Retro Thing

A Turntable That Fits On Your Ring Finger

If you ever get to see a real turntablist ply his trade, keep your eye on his fingers.  Not only can you cop some sweet moves for your next turn behind the wheels of steel, but DJ's have a knack of finding some pretty nice digital adornments.  Here's a handmade ring with a mini turntable on it, along with a tiny disc of real vinyl.  It doesn't play any music, but it looks like just the thing to wear next time you are.

The ring is available in a few different styles, and is going to set you back something over $300 US, which doesn't seem unreasonable for a limited edition and uniquely handcrafted piece of jewelry.  I think that I'll pass though. As much as I like it, I'm such a granny that all I can think of is how I'd constantly get the tiny tonerm caught in my best DJ-ing sweater.

Turntable Ring by Darkcloud Silver [via Red Ferret]

Razyworks Vinyl Killer 2.0

The original Razyworks Vinyl Killer was a VW bus that played your favorite LP record by driving around in ever-decreasing circles.

The wonders of modern miniaturization have brought us a smaller and sleeker version in the form of a tiny Mini Clubman. It still only plays 33 RPM disks (unless you enjoy 12" singles at 2/3 the normal speed). It costs 11,300 Yen ($110) with worldwide shipping -- enough to buy a real turntable that doesn't drive donuts all over your virgin vinyl.

"It's not the record that spins. The world's smallest self running record player doesn't need turntables but churns out music by driving round the record with a needle that is underneath the car. If you have this, you can enjoy music whenever and wherever you are. 33RPM Only. Built in motor, amplifier and speaker. Requires 9V alkali [sic] battery."

Razyworks Vinyl Killer 2.0

Pioneer SK-200 Curvy Lookin' Boom Box

Pioneer made a name for themselves long ago as a maker of somewhat higher end audio and video gear.  I'm sure that there's a lot of room to dispute just how great or near great they were, but personally I never associated them with a youth-oriented product like a boom box.

True to the Pioneer name, this is a nice unit.  The overall design is very smooth, moving past the mega-gunmetal on most boom boxes - instead adopting a stealthy aerodynamic mode with luxurious golden chrome highlights.  The knobs and switches are all inset, even the antenna tucks away inside the unit.  I'm always impressed with a boom box that includes RCA inputs and outputs as this one does, along with 1/4" headphone jack, mic jacks, and even a mic jack marked "mix mic" (there's a knob marked "mix volume" on top, so perhaps this is for DJ-ing over your mix tapes or the radio?  Neat feature.)

Most important is that the boom box sounds really good - better than many other slim-sized units from the time.  It gets much louder than its size would make you think.  Another stylistic touch is removing the usual rigid handle, instead offering up lugs for attaching the "Pioneer" branded nylon web strap.  All in all, a very classy radio - the kind that your girlfriend might even let you buy.

Boom box with built in TV
Touchscreen computer built into boom box guts
Unusual twin cassette boom box
Nouveau "boom box"

Portable Cratedigger Record Player - From Sesame Street?

When you go to a record fair or a thrift store, it would be really great to be able to test out records before you buy. Listening rooms are sadly a thing of the past, so you'll need to roll your own. We've done articles on several affordable portables, but here's one that we overlooked.

There were a lot of Sesame Street children's records, so it makes sense that Fisher Price would offer a kid-friendly record player in 1983. It's simple to operate - fully manual with only a speed selector and volume knob. It's durable since it's designed to be knocked around by children. The inexpensive stylus is still available today, and slots into the birdie tonearm (don't you wish that they'd taken a design cue from the Flintstones and put the stylus right into the bird's beak?). 

It doesn't sound half bad, and gets pretty loud - it would be nice if it had a headphone jack, but I'm just splitting gigantic yellow feathers here. Most importantly for our purposes, the record player is small and runs on batteries - an excellent way to preview your platters before purchase. Heck, it might even get a dealer to shave a few dollars off of his prices after seeing your pitiful sound system. Or I guess it could backlash - there are those dealers out there who are too snobby to let you play their precious vinyl on a turntable with Big Bird on it.

I don't care how it looks. Dealers should be happy that I've brought this silly thing along to record sales - I've bought more records because I had a way to hear them first. Another bonus is that no one is going to knock me over to steal this turntable from under my arm. Besides, this cements my reputation as a guy with a lot of nerve.  A guy with a lot of nerve who knows his ABC's, I hasten to add...

Related:
Sound Burger - the granddaddy of retro porta-turntable-dom
Our affordable turntable roundup
Battery powered Vestax turntable at Amazon
Numark has one too...
Fisher Price Record Players on Ebay

Tivoli Audio Model Three Analog Alarm Clock Radio

The Tivoli Audio Model Three ($299.99) is a bit of an odd duck. It features the same Henry Kloss designed AM/FM radio circuitry as the original Model One table radio, but with the addition of a quartz analog alarm clock. A battery powered clock, at that. The benefit of battery power is that you're immune to power failures (the Model 3 beeps instead of playing the radio if the power's out). The analog alarm dial is also a breeze to set; rotate the clock bezel counterclockwise until the desired wakeup time is shown and press a button to activate the alarm (with an accompanying LED indicator light). There's a 5 minute snooze feature and a 20 minute "sleep" function if you're the type who likes to nod off to the sound of music.

So far, so good, but there were a couple of not-so-clever design decisions that went into the Model Three. First and foremost, there's no excuse for including a battery-powered clock at this price. If you forget to replace the AA battery on a regular basis, the day will come when the clock decides to conk out in the middle of the night -- with dire consequences. There's no earthly reason to require a separate battery for the clock mechanism except that it's a few cents cheaper than powering the clock directly from the main circuit board, especially when this unit commands a $180 premium over the standard Model One.

A second complaint is that it's impossible to read the tiny text around the controls in subdued lighting. This is a device intended for use in bedrooms, which are not typically known for blinding white lights unless you're in the adult film business.

The third strike against the Model Three is a fairly minor quibble: the unit is monaural unless you add an external speaker. It still sounds great, but I expect stereo at this price. You can purchase a second speaker for $74.99 or buy your partner a second speaker/alarm module for an extra $179. That's a phenomenal amount for a $5 battery powered quartz clock mechanism,  even if it comes packaged in a nice wooden case.

All in all, you're far better off purchasing the $119.99 Model One and a traditional LED clock/radio instead. You'll still get to enjoy genuine Tivoli Audio sound, but without the expensive and poorly thought out alarm clock. It's a pity, because an integrated analog clock dial really appeals to me.

Tivoli Audio Model Three Clock Radio

Panasonic Retro Headphones: Old School Looks & Value

Panasonic has gone seriously old school with a range of affordable stereo monitor headphones aimed at part-time DJs and home enthusiasts.

The RP-HTX7PP lineup features 40mm drivers with 7-22 kHZ frequency response, a 1/4-inch stereo plug and lightweight construction that makes them easy to toss in your gear bag to take anywhere. They come with a 4 ft cord and 6.6 ft extension if you need a little more distance between you and your audio gear, which is a nice touch.

The best news is that they carry a street price of under $50 and the general consensus is that they offer excellent sound and comfort for the price. Available in black (the cheapest) and retro shades or cream, blue, refrigerator white and green (the coolest). These should be an excellent replacement for my ancient and much abused AKG K260s.

Panasonic RP-HTX7PP-G Retro Style Monitor Headphones

Tom's Tiny Tape Recorders

Tom Polk has been collecting old radios and miniature tape recorders for decades. The result is an impressive collection of tube and transistor receivers, along with some amazing miniature tape recorders such as the AIWA shown above with tiny 2.5-inch reels. I'm also partial to the all-metal Monacor executive recorder, which seems to be pushing the limits of reel-to-reel miniaturization.

I definitely recommend exploring his radio collection, too - you'll find familiar brands like Sony and Panasonic side-by-side with some unusual sets from the likes of Eico, Bulova (yes, the watch company) and Wilco.

Tom's Portable Tape Recorders
Tom's Radio Collection [via Nightflight Radio]

The Phonautograph: Hear Sound Recorded in 1860

The history of recorded sound will have to be amended slightly, thanks to the successful playback of an optical Phonautogram dated April 9,1860 - almost eighteen years before Thomas Alva Edison's famed phonograph was awarded a patent on February 19, 1878. The oldest playable recording has long been considered an 1888 excerpt of a Handel Oratorio captured on a a fragile Edison wax cylinder at London's Crystal Palace (Edison's system used wax-coated cylinders, unlike Emile Berliner's competing gramophone with its more familiar 78 RPM discs).

The New York Times is reporting that a 10-second snipped of "Au Clair de la Lune" was recently discovered by a team of American audio historians in Paris. The recording was captured with a phonautograph, a machine that captured a visual representation of sound on lamp-blackened paper rolls. It wasn't intended for playback, since no technique for translating squiggles on paper into sound existed at the time. The man behind the system was an almost-forgotten Parisian named Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.

The research team, led by audio historian David Giovannoni, discovered a sheet of rag paper that held remarkably well preserved sound wave tracings. They turned the paper over to scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley lab who retrieved the sound with the help of modified software that was originally intended to play high-resolution maps of grooved records. The result is an eerie fragment of song by an anonymous vocalist: Au Clair de la Lune [mp3].

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison [NY Times]

The Tape Project: Reel-to-Reel Audiophile Albums

The Tape Project was founded to bring "master tape sound" into the living room. Each release is recorded onto 1/4" half track analog reel-to-reel tape at 15 inches per second. They claim, "You just aren't going to get any closer to the original master, short of buying a record label or two."

The current catalog consists of 10 hand-picked albums, including Sonny Rollins' seminal Saxophone Colossus (1956), Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby (1961), along The Robert Cray Band and Malcolm Arnold conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. There's even a brand new album by Jacqui Naylor that was mastered exclusively for The Tape Project.

The process starts by creating a 1" duplication master from the original analog master tape, which is then dubbed to a bank of finely tweaked Ampex ATR-100 decks. The result is the highest-quality "home format" analog copy possible.

The Tape Project is the brainchild of Dan Schmalle, who is also the driving force behind Bottlehead Corp, who manufacture a range of well respected tube amplifiers and modifies tape decks with the CCIR/IEC1 playback equalization required to play these tapes.

I'll let them explain: "We ended up choosing the Technics RS-1500 as our starting point. They are attractive looking machines, they offer the versatility of both 1/4 track and 1/2 track playback heads and three tape speeds, and most importantly they have what we feel is a superior tape transport path, the isolated loop. The RS1500 uses a servo reel control system combined with dual pinch rollers on a single capstan to maintain constant tension on the tape. This results in very stable, low flutter playback.

The one possible shortcoming of the RS 1500 is its lack of IEC playback equalization. In actual practice this is not such a big issue, because the quality of the playback electronics in all of these late 20th century prosumer grade machines is dismal. The only way to get the full benefit of the sonic quality of Tape Project Tapes is to use better outboard playback (repro) electronics anyway."

The project gurus suggest twinning your modified RS-1500 tape deck with the $4000 Bottlehead Repro tape preamplifier, along with whatever high-end audiophile amplifier and speakers you have lurking in your mansion's listening room.  A charter subscription includes all 10 albums from the 2007 catalog and retails for $2000, including shipping within the USA and Canada. They also offer a Selective Subscription that allows you to choose any six of the ten titles for $1200.

There's no word on the titles lined up for the 2008 catalog, since the team is still working hard to fulfill their current order backlog.

The Tape Project

related:
Bottlehead S.E.X. Amplifier - Get Your Tubes Glowing [possibly nsfw]

DIY: Low Cost Gakken Tube Amplifier Kit

Japanese kit builder Gakken sells a stunningly affordable Vacuum Tube Amplifier kit. It retails for about $125, including a set of four surplus Chinese vacuum tubes (2 x 2P3 and 2 x 1B2). The kit comes with a pre-built circuit board, so no soldering is required. All you have to do is screw the various parts together, plug in the vacuum tubes and enjoy your new toy. The kit even includes a pin straightener to ensure you don't accidentally bend a pin while inserting a tube.

I suspect that the audio output is extremely low, since the unit is powered by a couple of D-Cell batteries. My first mod would be the addition of a power jack on the back panel for a regulated 3V wall wart. My second "mod" would be to substitute some slightly higher quality speakers. The plastic horns included with the kit look really cool, but I doubt they sound anything but awful. Also, you should be warned that the instructions are in Japanese only, but there are lots of detailed pictures for illiterate westerners like me.

Purchasing one of these could be a bit of a problem for those of us in North America. Engadget featured it this morning with a link to a Korean online retailer, but the product page isn't in English. The same goes for the official Japanese Gakken site. Luckily, there seem to be a a few of these on eBay at very reasonable prices.

Lots of assembly photos at funshop.co.kr [via Engadget]
Get your own Gakken tube amp kit for $123
More Gakken kits on eBay

DIY: Apple iAmp

Jeff Kobi rescued an old Apple 5.25" floppy drive from a thrift store. His aim was to repurpose it as a retrostalgic project case. He eventually struck upon the clever and practical idea of using it to house his budget-priced Sonic Impact T-Amp "audiophile" digital amplifier.

The T-Amp is a $29 digital amp that generated quite a bit of excitement around the web because of its clean sound and daftly low price. It's based on a Tripath TA2024B digital audio chip, making it compact and efficient - perfect for cramming into a claustrophobic floppy drive case.

Jeff replaced a few of the amp's components to tweak its sound, and prototyped everything in a cheapo Tupperware container. Once he was sure everything worked, he removed the electronics board from the drive and added a 12V power supply and managed to attach the tiny T-Amp board on the bottom of the metal enclosure.

The floppy disk latch was repurposed as the power switch and the front LED glows when the amp is powered up. An ALPS volume knob was added to the front panel, along with binding posts to connect speakers on the back panel. The final result is a brilliantly useful case mod. Four stars!

Apple Floppy Amp [via Gizmodo]

related:
DIY: Briel Computers Apple 1 Clone
RIP: Classic White iPod Now Qualifies As Retro
PowerCD: Portable Audio From Apple In 1993

Sony Unveils a New "Digital" Turntable

You've got to hand it to Sony -- they've got their sticky mitts in everything, as their newfangled $149.99 PS-LX300USB turntable illustrates. As you might guess (or not) from the model number, this sucker includes a USB connection that lets you transform all of your old Duran Duran, Tangerine Dream and Ozzy LPs into the pristine digital domain. Never mind that analog purists decry the act of converting lush, warm analog fuzziness into brittle, thin and unsatisfying digital audio... that's a battle to be fought another day.

The Sony staffers were obviously at a loss while writing ad copy for this thing, remarking that "the PS-LX300USB USB turntable is also a fully functional turntable  that can connect to your current system and playback your vinyl albums..." Uhh, yeah. It offers all the usual home turntable capabilities - a 33/45 RPM belt-driven platter, semi-automatic operation, early 1990s styling, and stereo analog outputs with old-school "greater than 50 dB signal to noise ratio."

[Update from the comments: Billy pointed out the Audio-Technica AT-LP2DA LP-to-Digital Recording System, which looks suspiciously similar to the Sony, but without USB. Numark also makes a USB-equipped model that retails for just over $100.]

Sony PS-LX300USB Stereo Turntable System

related:
Affordable Turntable Roundup
Sound Burger: Vintage Portable Turntable
The World's Largest Selection of Turntables

The Double Secret Life Of ChapStick Lip Balm

My old man was into ChapStick, the famous lip balm in a tube.  It almost seemed like if he forgot to use it just once, his mouth might grow shut.  I never thought too much about ChapStick beyond its great relief on blustery winter days here in Chicago, but there's more to the little lip balm than you might know...

Like many world-wide classic brands, ChapStick had humble beginnings at a family-run business.  Dr. Charles Browne Fleet plied his trade at the sweet end of the intestinal tract (you may recognize his name from the famous enemas he developed) by creating the first lipstick-shaped balm in the late 1800's. 

Starting in 1912, the manufacturing rights were sold to a number of companies until ending up with current holder Wyeth.  1971 saw the first flavors introduced, and now ChapStick is part of a sprawling line of lip care products.  This year Wyeth has even brought back the "classic" style packaging that I remember constantly being in my father's pocket.

1972 saw the ubiquitous ChapStick pressed into service as a spying tool.  ChapStick tubes were modified with hidden microphones and were used by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt during the time of the Watergate break-in.  I couldn't find any details of how exactly to use these microphones - I'm guessing that the operator would hold them in his hand with the wires running up his sleeve.  If you look closely, you can see a pushbutton on the body of the ChapStick, which must be a clue.  I'm guessing a push-to-talk button like on a walkie-talkie.  Loose lips might sink ships, but at least they won't be chapped while doing it.

Who would have thought that ChapStick would have had such a storied past?  It also makes me wonder what secret spy missions Susie Chapstick might have been on...

Related:

Essential gear for the hi-fi spy

Incredible World of Spy-Fi

Hit miniature camera

 

"Beware Of Dog" Sound FX LP - Security At 33 RPM

The thing I've collected for the longest time is probably sound effects records.  Ever since childhood, I loved putting FX records on and just imagine being transported to all kinds of places.  It also made me aware of just how different "Ford Triumph Door Slam" and "'48 Packard Door Close" could sound.

Sound effects records usually fall into two categories.  Some records have discrete sound effects for you to plug into a movie or audio project.  Other records create a whole atmosphere, be it a haunted house or a gentle brook.  This record is an oddball combo of the two.

"Beware Of Dog" was published by Audio Fidelity in 1971, a label that put out dozens of SFX records for decades (they were also the first label to release a stereo record commercially).  Most have individual sound effects, though some are soundscape records - railroad trainyards, nickelodeons.  This record devotes each side of the LP to 20 minutes of a mean-sounding dog (sometimes a few) barking.

The way that you're supposed to use this record is to leave it on while you're out of the house.  If you had an automatic turntable, you'd have it continually play the record while you're gone to give potential malcontents the impression that you've got a mean junkyard dog loose in the house.  To quote the LP jacket:

"This unusual recording presents ... a watchdog at work, reproducing the full-throated sounds of savage vigilance in a surprisingly varied and completely real 'performance.' ... It could serve... in your absence to provide your home or apartment or automobile or office with a convincingly realistic guardian, as the repeated sounds strongly suggest to passerby or would-be intruders that they Beware Of Dog."

"Automobile"?  For all those people with record players in their cars?  Car thieves are going to run away from the sound of a giant invisible dog?  Using the record to guard your house might have a chance of working, I guess, though the cavernous stereo-era reverb might tip off the bad guys.

Related:

Keep your valuables in a safe made of real steel

Cryptex box to keep your secrets secret

An interesting new product from the Apple Computer Company

Rob says, "I thought you might get a kick out of this faux regency radio/iPod ad I made a couple of years ago for a worth1000.com contest." Follow the jump for a look at the full ad, along with one of my all-time favorite pocket radio snapshots.