Is there some "Indiana Jones" warehouse someplace where piles of obsolete technology sits waiting to become valuable curiosities that sell for many times their original price? Where did you get this thing from?
im 16 living in a world where cars drive themselves, and here I am wanting your entire collection just so I could enjoy and experience the world before I existed
Great record player glad you were able to clean that old belt it probably just got tired or have been played a lot I'm felt sad that it was left alone and just disintegrated I'm a product of the 80s I miss those days the stereos of the past sounds so much better I love high dollar turntables can't afford them though but I still love an old-school BSR on anything that seemed like they put them on everything back in the day I enjoyed watching you fix that record player and seeing it play again wow 1982 seems like a million years ago👏👏👏👏👏👏👏✌✌✌✌✌✌ my grandmother's food tasted so good back then.😂😂😂 thanks for the video
I understand your affinity for the all-manual turntable, but I prefer my Garrard record changer that dates to the late 60s or early 70s. I used it as a teenager a long time ago after my dad gave it to me and I recently got it fully working again. There is nothing like stacking 3 or 4 records up and watching the mechanical device play all four in a row and then park the tone arm and switch itself off at the end. And with a new needle it sounds great.
stevethepocket Yes, that is true. But before CDs, albums were generally made to be played one side at a time anyway. Hemispheres or 2112 by Rush come to mind. The second sides of these albums are almost like different albums.
Helium Road I feel the best option would be a late 70's Technics or Pioneer single disc table with very low Wow and Flutter and a brilliant S/N ratio. What better way to enjoy the world's greatest Prog Rock band?
@Helium Road Your story sounds a bit like mine, only many years into the future. My dad had a Garrard music centre, which had a radio receiver and amplifier as well as the record stacker on the turntable. He'd stripped the electronics out of the cabinet and built it into some shelving he made when I was a kid, but when we moved house he loaded it all back into the cabinet and gave it to me. I was 10 at the time and it was pretty cool to have this old bit of kit in my room that I could play my records on (and it spurred a passion for vinyl that I still have today). Watching the turntable drop each record in turn was pretty cool, but I found it only ever really worked properly on singles. More than 4 12" discs and it struggled to turn at the correct speed, presumably as there wasn't enough torque in the motor. I hacked the amplifier when I was 15 so I could connect my Commodore 64 to it and play the sound through it instead of my TV, which worked pretty well, too. It was a sad day when a lightning strike totalled the amp...
Yes I do remember seeing the ad for this one, and immediately thought it would ruin the records too fast. Sorry for the reply on that after 2 years, but I did not see this vid until today! :)
THANK YOU for posting this video. I had one of these back in the 80's. I just found a brand new "Optonica" version of this on ebay in a factory sealed box. When I received mine, it had the exact same issues (the belt turned to goo and the tracking rail in the door became loose). Thanks to you I knew exactly what to do to fix it. Took me less than 1.5 hours to get it up and running perfectly.
My boss had one of these back in 1983. It sat on the shelf behind his desk chair. I never heard it play or saw it work. My boss was a Celebrity Police Chief in Northern New Jersey (USA) and because this was the latest, greatest and rarest, he had to have one (though it was probably a "gift."). RIP Joe Delaney.
"An era known for style over substance and convenience over quality."--That remark really sums of the 1980s stereo equipment because it really went downhill from that point....70s had better quality stereo systems...also, you did one incredible job of DX what the problem was and fixing it....just one brilliant video.
This is impresive even for today's standarts,things might be more practical and easy those years but vinyl records have even those days a big hit for the collector.The people like you know it of course even better and also know the sound diference from cd and vinyl,there are people that claiming that the older records have a better sound but i believe that each format shares its own unique quality.
My local record shop back in the day had one of those. It took wow & flutter to a whole new level. Practically made Leonard Cohen turn into Barry Gibb.
Wow! My in-laws bought this exact model in Soviet Union back in mid eighties from a guy whos father was some kind of Soviet diplomatic official. He sold it to us for quite a bit of money. I forgot all about it and your video brought back memories. Thanks for this :)
As a man who likes vintage tech you might like this. I am curently resotoring my IBM 5150, I have been documenting it on RUclips in my usual rambaly fassion. It is always fun getting old machines and fixing them up. When it is finnished I will have to find a nice place to display the 5150.
I remember that my brother bought one of these in the early 80s. Back then, it seemed so far ahead of its time. The fact it could automatically go to the next track with a touch of a button seemed pretty amazing.
That's a gem! What's an interesting gizmo! So, I had a SHARP Optonica amplifier/receiver for years and stills playing great! Belts made of that rubber go litterally sticky and worn out if longly unused! Sollely replacing that strap will made it playing!
Wow, home repair takes me back. I'm living in an age when it breaks, it gets replaced.
8 лет назад+20
As a neo-vinyl listening person who never had vinyl back when it was the main listening media, actually i don't feel this thing is useless. Playing a 30 minute album in one take is a much better thing than flipping it around at 15 minutes. Now comes the horde of people saying: vinyl people should sacrifice convenience to audio quality, dedicate the time to record listening.. blabla. Well that's one opinion I respect; I like the sound of vinyl but i don't like standing up and flipping discs around. So if someone would made a decent version of this Sharp player, that would be something I want on my list. Actually, does this Sharp sound that bad that it's not listenable at all? What kind of cartridges does it accept?
I actually agree. Part of the reason I didn't like records as a kid (we had a turntable and tons of records, and very few if no tape cassettes) was because I hated touching the needle and flipping the album. Also, we had to put a little spindle widener on the player for our Golden Books records which had a larger hole etc. This type of player would have completely eliminated the use case issues for children, or people in general who just want to listen to their music, not "experience" it. As much as the hipsters like vinyl for the "experience" fact of the matter is this was the only real format for a very long time. People didn't *want* to "experience" it - they wanted to listen to their goddamn tunes.
+István Nagy *" Now comes the horde of people saying: vinyl people should sacrifice convenience to audio quality, "* Oh no. I'm an electrical engineer, I worked at RCA, I'm here to tell you, you don't know what audio quality is. In order to keep the needle in the groove of a record, there is attenuation at higher frequencies the nearer that the arm gets to the center - i.e. intentional distortion. All that "quality" you ignorant, delusional, morons, talk about is distortion introduced because of the limitations of the time of technology. The "audio quality" you think you are hearing, is distortion. I could show it to you on a scope, which can distinguish between 1/1,000,000 of a decibel but you're delusional, and I'm certain you think you have better hearing than that.
I stumbled upon your channel while I was looking at vintage computers. I had no idea that there were so many different gadgets and audio equipment that was so awesome back in the day! Heck, by today's standards, most of this stuff is still mind blowing! Thanks for the videos and keep it up!!!!
I gotta say..being an audiophile...and someone who appreciates tech...and old tech I really do find this turntable very clever ;) Great video as always sir! Qapla!
It makes a guest appearance in this video - Compact Cassettes: Don't Digitise - just enjoy but there isn't much to say about it - what you see is what you get.
Picked up one of these when I lived in Japan in the 90's from the 'big rubbish' - worked perfectly and in the cramped confines of a Japanese house made a lot of sense.
You have gathered enough for a small museum by now xD I think it's cool to see these old "apparatus". The cassette player I had. But most of what you show gave me a flat nose back in the day. Came from pressing my face against the display windows xD Very expensive stuff. Thx for showing :)
Hey, Great channel. Just discovered and subscribed. Question, where do you find these old machines which are still in their original box and never been opened? I'm curious.
I bought one of these new units from the same eBay seller. His friend was selling a warehouse that hadn't been touched for 30 years and it was full of vintage hi-fi units - sounds too good to be true, but it actually was. It was like an Aladdin's cave of brand new old stock record players, mini-disc players etc. It was a couple of years ago so all sold off now :-(
I bought one of these a few years ago, the Optonica RP-114vl. I ruined a pair of jeans and part of the carpet when the "melted" belt came out upon opening the case. Like you, I bought it because it was unusual. And it's quite the conversation piece. Many people think it's a computer case. ;)
Sam Gates I've never seen 2015 tech with sharp edges and corners, you pretty much only saw that in the 80's. Go take a loot at any 80's tape, CD or VCR players and they all have those sharp edges designs.
+Gordon Freeman I'd agree that it looks "early 80s". While the sharp edges, buttons and shape are undeniably 80s, the silver (rather than black) finish itself ties it to the early part of the decade when the 70s trend for silver audiovisual equipment was still hanging on. Can't pinpoint exactly when silver went out and black (often with red and blue) became the dominant colour, as there was some overlap. Safe to say it was by the mid-80s.
NotATube While most late 80's devices were black, there were a few rare ones that came in silver. Silver may have gone out in the mid 80's, at least my 1988 CD player is black, and I had an early 80's CD player that was silver.
Sam Gates That's not really accurate. The trends neither neatly line up with calendar decades, nor do they all have clear cutoff points. Silver (genuine or sprayed) was mostly passe by the mid-80s, replaced by black. (See my other comment above for more on this). The original Sega Master System is the epitome of the black-with-red angular styling of the mid-to-late 80s. Looks good to me, but I grew up in the 80s. While black was still the dominant colour for most of the 90s, I noticed around the turn of the decade that the square angles and sharp edges of 80s design were replaced with a more curved look that- to me- looked cheap and bland. Silver (sprayed and genuine) made a comeback in the late 90s and was the dominant trend for around a decade, (alongside the shorter-lived iMac-influenced transparent plastic trend at the turn of the millennium and the later iPod-influenced white glossy plastic). Then it went out of fashion again. (Well, okay you still see some silver/metallic finishes, but more at the higher end, not the spray-everything-plastic type).
Best left back in the 80s? Um no, I will have one, please! I have a metric buttload of 45s and a great bloody massive stereo to play them with, but I kinda want to hook it in to my home Hi-Fi system instead.
I love seeing your Hi-Fi collection. Its amazing how you have managed to get hold of new old stock. It's quite weird thinking that it has been ferreted away somewhere for such a long time.
herranton1979 But analog signal processing still has a "bitrate," it's just harder to quantify. A painting IS made of dots of color; if you examined it impossibly closely you'd see individual paint molecules. What you're saying sounds more like mysticism than information science. Still, if that's what floats your boat, more power to you.
BRAVO!! I love your panache as you go into Forbidden Areas where many tech guys would just run away. In any case, as I think you imply, it's a wonder it worked much at all to begin with! I'm now off to look at more of your videos. Thanks again.
I've bought the same turntable some year before because i liked it so much. Yesterday i changed the belt that was soft playing only one side. I guess new electronic products can't be compared with the quality of mechanic-electronic engineering products from the 1980s
This brought back memories - I worked in the electronics section of a big department store when this was released. This got much attention on the shelf at the time, but I don't think we sold a single model.
Just discovered your channel. I have a Technics linear tracking turntable still in use that i bought in 1986 among other things. Its amazing that you are able to find things so old and out of date, unused and unopened.
Takes me back to a happier time! I had various sharp stereos including a portable stereo with a vertical record player built in. It never worked properly.....but that was almost expected....
amazing, i love things like this, I was born in the mid 90s so i don't really know of or wasn't before interested in record players, but i got to say, this has certainly sparked an interest. thanks Techmoan
only new to this channel but spent yesterday & possibly today watching your videos. whether or not you are an expert at every device doesn't matter, you are doing a great job & come across as very relatable. glad you replaced your turntable though as per your more recent video.
Watching some of these old videos, I find it interesting that in this one, Mat stated that he preferred his all-manual turntable over automatic units (though not so much that he was not willing to buy this quirky vertical model). But just a few months later, he had already tired of the manual turntable and had switched over to using turntables with automatic features.
Auto is the way to go if it sounds good. At the very least it needs an auto stop feature. Idk how adding that could make it sound “worse” for purists, unless it’s just because a 1000$ manual turntable sounds better than a 200$ player
2014 Techmoan was so much more cynical than 2019 Techmoan.
And Way more cynical than 2022 Techmoan.
@@IDPhotoMan He saves up all the cynicism for his Patreon update videos. (And it's great)
Techmoan is Techmoan, everything is interesting to me at least
oh you mean better
Made a full 180 on automatic turntables too. Did not know he used to prefer manual record players.
Welp, I found my new favorite tech channel.
Hi.
ReviewTechUSA you should do old school tech stuff for your channel
+Sam Gates right?
+ReviewTechUSA So random to see rich here lol!
+ReviewTechUSA Agree. Have been watching this nonstop for a couple of days.
I had that very deck and I remember friends being in awe of it....great to see one again, thank you!
Come on, 1982! This is a very impressive piece of machinery. Changing the Belt may suck, but the linear pick-up mechanism is amazing for the time.
My Grandparents had one of these in the 80's. It blew my mind at the time. Thanks for the vid and trip down memory lane!
"Best on the market" is boring. Cool and weird is what we like.
Though it looks impossible at first, you can fit a replacement belt to these Sharp vertical record players without having to take out any of the components - it just needs the back removing and the door at the front opening. The replacement belt is fed through the back and then you loop it round the platter from the front - there is a small gap in the metal plate around the platter than the belt can slip through (you can't see it so need to feel for it). It took me a frustrating couple of hours of messing around to work it out, but once I got the hang of it, it only took 5 minutes to change a belt. By the way, these turntables are actually really good quality - Optonica was marketed in the early 80s as Sharp's high end brand. My favourite is the ghetto blaster version with the cassette and turntable!
You are making me feel really old! I remember these in the shops and loved it. I was only 16 though. lol
Very nice piece of eighties technology. I had a complete system of Sharp Optonica for almost ten years. It was all aluminum and all i had to do was to change some lamps to the receiver.
Unfortunately this is all-plastic (other than the metallic strip with the buttons).
Nice little machine, good to see that you were able to replace the belt and fix the pickup mechanism. It played kind of like what the CD player does. I like the fact that because it is vertical, you save a lot of space therr.
The numbers on the stylus/arm track are not time, but centimeters, which denote the records size. There are three numbers printed on the player cover: 30, 25 and 17. 30cm = 12" record; 25 = 10" record; and 17 = 7" record.
ehexlee Thanks for the info.
Wow! My very first music player, brings back so many great memories! So jealous... Dale
"Quite impressive back in the day"? It still is! Don't undersell it.
He isn't selling it though is he? He's reviewing it and like he said you got all that instead of decent sound. I know what I'd prefer..
indeed
What?, the SL-10 was only linear tracking, it was not both sides play and did not have any sort of search system, at best it was just a small system that did nothing more than a regular turntable. I've had many many Technics components over the years, Technics never really got into the whole gimmick side of audio, unlike Aiwa,Sharp and Mitsubishi to name a few. The closest Technics ever came to the Sharp was the SL-15 which was programmable but was not both sides play, so Sharp didn't "shamelessly copy" anything. Further to this Sharp also had the RP-103 to RP-119 series which were a sliding drawer configuration which was a stack-able turntable system that was just like CD, only it came out 6 years before CD. So the Sharp IS in fact a very impressive machine, even by today's standards as there is still nothing that compares.
I have never owned this exact machine, so I wont/can't comment on sound quality, I do however own the RP-103, RP-113,RP-116 and RP-117 and although the sound quality on those is not brilliant, it is not as you put it, "straight garbage". I think you miss the point with these, you see these were never designed to hook up to your Technics Mosfet or you valve amps etc etc they we designed as compact units and portable units, when have you ever heard a brilliant sounding compact system?, they are convenience appliances that also show off the tech savvy engineering these companies had on offer, you sir miss the point entirely. I have one of my RP-117's connected to my Hitachi HMA-8500 MKII in my workshop (I'm a watchmaker) it is there because I love my LP's and I love the Sharp for its convenience, and although the audio quality is just a little harsh, it is a LOOONG way short of "straight garbage". I use it for exactly what it was built for, convenience, I can't get up and changes sides all day long, so instead I use my RP-117, I can program which tracks I want to hear and in whatever order and if I want I can select it to repeat what I want to hear, it's perfect for my usage and a brilliant flashback to days gone by. For quality I run my SL-1200, two entirely different animals.
What?.....you have no argument here pal, to quote your original and quite frankly vague statement " technics done it way earlier. This is a shameless attempt at copying the SL-10"
So let's get that statement in perspective shall we?. First of all, Technics did not do it "Way earlier", they were both released at about the same time, secondly Sharp in NO WAY copied anything you twat, they were to entirely different formats, you claiming in your second reply "I was talking about vertical playability", no you weren't, you were claiming Sharp outright copied Technics, the mere fact that both were vertical playing formats and saying Technics copied Sharp is simply ludicrous, that's like saying that every upright radio was a direct copy of every other upright radio, it was the style that saved the most space and was the style every manufacturer adopted for practicality and portability, nothing more nothing less, your original statement is GARBAGE as is you one word reply. You have no idea what the hell you are talking about, so best you shut your mouth before you embarrass yourself any further....Twat!.
you definately were not wasting away your saturday. Ive become quite addicted to your posts and my 6 yr old enjoys watching too. heloves to watch the disassembly process now youve not only entertained but educated a young mind. so good job well keep watching.
Thanks for taking the time to show us this stuff. It's fascinating, and well presented. It's also nice to think that you are preserving not only the equipment (and the enjoyment of it), but also a lot of the genius that went into their designs.
I have never been interested in older technology, but your videos make them interesting and informative. That, to me, is amazing!
>NOW That's What I Call Music on vinyl record
You've found the best way to troll a hipster.
+Super Smash Dolls ?
reminds me of the guy who wanted 250 quid to fix my smeg fridge, I bought the part and fitted it myself for 25 quid.
Hipsters are the second most reviled tribe in today´s society, one step down from SJWs; equally smug and self-righteous, but fortunately more peaceful. Perhaps because their long beards don´t fit in a balaclava.
OMG, I'm going to quote this!
You should make a virtual library of your collection and offer individual pieces up for rent to movie production companies. Having the protagonist of the movie play a record in a machine like this would really set the tone for the era, :D
+Heather Spoonheim perhaps the team from the Man In The High Castle could use my Tefifon.
+Techmoan I had to google that reference, but yeah - that would be perfect.
+Techmoan Have you considered getting a Edison Cylinder phonograph? Maybe getting one with a player/recording head? I would love to see you record on one of those(also would need an erasing machine that shaves used cylinders back into blanks for recording again). Maybe just a player review? Hope you consider one of those, and I think with that your collection will be that much more complete (with late 1800's tech).
The Tefifon HAS to get into a movie, its ridiculously fascinating. I had no idea it existed until I ran into your channel.
+TuneStunnaMusic I don't think anyone else has either
How good a feeling is when the platter turns after a belt change. Very satisfying!!
I have an Atari cassette drive that the belt turned to goo.. unfortunately, I have not had any luck finding a replacement belt for it.
are all retro tech youtubers friends with each other?, or is that just a coincidence
It's a retro conspiracy, edwardo
They have a secret handshake and everything!
It's not rocket science… Take one that kinda fits or use a piece of yarn ;-)
Belt turned to... goo?
This is honestly so interesting. I think the audio product videos you make are some of the best, I can tell you love exploring something usually forgotten :)
Unfortunately I think I'm coming to the end of my audio exploration (but it was a lot of fun while it lasted).
Techmoan Sad as that news is, atleast you put all effort into it:) Keep up the good work!
Techmoan Why not go into the weird old tube stuff? :-D
Techmoan Certainly did enjoy seeing you repair that thing!.. BTW I think its marvellous! I used to have a Technics direct-drive turntable, but it failed on me years ago (uneven speed). Back then I couldn't do anything about that and tossed it out.
i have one needs belts in UK near Newcastle but can't find anyone who repairs older equipment perhaps you could help or know anyone my email is johnpreid60@gmail.com. also a Mitsubishi vertical record player with tonearm problems
What a great bit of kit. I used to love the family record player as a kid. Sunday afternoon for 1 hours with headphones on after a good ol sunday roast. I miss the 80's for that. As much as I love digital music and the way you go about getting it, nothing beats being watched like a hawk flicking through the old record collection, carefully removing it from the sleeve and listening to real music, full is hiss.
I love those old gadgets. I, myself, have a Mitsubishi X-10 Vertical Linear Tracking Belt Drive Turntable with a Tape Deck. Alas, it needs work but does power-up. Great videos, Techmoan.
Is there some "Indiana Jones" warehouse someplace where piles of obsolete technology sits waiting to become valuable curiosities that sell for many times their original price?
Where did you get this thing from?
Top. men.
@@OAleathaO Techmoan might be a part of MI5?
He knows a guy.
Maybe he is a time traveller ...
Things go unsold and then they sit in a warehouse until someone finds them and put them up on ebay.
it's like a cd player but just for vinyls....amazing
im 16 living in a world where cars drive themselves, and here I am wanting your entire collection just so I could enjoy and experience the world before I existed
Great record player glad you were able to clean that old belt it probably just got tired or have been played a lot I'm felt sad that it was left alone and just disintegrated I'm a product of the 80s I miss those days the stereos of the past sounds so much better I love high dollar turntables can't afford them though but I still love an old-school BSR on anything that seemed like they put them on everything back in the day I enjoyed watching you fix that record player and seeing it play again wow 1982 seems like a million years ago👏👏👏👏👏👏👏✌✌✌✌✌✌ my grandmother's food tasted so good back then.😂😂😂 thanks for the video
I understand your affinity for the all-manual turntable, but I prefer my Garrard record changer that dates to the late 60s or early 70s. I used it as a teenager a long time ago after my dad gave it to me and I recently got it fully working again. There is nothing like stacking 3 or 4 records up and watching the mechanical device play all four in a row and then park the tone arm and switch itself off at the end. And with a new needle it sounds great.
+Helium Road Great for double albums.
stevethepocket Yes, that is true. But before CDs, albums were generally made to be played one side at a time anyway. Hemispheres or 2112 by Rush come to mind. The second sides of these albums are almost like different albums.
Helium Road I feel the best option would be a late 70's Technics or Pioneer single disc table with very low Wow and Flutter and a brilliant S/N ratio. What better way to enjoy the world's greatest Prog Rock band?
Record changers are notorious for scratching records.
@Helium Road Your story sounds a bit like mine, only many years into the future. My dad had a Garrard music centre, which had a radio receiver and amplifier as well as the record stacker on the turntable. He'd stripped the electronics out of the cabinet and built it into some shelving he made when I was a kid, but when we moved house he loaded it all back into the cabinet and gave it to me. I was 10 at the time and it was pretty cool to have this old bit of kit in my room that I could play my records on (and it spurred a passion for vinyl that I still have today). Watching the turntable drop each record in turn was pretty cool, but I found it only ever really worked properly on singles. More than 4 12" discs and it struggled to turn at the correct speed, presumably as there wasn't enough torque in the motor. I hacked the amplifier when I was 15 so I could connect my Commodore 64 to it and play the sound through it instead of my TV, which worked pretty well, too. It was a sad day when a lightning strike totalled the amp...
Ive never wanted anything more in my life, even when folks say they ruin records :(
Yes I do remember seeing the ad for this one, and immediately thought it would ruin the records too fast.
Sorry for the reply on that after 2 years, but I did not see this vid until today! :)
I had this for many years and it never ruined any of my records😀
THANK YOU for posting this video. I had one of these back in the 80's. I just found a brand new "Optonica" version of this on ebay in a factory sealed box. When I received mine, it had the exact same issues (the belt turned to goo and the tracking rail in the door became loose). Thanks to you I knew exactly what to do to fix it. Took me less than 1.5 hours to get it up and running perfectly.
My boss had one of these back in 1983. It sat on the shelf behind his desk chair. I never heard it play or saw it work. My boss was a Celebrity Police Chief in Northern New Jersey (USA) and because this was the latest, greatest and rarest, he had to have one (though it was probably a "gift."). RIP Joe Delaney.
"An era known for style over substance and convenience over quality."--That remark really sums of the 1980s stereo equipment because it really went downhill from that point....70s had better quality stereo systems...also, you did one incredible job of DX what the problem was and fixing it....just one brilliant video.
My aunt had one of these back in the 1980s, I remember looking at it with awe as a very young kid. Thanks for the memories :)
This is impresive even for today's standarts,things might be more practical and easy those years but vinyl records have even those days a big hit for the collector.The people like you know it of course even better and also know the sound diference from cd and vinyl,there are people that claiming that the older records have a better sound but i believe that each format shares its own unique quality.
I had the sharp vertical portable record player with a tuner and cassette. Took 10 batteries!!!! Great stuff.
Strap it to your belt and plug in your headphones and go walk around!
it uses a wall plug so.... extender cord?
+Joe Cackler (Joe's Revew station) Backpack of batteries!
Lol
+Peter Smyth; do not forget your inverter to make the 230 V AC.
+Peter Smyth Wheelbarrow. lol.
Leave it in the 80s?! Screw that! They need to make these again.
Why??
+James Reeno He's probably a hipster.
+James Reeno looks kinda neat
+James Reeno and i guess double side players aren't super dupety usual
My local record shop back in the day had one of those. It took wow & flutter to a whole new level. Practically made Leonard Cohen turn into Barry Gibb.
Excellent Video thank you! ... Sharp was an excellent maker 1979-1983. This was space age stuff in 82!
Wow! My in-laws bought this exact model in Soviet Union back in mid eighties from a guy whos father was some kind of Soviet diplomatic official. He sold it to us for quite a bit of money. I forgot all about it and your video brought back memories. Thanks for this :)
Вот это поворот. Представляю каково было иметь нечто подобное в СССР в 80-х
WellDoneTurner Да, это было нечто :)
I remember when linear tracking turntables came out.
Never heard one. Never knew anybody who had one...
Hahaha! I used to have one of these. Thanks for the fond memories.
Same here!
As a man who likes vintage tech you might like this. I am curently resotoring my IBM 5150, I have been documenting it on RUclips in my usual rambaly fassion. It is always fun getting old machines and fixing them up. When it is finnished I will have to find a nice place to display the 5150.
I remember that my brother bought one of these in the early 80s. Back then, it seemed so far ahead of its time. The fact it could automatically go to the next track with a touch of a button seemed pretty amazing.
That's impressive even today!
I won't trust my records on this machine. But it's a really COOL video, i must say!! Good job!!
That's a gem! What's an interesting gizmo! So, I had a SHARP Optonica amplifier/receiver for years and stills playing great! Belts made of that rubber go litterally sticky and worn out if longly unused! Sollely replacing that strap will made it playing!
Do NOT call me old ... but I had this in the 80s. Loved it!
What a very satisfying repair to watch...and a very interesting device also....thanks for your efforts :-)
awesome piece of history / technology.
as always, another great video. really starting to dig your vid's my friend, nice job.
Absolutely love this review. Its techmoan heritage without you being visible, just takling voice-over...
Cool find. 80s tech is still cool after 35 years. That reel to reel you have is really sweet. I'd hold on to that!
Sorry Dave, but I'm afraid I can't play that! :D 7:04
Underrated af ;^D
this is one high tech record player i never seen before
Interesting that your enthusiasm for a fully-manual turntable had waned by 18th January 2018!
I love watching you fix things, I fix old electronics all the time, when I run out of things to fix I binge these lol
i only can say... ENVY... unboxing some kind of that gear for the first time since was packed in 1982
So cool!
Vinyl Eyezz heyyyyy it’s you!
Found you!
Really Cool!
How come you no do stuff like this?
that circuit board is beautiful
I was eight when this was manufactured. I was just getting into buying my own records at that time. This would have blown my mind!
Wow, home repair takes me back. I'm living in an age when it breaks, it gets replaced.
As a neo-vinyl listening person who never had vinyl back when it was the main listening media, actually i don't feel this thing is useless. Playing a 30 minute album in one take is a much better thing than flipping it around at 15 minutes. Now comes the horde of people saying: vinyl people should sacrifice convenience to audio quality, dedicate the time to record listening.. blabla. Well that's one opinion I respect; I like the sound of vinyl but i don't like standing up and flipping discs around. So if someone would made a decent version of this Sharp player, that would be something I want on my list. Actually, does this Sharp sound that bad that it's not listenable at all? What kind of cartridges does it accept?
I actually agree. Part of the reason I didn't like records as a kid (we had a turntable and tons of records, and very few if no tape cassettes) was because I hated touching the needle and flipping the album. Also, we had to put a little spindle widener on the player for our Golden Books records which had a larger hole etc.
This type of player would have completely eliminated the use case issues for children, or people in general who just want to listen to their music, not "experience" it. As much as the hipsters like vinyl for the "experience" fact of the matter is this was the only real format for a very long time. People didn't *want* to "experience" it - they wanted to listen to their goddamn tunes.
+István Nagy *" Now comes the horde of people saying: vinyl people should sacrifice convenience to audio quality, "*
Oh no. I'm an electrical engineer, I worked at RCA, I'm here to tell you, you don't know what audio quality is.
In order to keep the needle in the groove of a record, there is attenuation at higher frequencies the nearer that the arm gets to the center - i.e. intentional distortion. All that "quality" you ignorant, delusional, morons, talk about is distortion introduced because of the limitations of the time of technology.
The "audio quality" you think you are hearing, is distortion. I could show it to you on a scope, which can distinguish between 1/1,000,000 of a decibel but you're delusional, and I'm certain you think you have better hearing than that.
fuzzywzhe - Thing is, some people just like the sound of that distortion. But yeah, nobody should pretend it's actually better audio quality.
That particular turntable will support any P-Mount / linear tracking type magnetic cartridge.
We had one! I have tried to explain to my husband for years what it was. Thanks for the time machine.
I stumbled upon your channel while I was looking at vintage computers. I had no idea that there were so many different gadgets and audio equipment that was so awesome back in the day! Heck, by today's standards, most of this stuff is still mind blowing! Thanks for the videos and keep it up!!!!
That's a pretty cool record player.
I really like it, actually :P
Wow! Impressed you got it up and running! Well done sir.
I gotta say..being an audiophile...and someone who appreciates tech...and old tech I really do find this turntable very clever ;) Great video as always sir! Qapla!
You sound like James May from Top Gear
Gee, you're the first person who has said this.
mubd1234
I say this on all of his videos
lol. keep on truckin, +Fatt Drake
more John Peel I thought.
lmao.. he does
Do you have a video about the record player that you like? The one at the end with the white belt...
It makes a guest appearance in this video - Compact Cassettes: Don't Digitise - just enjoy but there isn't much to say about it - what you see is what you get.
Techmoan What's the proper name and model for it please?
cwuzii Pro-ject RPM 1.3 Genie
Picked up one of these when I lived in Japan in the 90's from the 'big rubbish' - worked perfectly and in the cramped confines of a Japanese house made a lot of sense.
You have gathered enough for a small museum by now xD I think it's cool to see these old "apparatus". The cassette player I had. But most of what you show gave me a flat nose back in the day. Came from pressing my face against the display windows xD Very expensive stuff. Thx for showing :)
Hey, Great channel. Just discovered and subscribed. Question, where do you find these old machines which are still in their original box and never been opened? I'm curious.
+Mandeep Banwait ebay
Thanks...I was more curious about how the people selling on Ebay have brand new in the box models. I guess it was old inventory which never sold.
I bought one of these new units from the same eBay seller. His friend was selling a warehouse that hadn't been touched for 30 years and it was full of vintage hi-fi units - sounds too good to be true, but it actually was. It was like an Aladdin's cave of brand new old stock record players, mini-disc players etc. It was a couple of years ago so all sold off now :-(
What does the level meter say when david guetta is hurling his "music"? Does the overdrive-lamp ever stops flashing?
I love watching you waste away your Saturday, this is very entertaining! Thanx
I bought one of these a few years ago, the Optonica RP-114vl. I ruined a pair of jeans and part of the carpet when the "melted" belt came out upon opening the case. Like you, I bought it because it was unusual. And it's quite the conversation piece. Many people think it's a computer case. ;)
I have to disagree. I'm terrified to touch the needle/stylus. This is the type of record player I would want.
Rob Heathers
Just use a fully atomatic turntable , then you wil not have to touch the stylus !
looks way newer than 1982 lol but it looks nice ill give it that.
scaleop4
Almost all 80's tech look like that, it doesn't look newer than 1982, it looks interesting but the thing screams 80's lol.
Sam Gates
I've never seen 2015 tech with sharp edges and corners, you pretty much only saw that in the 80's.
Go take a loot at any 80's tape, CD or VCR players and they all have those sharp edges designs.
+Gordon Freeman I'd agree that it looks "early 80s". While the sharp edges, buttons and shape are undeniably 80s, the silver (rather than black) finish itself ties it to the early part of the decade when the 70s trend for silver audiovisual equipment was still hanging on.
Can't pinpoint exactly when silver went out and black (often with red and blue) became the dominant colour, as there was some overlap. Safe to say it was by the mid-80s.
NotATube
While most late 80's devices were black, there were a few rare ones that came in silver.
Silver may have gone out in the mid 80's, at least my 1988 CD player is black, and I had an early 80's CD player that was silver.
Sam Gates That's not really accurate. The trends neither neatly line up with calendar decades, nor do they all have clear cutoff points. Silver (genuine or sprayed) was mostly passe by the mid-80s, replaced by black.
(See my other comment above for more on this).
The original Sega Master System is the epitome of the black-with-red angular styling of the mid-to-late 80s. Looks good to me, but I grew up in the 80s.
While black was still the dominant colour for most of the 90s, I noticed around the turn of the decade that the square angles and sharp edges of 80s design were replaced with a more curved look that- to me- looked cheap and bland.
Silver (sprayed and genuine) made a comeback in the late 90s and was the dominant trend for around a decade, (alongside the shorter-lived iMac-influenced transparent plastic trend at the turn of the millennium and the later iPod-influenced white glossy plastic). Then it went out of fashion again. (Well, okay you still see some silver/metallic finishes, but more at the higher end, not the spray-everything-plastic type).
I swear I thought I was the only guy alive who bought a piece of stereo equipment just for the spectrum analyzers and vu meters. Your Awesome!!!
I really like watching your channel, you are always coming up with interesting things to review for all of us. Southeast Texas.
Best left back in the 80s? Um no, I will have one, please! I have a metric buttload of 45s and a great bloody massive stereo to play them with, but I kinda want to hook it in to my home Hi-Fi system instead.
Micah Nightwolf please is not needed it's annoying like Donald Trump
I wish I had a loaded butt.
Of 45s.
i cringe a little bit when i see something so old sealed in mint condition being opened
+Tecnovlog Yeah, but now it works and before was just a peace of garbage in the box
Just picked one of these up, it's surprisingly musical and quite entertaining to watch it do its thing.
I love seeing your Hi-Fi collection. Its amazing how you have managed to get hold of new old stock. It's quite weird thinking that it has been ferreted away somewhere for such a long time.
While ebay has its issues, without it I would never have found most of the things featured in my videos.
what are you doing with a David Ghetto vinyl? rubbish!!
I imagine the master tracks are at a way higher bitrate than CD quality audio though.
herranton1979
But analog signal processing still has a "bitrate," it's just harder to quantify. A painting IS made of dots of color; if you examined it impossibly closely you'd see individual paint molecules.
What you're saying sounds more like mysticism than information science. Still, if that's what floats your boat, more power to you.
I prefer vinyl because I have a family history of hippies and I don't want to disappoint them
This was probably intended for DJs who mix with vinyl players. Still, I don't know which DJ would pay for it lol
that could be the point, to bypass cheap DACs: I suspect extremely good DACs are more expensive than vinyl and paraphernalia.
"wasting my yestarday doing this"...man, this is from 2014...almost history nowdays. Again, history...great job, worth at all.
BRAVO!! I love your panache as you go into Forbidden Areas where many tech guys would just run away. In any case, as I think you imply, it's a wonder it worked much at all to begin with! I'm now off to look at more of your videos. Thanks again.
Blimey that brought back some memories. I remember seeing them in the various shops back in the day.. great to see one again.
I've bought the same turntable some year before because i liked it so much. Yesterday i changed the belt that was soft playing only one side. I guess new electronic products can't be compared with the quality of mechanic-electronic engineering products from the 1980s
the back of it SCREAMS budget 80's and I love it, not gonna replace my existing one but might get one for the weirdness
This is my new favorite channel for this month. Great content!
Even though some stuff needs replacing it's amazing how it still works after all these years.
Thanks for another amusing video Matt!
I'm happy if you're happy.
Super! I've always been delighted by such things.
This brought back memories - I worked in the electronics section of a big department store when this was released. This got much attention on the shelf at the time, but I don't think we sold a single model.
Just discovered your channel. I have a Technics linear tracking turntable still in use that i bought in 1986 among other things. Its amazing that you are able to find things so old and out of date, unused and unopened.
Really nice video, I mean ALL, explanation, fixing and so for.
Very professional, cheers.
Takes me back to a happier time! I had various sharp stereos including a portable stereo with a vertical record player built in. It never worked properly.....but that was almost expected....
amazing, i love things like this, I was born in the mid 90s so i don't really know of or wasn't before interested in record players, but i got to say, this has certainly sparked an interest. thanks Techmoan
Bravo! Another great episode! I was not aware that record were played vertically. Cheers
only new to this channel but spent yesterday & possibly today watching your videos. whether or not you are an expert at every device doesn't matter, you are doing a great job & come across as very relatable. glad you replaced your turntable though as per your more recent video.