Cleaning/Chemicals etc.. AM One of the few manufacturer left that makes reasonably good record cleaning brushes, they also make loads of other record cleaning products and accessories. Record Research Lab Record cleaning chemicals etc.. Last Makes record preservants Disk Doctor Audio Restorations Sells Keith Monks record cleaning machines in the US. Discwasher Makes and sell a variety of disk cleaning and protection products. VPI Industries Makes record cleaning machines. Audio Top Makes excellent record cleaning chemicals and tools Lorricraft Makes a mid-high end record cleaning machine Discwasher Has a big range of record cleaning solutions Decca Is still making their carbon fibre brush, the first model to hit the market some 30+ years ago or so Keith Monks Sound Systems Manufatures a record cleaning machine Zerodust Makes the LP Raiser but that is a record cleaning solution that has excellent anti-static properties Calibration etc. Asthetics Makes Cartridge demagnetisers Winds Makes an high quality arm load meter. Turntable Basics Sell turntable accessories, calibration, belts etc.. Gyrascope A fascinating, highly accurate and expensive turntable speed tester. Van Den Hul Makes a variety of turntable, tonearm and pickup calibration accessories. Merrill Audio This company sells a nice booklet explaining the proper set-up of turntables Turntable repairs and spares Turntable Factory (US) Repairs and sells any kind of turntables, and if you have a Dual and live in the USA this is the guy to send it to, also handy with a BIC. SDP-SI (US) Stocks a massive range of motors/pulleys and bearings etc.., intended for industrial users but they will sell to individuals. Analogiqe (US) NY shop that repairs almost any hi-fi but specialises in turntables and indeed sells used turntables by popular demand. EMT-Profi (Germany) This company sells spares, accessories like mats etc. and services EMT broadcast turntables, sells the odd EMT as well. Stefano Pasini (Italy) Repairs and sells broadcast turntables and I believe most other as types as well. Helmer Malmquist Audio (Sweden) Repairs, setups and aligns turntables. Also has a very good audio info page, but it's in Swedish so you probably cannot read it anyway :) Russel Lind Sells belts, idler wheels stylii etc. South Street Service Company (USA) Specialises in repairing and supplying parts for Dual, Garrard and BIC. Used Turntable Retailers Mostly recent models and includes some yummy high end ones, some resonably priced Vintage Electronics (USA) This retailer has a nice range of old decks, perhaps a bit pricy. Play It Again Sam (USA) Ditto Sound Investments (USA) Specialise in old turntables, they have a lot of old Duals, PE's and Elacs that are difficult to find in some parts of the world, tad expencive Please send any factual corrections, dead links, information and/or links that you feel that should be on this page to the page maintainer but please note that I do not have an Internet access at the moment so there may be some time before I can answer.
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Here we archive information on turntable models and manufacturers that are no longer in production.
Acoustic Research (Teledyne)
Although this company is mostly famous for their loudspeakers they did indeed make a line of hi-fi from the 60's into the late 80's. Their turntables were almost legendary in the US but are seldom seen in Europe with their 80's models being an exception, but those were actually manufactured at the company's UK plant. There is an archive here of articles and pictures concerning the modification and rebuilding of classic 60's AR turntables and Merrill Audio does or did until recently perform modifications on most models. The Merril mod are often seen recommended in the US press and on chat sites but please note that repeated emails from us to Mr. Merril for more info have gone unanswered so please proceed with caution if you are interested in these mods, last time we heard they were no longer supplying platters or the subchassis but did have springs and mechanical parts in stock. The AR-11 model from the early 70's is unusually enough not a USA made or designed table but rather a OEM Japanese model that features a rim drive and auto return in contrast to the belt driven manual models that you have come to expect from the company, this model may not have been sold in all markets. The AR Turntable was the first UK made deck that was introduced in 1984 (slightly different to the US model that was introduced in 82 and not to be confused with the original 60's era models which are classified by the serial numbers), it was a reasonably priced unlike most of the indigenous opposition, got excellent reviews and sold quite well at the time, it's a classic AR 3 point suspended design a la Linn. The deck was usually sold with a unbranded or AR branded Japanese arms, available in a fixed headshell version with a straight armtube or a S type arm with a replaceable headshell, this means a standard Japanese mounting hole and thus it's easier to fit an arm originating from the land of the rising sun such as one of the Linn or Audioquest models than a SME or suchlike. The table could be had without an arm and some dealers sold them set up with Linn arms, company brochures state that the fixed headshell version of the AR arm will only work properly with carts of 8 g. or less, but provides no technical info. There is some info on the USA made models on the Vinyl Nirvana site.
AEG/Telefunken
Stefano Pasini has info on the history of the broadcast and transcription range from the company on his page. There is a page on 80's Telefunken Hi-Fi here, amongst other things it has very good pages on the R100 and R200 record player models.
Akai Electric Co.
Introduced the AP-206C in 1979, it's a direct driven model that was near the top of their range at the time. It had a pitch control and the supplied tonearm had antiskating, there was also a stroboscope on the platter for both 33 and 45 speeds using 50 or 60Hz but note that the turntables were supplied in distinct 240/50Hz and 120/60Hz versions, that the strobe shows both does not mean that you can use it with both voltages. It's unclear what difference there was between this model and the earlier AP-206 model, they look identical except that the colour of the C version is somewhat darker.
Alphason
While this manufacturer is still with us they neither manufacture turntables nor do they support their old models, but one fan has some modifications to the Sonata listed on his homepage, most examples of this model seen for sale come with the upgraded Atlas PSU, but their later Symphony was a more expensive and more universally liked, by the hi-fi press at the least. As far as I can gather the last model was the Solo but that was their "budget" offering at something like 400£ when introduced, in some respects it took things too far, for instance the pully only had provision for one speed, 33.3 RPM.
Agile
Made the Swift a mid price deck, the Verve a high mass deck but appears to have dropped them from their product lines in 2004.
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Audio Note UK Ltd.
Made the TT-3 and the TT-3 Reference, the "Reference" model is not to be confused with a current model of the same name.
Bang & Olufsen
This long running Danish manufacturer has some of the most hard core fans of any audio manufacturer, thus info on their old models is relatively easy to find on the web. This French site lists all B & O models by date of introduction while this Dutch one lists them by function so it's best that you go directly to the Beogram page. If you are looking for info on Beograms or want to sell or by one there is a site for nothing but trading in B & O gear its called Beomaster.com. Beophile does nothing but repair B & O equipment, and he is apparently well regarded by other "beophiles", especially for his turntable service. And finally here is the homepage of Jacob Jensen Design, that company designed almost all B & O stuff made between the early 60's and 1992 and in fact all record players except one as far as I can fathom. The 4000 Series of linear tracking turntables (4000, 4002 and 4004) are getting a bit on in years after all the first one in the line was introduced as far back as in 1972, the lubricant used in those models dries up over time and will need to be replaced by now, the most common symptoms of this is when the pickup arm will not lift up from the record either fully or partially, the solution to this is to remove the arm assembly from the pivot point and clean out the old lubricant and replace it with a similar industrial lubricant, it is important to clean out the existing lubricant fully and note that this is delicate work that you might want to have done by a technician (BTW this may be a problem with some newer B&O linear tracking designs as well).
Benjamin
We got a mail from Richard Steinfeld that informed us that after they stopped importing and rebadging ELAC turntables they started making their own models using Lenco motors.
BIC
When the company stopped manufacturing record players in the 1980's a company called South Street Service Company bought up the spares inventory and does supply both spares and service for the company's products.
BSR
One of their later models intended for integration into DJ sets etc. was the P256 deck, it was a budget belt driven unit with an aluminium platter (tyically retailed for £30 to 35 in the mid 80's) that had a unusually good arm for a BSR table, a S shaped affair with a replaceable headshell, antiskate adjustment and a damped cueing action. A fully manual unit NB.
BST Sound
Many of the DJ models from this company have been belt driven models that are not really worth chasing down but the PR-136 that was introduced in 1998 and discontinued recently is one of the better models that the company has made featuring a high torque motor and is DD with a start-up time of around half a second, remote start, specification and build wise it's not dissimilar to the current PR-336 top of the range model. It also has a couple of property connectors intended to mate with the CD players that the company makes, allowing you to sync the 2 together (the CD being the slave, the cheaper PR-106 also had this feature).
CEC
This Japanese company had been making turntables and related products since 1954 but discontinued their last turntable product the ST-930 turntable in early 2002/late 2001 but still has a picture and technical specification of it on the web. The 930 was a well regarded design that has been around for a few years and you might be able to find a model or 2 still with dealers on mainland Europe.
Cosmocord/ACOS
Quite a few turntable designs were sold under this name over the years but the last table we have seen using this trade mark was actually the Rega Planet which was distributed under this name from 1973 to 75 prior to the formal founding of the Rega company.
Coloney
Manufactured the AB-1 turntable at around 1982 in very limited quantities, this was a complicated air bearing turntable with a linear tracking arm that also used an air bearing with the air pressure for both bearings supplied by a fish tank pump. The turntable and arm later resurrected as the Maplenoll turntables while the arm is the predecessor to the current Eminent Technology pickup arm.
Denon 
This company was the hardware arm of the Nippon Columbia records label and as such supplied the Asian broadcast industry with record players and associated products for decades before being known in the west. This was demonstrated by a range of consumer turntables that had a clear linagage from the broadcast tables, including heavy plinths with directly driven platters and full automation, some models even sensing the size of the disk automatically. The DP-47F was a long running model that was not discontinued uthil 2004 that is in design pilosophy almost an exact opposite of it's western counterpart and was when it was deleted the last consumer turntable available with a servo tonearm. It features a fully automatic operation, the table is driven by a heavy tourque directly coupled linear drive phono motor. The midi sized record player called DP-26F was dropped from the catalouge at a similar time, this a budget automatic player with a built in RIAA preamp that has got rave reviews for such a cheapc player, note that the preamp is not perhaps the best in the business so if you amp has a resonable quality phono input you shuld switch it out and since this is inended to be a foolproof system there is no provision for adjusting the anti-skating so you are severly limited in replacement pickup choise, but that should not be an issue in this pricerange. The company also made a short stop in the DJ market in around 2003 with a couple of models, they where both direct drive turntables, the more upmarket model was the DP-DJ151 which features a digital output (yes, there is a built in A/D) and the DP-DJ101 turntable, both came with a 78 rpm option.
DUAL
The Dual Classics Homepage is a great page on classic DUAL gear, focuses mostly on turntables and then only on models that were sold in the US, but great stuff nevertheless, this German language site has info also but is often down. Models missing from those 2 sites include the CS 400 but that is a small automatic turntable introduced in the mid 90's and intened for use with Midi music centres and thus came with a built in RIAA preamp, its not as good as the classic Dual models but above average for this type of a deck, it was discontinued in 2002 or so and replaced with the broadly similar Dual CS 410. The CS 435 is the predecessor to the current Dual CS 435 1 model and is mostly identical the most notable differences being the platter mat which is a grooved rubber thingy on the 435 model but a felt mat on the 435 1 but visually you can identify the difference by the white line that runs along the front of the original model while the modern variant is plain black, they do sound very similar though with the current model having a slight edge. Note that Audiokit in Italy have NOS Dual EDS 502 motors in stock for only 28 €, this was used in many DD decks such as the CS 617Q.
ELAC
They made turntables right from the 1948 up to 1980, these were popular in the 50's and 60's in the US under the Miracord brand (that name was used as a model or family type in Europe along with Miraphon and Mirastar) and early Realistic branded turntables were also made by this company.
Elite Gramophones
Made the Rock turntable in the early 80's and a Rock MkII a little later, this was an unusual deck that created quite a stir in the hi-fi press at the time but did not sell in any great numbers possibly due to it's introduction coinciding with the height of the British LP12 mania and shortly thereafter the introduction of the CD. The deck was based on a design from the Cranfield Institute of Technology but they had given a group of engineering and design students the task of designing a superior quality turntable and the order of the day was to rethink turntable design from the ground up in order to archive the task. Most of the design features of the Rock aren't that unusual, it does features a quality inverted main bearing better than most at the time but one very unusual approach was taken and that was in the form of the "trough", it's a silicone filled plate made out of cast metal, a spindle is then fitted to the headshell of the tonearm, this trough is swung over the record and dampens the tonearm at the headshell rather than at the pivot as is more usual, sounds scary but worked like a charm, typically driving resonance to or below 10 Hz. The only component on the Rock is bog standard is the Philips (Airpax) 24 pole synchronous AC motor that appears to have found it's way into the majority of late 20th century British turntable designs, this is not necessarily a minus since many owners use after-market power supply's intended for Linn LP12 and suchlike to upgrade their Rocks and additionally filtering supply's such as the one from Nottingham Analogue will work as well. The lid was an optional extra BTW so many items on the second hand market will not feature one, and differences between MkI and II versions ? No clue except that the power switch on MK one models was green and red on the later ones, useful info as always.
Empire Scientific
The old Empire turntables have something of a cult following amongst Americans, the Athma-Sphere company in fact makes a high end deck that utilises parts from the old Empire 208 models, you can contact them to see if they also modify existing decks. This page here hosts pics of an NOS 298 Empire table bought recently and here are pictures of a 1962 model. As far as I can gather the first deck from the company was the aforementioned 208 first introduced in the late 50's, it's a fairly conventional unsupended design except for the belt drive that was something of a novelty in those days, this was followed by the 298 at around the turn of the decade and the 398 an little later, while the previous 2 models were mostly sold without arm the 398 appears to have benn sold with an Empire 980 arm as standard, the 498 also appears to have come with that arm, it was introduced in 1963 and cost 170 USD when new, the 598 appears similar to the 498 except that it came in an enclosure similar to what was used on some Garrard decks at the time, the cover was not hinged but rather you took it off when you used it (earlier Empire decks did not come with a cover), this model appears to have survied well into the 70's and was available in a MkII and MkIII versions, the 698 appears to be a suspended design.
EMT-Franz
A great page on EMT broadcast turntables can be found here. The EMT-Profi company sells spares, accessories and services those turntables but also has some interesting info and pictures. Stefano Pasini also has some info on his homepage. In addition Dr. Feikert GbR has some spares for the range esp. the 938. An owner of a 928 has a picture of it here along with technical information on the EMT Tondose :). Finally the EMT company also manufactured the Thorens TD-150 in the early to mid 60's, not as has been suggested a cheaper alternative to their other models, but simply since EMT-Franz was a part of the Thorens-Franz group and handled the initial production runs of the 150 in Germany, these "EMT" models are identical to the normal TD-150 models except that under the Thorens name is the phrase "Made in Germany by EMT", there are some claims about a better build quality of the EMT models but that appears to a misunderstanding. There is a great interest in EMT decks amongst 45 Rpm. collectors, in particular in the later models and that has pushed the price up considerably. Spares & Service : Studiotechnik Dusch provides spares for most EMT turntable models and in addition they sometimes have refurbished units for sale, more info on available parts here in addition they manufacture improved parts for the 928, 930 and 938.
Final Labratory
Released the Partheon and the Partheon Jr. in 1972, this was one of the first high end turntables and probably the first heavy platter deck intended for home usage rather than as a transcription deck, many of its features such as the independent motor have been copied ever since, more info on their homepage.
Funkwerk Zittau
East German (DDR) manufacturer that made record players both standalone and as a part of systems, distributed under the state brand RFT and under their own Ziphona brand. The DDR Alltagskultur site has pictures of their 70's and early 80's era models here and here, and the Oldtimer Radio site has a list of most record players that were made in the DDR.
Garrard
Old 301 and 401 models have been very popular with vintage audio buffs particularly in the US and UK lately due to an increased interest in idler wheel driven turntables, the Garrard models initially got all the attentions since they were well engineer and more importantly plentiful in the market since they were made mostly unchanged for decades and unlike most such models were sold into the home hi-fi market rather than into the professional or semi-professional markets only. This continued interest in the 301 and 401 models meant that in 2000/2001 they commanded outrageous prices with good unrestored example fetching 400 £, but the market has calmed down a bit since then and the price for an unrestored "naked" model is now almost fixed in stone at £ 150, a tad too much if you ask me considering that very similar old Lenco and Thorens models go for much less, nb. if you are looking for a complete turntable, one that is like new or you want to buy from a specialist dealer the price will be considerably higher than that of course. You should be aware that there are 2 models of the 301, the original introduced in 1953 and the improved grease bearing model introduced in the late 50's that is appreciably better although as with everything else there are people that prefer the earlier examples. For service and restorations you should contact the Lorricraft company, but they sell and service old Model 301 and 401 Garrards and can probably get hold of spares for you in addition to manufacturing plinths for the 301/401/501 and selling remanufactured examples of the above. Owners of the 301 model should note that this model is very popular with the valve audio fraternity in Japan and a few of the local high end audio companies have therefore made plinths for that model, Zenn makes an interesting heavy duty plinth for the 301 model and so did Shindo Labratory or at the least their website no longer shows that model but a couple of their dealers maintain that the plinth is still available from the company via special order, more info on their plinth here, and if you want enclose it in a more traditional turntable casing then Stoneaudio makes a very good looking case for the 301 that goes for a relatievly resonable price, the The Emporium also used to make plinths for both the 301 and 401 called Aphelion fairly recently, enquire about the current avaiability. For the 401 owner here is a DIY 401 Plinth and a copy of the manual is online. And if you have not got your hand on one yet, then either inquire with Lorricraft, watch Ebay or contact Tony Anson, he specialises in selling refurbished 301 and 401 models in addition to making plinths for both models, Garrard company may also be able to help you there but before doing anything silly, read the FAQ, it's a tad biased but then most are....
If you are interested in some of the later Garrard models you can start by taking a look at the retro-review of the Zero 100 by TNT audio that appeared in 3 parts, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, the article also has some modification tips, but also some factual errors. If the Zero 100 catches your fancy you should note that there were 3 distinct models on the market and even more variations.
Goldmund
Introduced the Studio in 1979 and started producing it in 1981 following with the Reference in 1983, it was along with the Nakamichi turntables the first turntable to utilise computer control, also noted in it's day for being the most expensive turntable you could buy, and at over 100 kg the heaviest one as well. Sold well in the US.
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