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  #1  
Old 12-26-2011, 02:07 PM
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reelman1968 reelman1968 is offline
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Question Magnavox Micromatic changer vs. Zenith Micro touch 2g changer.

i was wonder witch changer you guys think is better . the Zenith micro touch 2g changer or the micromatic. changer by magnavox. i have owned a micro touch Zenith and now own a magnavox micromatic. My Zenith was in a X-960 Console unit and the Magnavox is a portable(as portable as a 35 lb unit with a handle.) the Zenith was a delux version made by zenith themselves and not a vm changer. they also used a lot of vm changers as well but not this one. it used an idler wheel to drive a pulley witch in turn belt drove the turntable. the 45 rpm adaptor spindle was built in to the turntable and you brought the 2 halves together to install it. that one fell apart after several years of use. the micromatic is still working well to this day. what changer would you rather have if you had to chose?
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Old 12-26-2011, 03:50 PM
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The Collaro built Micromatic is hard to beat as far as being a robust and reliable changer.
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  #3  
Old 12-26-2011, 07:13 PM
DaveWM DaveWM is offline
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agree with Celt, the micromatic is very very reliable, plus I like the way it sizes the records.
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  #4  
Old 12-27-2011, 03:28 AM
orthophonic orthophonic is offline
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I have to disagree, the Zenith belt drive Microtouch is superior in every way.
The wow and flutter measurements are better and has much less rumble/noise
than a Micromatic. Also this version of the Micro Touch changer has jeweled
bearings in the tonearm for less friction. I have never seen one fall apart,
but it is a bit more delicate. If your built in 45 spindle is broken, it is more than
likely the spring that came undun, fairly easy to fix.
The superiority is even more apparent when both are upgraded to magnetic
cartridges, the Zenith just trounces the Micro Matic, very quiet background
like a good component table and better isloation from feedback due to the
upper platter being isolated from the sub platter by the rubber grommets.
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Old 01-14-2012, 10:41 AM
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I've seen two of those higher end Zenith micro-touch changers. One was in an early high end solid state console that looked nice; but, had issues with the amp. The owner wanted $75 for it and got PO'ed at me when I tried to get it cheaper. The other one was in a beat up tube unit at the SA. This one was beat up, hed issues, and they also wanted $75 for it; so, both of these were left behind by me. From the top, those changers looked very impressive.

I have, however, worked on several of the lower end VM built units. They're OK for what they are and other than the cartridge arrangement, they are no different than any other VM changer that was in every other console and portable of the day.

The micromatic changers are heavier than the VM changers and the micromatic changers seem to be more complicated to work on.

Both changers track lighter than most other ceramic cartridge equipped changers of the day; which, means that the records played on them will last longer.
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Old 01-16-2012, 11:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
The micromatic changers are heavier than the VM changers and the micromatic changers seem to be more complicated to work on.

Both changers track lighter than most other ceramic cartridge equipped changers of the day; which, means that the records played on them will last longer.
Yes, indeed. Magnavox made a particular point in their ads for the Micromatic changers used in radio-phonos and 3-way entertainment units of the '50s (National Geographic magazine carried their ads regularly) that the changers had very light tracking force; the company even went so far as to say that "your records can last a lifetime" when played on these changers.

Since Magnavox's Micromatic changers were made by Collaro, I would expect them to be of the highest quality attainable at the time, and they were -- if the prices of Magnavox radio-phonos and 3-way consoles in the '50s were any indication. These combos cost upwards of $150 for the former and something over $200 for the latter when they were new (no small expenditure by any means for most families in the '50s), but as the expression goes, you get what you pay for. The $150+ you paid for a new Magnavox radio-phono in, say, 1957 bought you an entertainment unit with quality electronics and a record changer built to last, all wrapped up in a cabinet anyone would be proud to display in their living room; Magnavox 3-way entertainment centers with TV were the same, although all that fancy stuff on the Maggie 3-way 25-inch remote-control entertainment units of the mid-'60s was likely a real headache to maintain and to repair when it eventually failed. I remember reading here, i another post some time ago, that the automatic remote record changer mechanism in these high-end Maggies was not all that complicated; just a relay and/or a solenoid under the record changer motor board, although somehow I can't see it being quite that simple. The remote receiver would have had to be designed (with at least one extra tuned detector coil) to handle another frequency from the remote unit as well; the hand unit itself would need an extra bar to generate the frequency used for the record reject, and so on.
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Old 01-16-2012, 11:56 PM
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They could have had the remote control the phono when the TV was off, and saved some parts.
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  #8  
Old 01-17-2012, 11:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
They could have had the remote control the phono when the TV was off, and saved some parts.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to use the remote with the record changer while the television set was on. Who wants to listen to TV sound and records at the same time?
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  #9  
Old 01-17-2012, 12:37 PM
consoleguy67 consoleguy67 is offline
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On the Magnavox combos, the sound from the record player will not be on if the function switch is on tv. They are connected to two different inputs.
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Old 01-17-2012, 09:24 PM
joemama99 joemama99 is offline
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As I recall,my friends late 60s maggie combo did reject the records when the phono was in use by pushing the channel button on the remote.
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Old 01-17-2012, 11:12 PM
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Another person here (don't recall whom at the moment) had/has a Maggie 3-way console TV/stereo/phono, which also had, on the control panel, one button for power tuning of the TV and a button for record reject. Very handy if you were near the control panel on the set (beneath one of the sliding doors atop the cabinet), or if the remote was not working or (gasp!) had been lost.

I don't remember whether these Maggie combos had ultrasonic (mechanical with tuned rods in the hand unit) or battery-powered remote transmitters, but my best guess is it was an ultrasonic system. Magnavox's fabulous 25" 3-way color stereo theatre of the late 1960s (which, if I remember correctly some of the old ads I've seen for it, probably had the remote record reject and all the other bells and whistles) probably did use an ultrasonic remote system.

The all-electronic version of the ultrasonic remote system did not replace the mechanical system in all makes of televisions in this country until, I believe, the early 1970s. One advantage, however, the mechanical ultrasonic remotes had over the all-electronic systems was that in the former, there were no batteries in the hand unit to wear out. The all-electronic systems did use at least one battery in the hand unit (usually a 9-volt transistor-radio type); if that battery went dead or simply got weak, the remote either faltered or refused to operate at all. I'm sure a lot of people of that era didn't like the idea of having to get up to change the channel, adjust the volume, etc. when the remote quit, and some folks even thought their TV was out of order if the remote wasn't working -- which is one reason why Zenith waited so long to introduce the battery-powered ultrasonic Space Command remote transmitter. I think the first battery-operated SC remote hand unit came out some time in the late '70s or '80s, as Zenith's futuristic Computer Space Command remote control, which was battery-powered, was used on several high-end sets of that era. I had a great-aunt who, in the early '80s if memory serves, bought a Zenith TV with Computer Space Command remote. Hers had all the trimmings, including Space Phone, but she never used the latter. I honestly don't think she paid much attention to it, as she already had a wired landline phone in her living room. But she sure enjoyed the TV remote!
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  #12  
Old 01-30-2012, 04:45 PM
stereorob stereorob is offline
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my vote is with the good old black arm green crinkle finish magnavox micromatic! they sound decent, and last forever, and they are mostly interchangible with other maggies from the era. the zenith microtouch TTs are somewhat fickle. ive never been a big on those. -but, the cobra-matics, thats a diffrent story!
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  #13  
Old 02-07-2012, 09:37 AM
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They were both good changers, but the Zenith Micro-Touch even in the V-M built idler drive version was the best common changer in consoles and compacts then. Those are very gentle on records. And the TOTL belt drive version is actually Zenith built and easily up there with any Miracord or even Duals. The Collaro changer was also gentle on records, reliable, easily maintained, and very fine itself.
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