Vintage Vinyl

For the past ten years, I’ve been playing my records on a Crosley CR711 record player. Since I’ve been playing my records more frequently now, I decided to look into getting another turntable/record player. To save room, I looked at record players with built in amplifier and speakers.

Last year, I purchased a Gadhouse record player from Amazon.com. Just a few weeks earlier, I bought, a Jenson, but that one didn't work too well. The Gadhouse record player, like the Crosley, is just a basic and cheap record player. It needed a little bit of maintenance (loose speaker cover, loose connections, etc.) to keep it working properly, but it sounds OK with external speakers.

This year, I bought two used Garrard turntables. After cleaning/restoring them, I discovered I discovered that my last receiver did not have a phono input. Instead of buying a preamp, I purchased a 1970s Realistic receiver. Using an A/B input switcher box, I have the two Garrard turntables working with the Realistic receiver.

I’m also back to using my Crosley record player. Since I have enough turntables/record players, I’m dedicating the Crosley to playing only shellac 78 rpm records. I replaced the stylus/needle with one specifically made for 78 rpm records, which require a different size needle for playback--it is wider than the needle used for 33/45 rpm records. Now I can play my parent’s old records as well as some that I’ve purchased at thrift shops.