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Old 01-18-2014, 11:21 PM
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Circa '46 Utah 78 rpm record player

I just bought this interesting looking open top Utah automatic 78 rpm record player from someone on ebay. I don't have it in my hands; but, here are some pictures from the ebay listings.

I don't have much experience with this particular changer; but, the unit looks to be clean and in decent shape. I'm also impressed that it has a 3-tube amp and not one of this wimpy single stage jobs (the amp chassis looks to be fairly large and use more capacitors than what's typically found in one of these units). The three-tube amp will also make it more practical to use a modern 1V cartridge (I'm sure the original crystal cartridge is dead, anyway). Looking at the pictures, the tonearm appears to be the same type that's used on some manual players and I do see a counterbalance spring; so, maybe I can get away with using a more modern lighter tracking 1V ceramic cartridge (89T powerpoint or Pfanstiehl P228) instead of having to rebuild the original crystal cartridge.

I feel confident that I can fix the electronics and I'm sure I can fix the changer, as long as I take my time and watch what I'm doing. This changer does not look to have a bunch of parts to it.





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Old 01-19-2014, 10:52 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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The entire unit is made by Detrola.
It should be in Riders.
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Old 01-19-2014, 02:09 PM
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Thank you and I did find that model number listed under Detrola. It seems this amp was made in loktal, octal, and miniature tube versions.
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Old 01-19-2014, 09:27 PM
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I have 2 of these. Mine were sold by Sears and so are branded Silvertone, but are otherwise identical to yours.
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Old 01-20-2014, 08:25 PM
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Utah was known for speakers, never knew they branded complete products. Unit is in excellent shape, probably because right after this came out, long play and 45 rpm records took over the market and this got shelved. Lucky for you!
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Old 01-20-2014, 08:55 PM
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For a 1940's unit, it looks to be in near mint cosmetic shape ! Great buy for sure !
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Old 01-23-2014, 10:03 PM
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Hopefully, the seller packed it will enough and the post office doesn't do anything to alter it's good physical condition. It would be a shame for this to survive for 67+ years, only to have it destroyed in shipping.
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Old 08-16-2015, 11:33 PM
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Well if that record player was stored for years in a climate controlled facility or home for that matter, you might be lucky to find that the original crystal cartridge is still functional after all these years, I actually had an old Philco 46-1203 that had been in climate controlled storage for nearly 40 years before I got it and to my surprise the original Astatic Crystal Cartridge was still functional in it after 40+ years in storage. I think what mainly kills these old Crystal Carts is if they're stored in a non-climate controlled location for years on end where it gets exposed to high amounts of moisture and or really hot dry conditions which those two combinations cause the crystal elements to absorb moisture and then dry out and then get brittle and eventually break, but if the cartridge is stored in a reasonably well controlled climate then the cartridges can hold up over time. By the looks of your unit I would just give the original cartridge a shot before replacing it because it might be still in working order yet.
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Old 08-17-2015, 01:58 AM
JBL GUY JBL GUY is offline
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That is a very nice find.

Thank you for the pictures.
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Old 08-17-2015, 10:59 AM
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No, the cartridge is indeed bad and will have to be replaced with something else.
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Old 08-17-2015, 11:54 AM
Captainclock Captainclock is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
No, the cartridge is indeed bad and will have to be replaced with something else.
How do you know if the cartridge is bad if you've not even tried it yet and don't even have the unit yet? You're making an assumption about the unit before you even had a chance to try it. Didn't you even read what I said?
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Old 08-17-2015, 12:10 PM
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maxhifi maxhifi is offline
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Original thread from January 2014, can assume he has it in his hands now... Assuming it wasn't shipped via Canada post, in which case maybe he is still waiting
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Old 08-17-2015, 08:25 PM
Captainclock Captainclock is offline
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Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
Original thread from January 2014, can assume he has it in his hands now... Assuming it wasn't shipped via Canada post, in which case maybe he is still waiting
ok, well I didn't notice that it was such an old thread.
But anyways, if those old crystal cartridges are supposedly "always bad", then hows come I came across one that was still functional after 50+ years in storage?
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Old 08-18-2015, 03:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Captainclock View Post
ok, well I didn't notice that it was such an old thread.
But anyways, if those old crystal cartridges are supposedly "always bad", then hows come I came across one that was still functional after 50+ years in storage?
Either it is not really crystal, someone had it rebuilt in the last 25 years, or you should play the lottery...

I've owned easily 20+ pre-1950 78 RPM machines, and only 3 had good carts (one has since died). Some do survive, but the rate is miniscule....I've had more (and I reckon a better % too) pre-1950's radios work with original caps installed than I've had phonos with good crystal carts. Not 100% are bad, but I would not bet on any random untested pre-1950 crystal cart being good....
Your one good cart is in a Philco 46-1203 right?...One of mine is too so perhaps Philco had an especially good design cart in those units.
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Old 08-18-2015, 05:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
Either it is not really crystal, someone had it rebuilt in the last 25 years, or you should play the lottery...

I've owned easily 20+ pre-1950 78 RPM machines, and only 3 had good carts (one has since died). Some do survive, but the rate is miniscule....I've had more (and I reckon a better % too) pre-1950's radios work with original caps installed than I've had phonos with good crystal carts. Not 100% are bad, but I would not bet on any random untested pre-1950 crystal cart being good....
Your one good cart is in a Philco 46-1203 right?...One of mine is too so perhaps Philco had an especially good design cart in those units.
Yes my fully functional Crystal Cartridge was in a Philco 46-1203 Radio/Record player unit, but I've long since scrapped it out because the radio no longer worked on it and no amount of repairing and replacing parts would bring the tuner on that thing back to life, I salvaged the cartridge off of it and installed it on another old 1940s vintage radio/record player unit that had a dead cartridge on it and it still works fine my guess is that it was a higher quality crystal cartridge than some of the previously made crystal cartridges from Astatic, because the cartridge used in the Philco record players from the mid- to late 1940s were made by Astatic just like the prevoius crystal cartridges, so yes, its a real authentic Crystal Cartridge, just a better made one, in fact I'll bet you anything that all of the astatic crystal cartridges that were from the model series that they used in the old Philco M-5 Changers and other 78 only record changers from that time period are more than likely still good because its a higher quality cartridge than the ones from the previous model series of Astatic Crystal Cartridges.
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