You're absolutely correct, sometime in the early 60's or late 50's Magnavox bought Collaro. The early ones sensed record size by a small finger that was located just to the left of the balance arm. Then they came out with the changer that the tone arm tapped the edge of the record to sense the size of the record, the tone arm sits down on the record about 1/4 inch in from where it was stopped, so if you came up with an 8 1/2 inch record it could play it just fine.
Around 1970 they cheapened up the changer and eliminated the second drive wheel that ran the changer mechanism. This changer still senses the size by tapping the record but the cycling cam has three grooves for 7, 10, and 12 inch records and arm sets down according to which groove is lined up by the record tap. On these changers the changer mechanism is ran off a gear around the center turntable bearing.
IMHO the early ones that sense record size by tapping the edge of the record and have a separate idler/drive wheel running directly off the motor are just about the best record changer used of the period. Very early Magnavox's before Collaro used Webster-Chicago and a few portables can be found with VM changers. There is a rare portable that uses the RCA 45 RPM changer.
I wish I had a dollar for every one of these changers I've worked on, about the only problems we had was due to hardened grease and dirt causing bearings and pivot points to lockup, and idler wheels.
I bought all the Magnavox service manuals from my former employer when he retired and closed up shop so I'm pretty well stocked up on service manuals if anyone needs a copy of one.
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Originally Posted by dano
I could be wrong, but I believe that the Micro-Matic is a Maganavox version of the "COLLARO CONQUEST" changer. There's info about it here: http://mypage.iu.edu/~lrobins/collaro.htm They're supposed to be one of the best changers as I understand it, they automaticly detect record size and reject at a constant speed regardless of turntable speed. BTW, I have a AstroSonic console of similar vintage that I'd make someone a great deal on... it's currently in my dining room and has to go! |