| Pyre |
VINTAGE TOSHIBA SR-50 OPTI TURNTABLE
Does it use a beam of light to read the groove or to read the signal off the stylus. Looks like its playing it with a led stuck to a golf ball. Can not say I have seen one before. |
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| SY |
| It reads the deflection of the stylus. It's a curiosity for sure. |
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| kevinkr |
| Pretty wild, doubt there are any spare parts for that animal.. :D |
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| Netlist |
The size of the cartridge is that big because it serves as a heat sink for the build-in transistors. I read an interesting page with good info on vintage cartridges a couple of weeks ago but fail to find it ATM.
There is a datasheet somewhere too but in Japanese. That one is easy to find.
/Hugo |
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| Steerpike |
Actually, its not that big - the same size as a standard plug-in headshell. But it does get quite hot, since it has a 2V 300ma filament lamp inside it!
Big 'second-hand' problem is the stylus is non-replaceable - like a moving coil.
The turntable has a special pre-amp built in, because the optical cartridge doesn't interface at all with a conventional MM or MC or line lever input.
Someone gave me a new replacement cart for one of these, but until I create an amp for it, it remains silent. The specs look good though. |
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| SY |
| I bet you could get this to work with an LED, and run cooler, too. |
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| Netlist |
| quote: | Originally posted by Steerpike
Someone gave me a new replacement cart for one of these, but until I create an amp for it, it remains silent. |
With such a high output voltage, you could plug it straight into any decent soundcard and do the equalization digitally.
/Hugo |
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| Pyre |
| quote: | Originally posted by SY
I bet you could get this to work with an LED, and run cooler, too. |
I am surprised that with all the advancements in LED technology in the last few years that someone has not tried out this concept again. Looks to me as the photo transistors would have to be quite sensitive. |
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| SY |
| I think it's a matter of linearity and noise. Very quiet, low distortion detectors with high dynamic range are bulky and expensive. |
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