Dynavox wireless record player (old video with the old camera)

[@transtremm]

The tone arm is beautiful example of Art Deco design.

[@justsumguy2u]

I'm not only surprised that the crystal cartridge still works, but also the resistance line cord and even the dial light under the tonearm. I too would leave it stock

[@TerryMcKean]

That's definitely a beautiful machine. It's awesome that that 81 year old cartridge still works as well as it does. Since it's resistance line cord is in such great shape, a good thing to do about the safety aspect would be to solder a bit of wire of the correct diameter and length around the edge of the neutral blade on that cord's AC plug and make that neutral-side blade a tiny bit wider, just wide enough to fit properly into the neutral slot in the wall socket. That way it can only be plugged in one way and the tonearm can always be handled with complete safety, assuming that the 120 VAC wall socket is wired properly of course. Great job restoring that set, Brian... and the turntable drive assembly sounds much much better now, too. Thanks for sharing.

[@billgueltig6136]

I remember seeing schematics of these “phono oscillators”. They were typically crude and cheaply made. A few used tubes like the 117L7 pentode/rectifier combination because they had 117 volt heaters that required no dropping resistor. The one I found as a kid in the 1960s was the oscillator only and used an early selenium rectifier and a 12sk7 with a dropping resistor . Every one of these was different and to a large extent the design was based on whatever surplus parts were available. The “best” of these was made by Zenith and used a pentagrid converter ex 6sa7 or 6a8. I’ve wanted to build my own based on the Zenith design but finding the correct oscillator coil is tricky. The Zenith oscillators are pricy today if found at all

[@Amp497]

Thanks for the hot chassis reminder. It's easy to forget about that. Also, thanks for the education about a hot tone arm and a quick one way trip to the boneyard. I get a lot out of these old portable phono videos, although I don't seem to ever get a chance to work on one. The information translates well over to the units that I do service. I get a lot of phono units that need to be cleaned and lubricated. They come with a console that tends to fill up my repair space.

[@richclips]

There's nothing new under the sun is there... I didn't realise that there were phonographs with built in transmitters back in the 30's ... fantastic really,. Thanks for the videos, excellent as always.... regular London viewer here.

[@johnchildress6717]

I,very never seen or heard of one before I watched this. It is unique.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Nice player, but I did not know that the tonearm was a heavy tracker. My windup record players like the Victor, Sonora, and Camp Fone had heavy trackers including a reproducer and a needle. I’ve seen needles like this, and it would play with any windup record player from the 1910’s and 1920’s. Around 14:24, “Any Bonds Today” was later featured in an early PSA with Bugs Bunny.

[@tarstarkusz]

But shouldn't you use the quietest needle you can get when playing on an electric amplification? I would assume if these needles are actually louder than a quiet needle, they might overdrive the tube into distortion.

[@Musicradio77Network]

@@tarstarkusz I personally used a soft tone steel needle to play all kinds of 78’s both acoustic and electric.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@Musicradio77Network Does a loud needle overdrive the tubes?

[@Musicradio77Network]

And speaking of Dynavox wireless record player, I also have a Bluetooth FM transmitter which is used for cars, and an AC to DC adapter to plug the Bluetooth transmitter into the AC wall outlet, it works, set the dial to 87.7 FM, paired with my devices, and it works, now I can use TuneIn to listen to WABC or other stations which it can broadcast on FM radio.

[@ldchappell1]

Nice to hear your distinctive voice again Mr. Radiotvphononut. I used to watch your videos practically everyday until my internet carrier changed their policies and I was left without an internet connection for two years. Nice to be back.

[@hestheMaster]

For it's time this phonograph actually works pretty good. Just needed some TLC and replacement of bad and leaky caps. Heavy tone arms were all the rage then but they ate records up after about 20 to 30 plays. But records were cheap to replace then too. They also had replacement plastic tone arms so you could play a record longer. Just have to know how to replace the metal one with it. I think I have one that fits the old style crystal cartridge shown. Great repair and demo Bryan.

[@1953childstar]

As a child, I remember my mother complaining that all "they had" to play records was one of these, that played through the radio.( if I am correct, it would transmit to the next door neighbors ). Grandma and Grandaddy bought an expensive Zenith console after the war..

[@acidfroggy1194]

Thanks for another great video. It still amazes me that they made wireless phonographs decades before anyone knew what bluetooth was!

[@vintageradios7790]

I only have one dynavox record player in my collection. I collect vintage radios and record players. But only have 6 vintage T.V. sets. 800 plus radios and 300 plus record players. I am lucky to have the room to store them. I will be dead in the ground before I can fix them all. 45 players are my favorite record players. Considering that I am visually impaired I do very well in vintage electronics. Society will not lat me drive a car because of it. But that's ok I do just fine. I found my first record player in an abandoned house it was a Philco. I was so proud of myself when I got it to play at the age of 12. It needed a needle and a 35Z5 and the very first record that I played on it was. Bridge over troubled water by Simon and garfunkel.

[@snogcel1]

Looks to be the same basic machine as the Sonora unit I picked up earlier this year, complete with lighted tone arm and resistance line cord. Capacitors replaced the line cord's voltage drop, and an )-ring worked to replace the rubber drive wheel's tire.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Well what I do on some sets like this being a hot chassis is I have small isolation transformer mounted into a case with a fuse and switch and outlet that way it is completely isolated !

[@kennethfossett8184]

Love.this man sayings Lunatic mixed up.sue happy World. And hes.right Very funny.stuff

[@markmarkofkane8167]

You always get the coolest stuff! Too bad about that whining radio noise on that bigger radio.

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

It makes me wonder if he can hear that high pitch whine that was being transmitted. I could be an oscillator issue or something. Yeah, I've gotten my fair share of zaps in the day. I'd definitely put a polarized plug on that thing. I hope the hot side is switched on it for that.

[@roberthansen2008]

I wonder how what the range is on that record player? Like could you walk around the whole house with that and be able to listen to the records? Would you be able to go out in the yard? I'm always curious about transmitters.

[@markanderson350]

I used to turn old radios into transmitters as a teenager. It depends on the length of the antenna. You can go several hundred feet with a long wire antenna, maybe 10 feet on this one.

[@karlschwab6437]

The one that we had at home when I was growing up (and still have) would transmit to any AM receiver. First, you would tune a nearby receiver to a "dead" spot on the band, and then there was a frequency adjust knob on the record player to tune its carrier frequency to the radio. Now knowing that frequency, we could tune any radio in our house to the record player. Then, we tried the same thing in our new car that had a radio (car radio was an option) and still had a good signal. Then I played Christmas records in July, while my dad drove to the neighbors house next door to show him the new car while its radio was playing this Christmas music. Neighbor suggested that maybe the car should be returned to the dealer for radio repairs. True story.

[@vintageradios7790]

This dynavox was stored properly in a cool dry place that is why it is in good shape. From what I understand DYNAVOX was a small company that was in long island city queens NY. That is where I used to live. That is why I would find dynavox record players in the trash all the time back in the 1970s and 80s. I do not think that DYNAVOX made radios or TV sets. Only record players. I could be wrong because I never saw a tv or radio made by DYNAVOX.

[@bob7872]

I had a Dynavox record player in the early '70s when I was little.

[@yodoglover400]

Very interesting piece there. I would just keep it as an antique. With that heavy pot metal tone arm, I wouldn't play even my more worn 78s on it. Nice video as always.

[@xmcx7021]

A shockingly amazing record player.

[@jazbell7]

I love that light bulb illuminating the record. Today that would be an LED.

[@drsysop]

Modify the transmitter to 4-5 watts & add a variable tuner to change frequencies.

[@levimevis5192]

I'm not too surprised that the old crystal cartridge is still good on there, because I had an old Philco 46-1201 that the cartridge was still good in it yet.

[@neilforbes416]

Decca - a brand-name born in England. American company MCA bought the licence to use the name in America. Then MCA started their own Decca brand and the British original company then had to establish a new US offshoot, London Records Inc. But MCA in the past few decades got *EXTREMELY GREEDY* and bought out several other US labels, including Kapp, ABC's Dunhill, Paramount and other ABC labels. Then they got super-greedy and bought out Polygram(which had absorbed the UK Decca company at the time), then bit off way more than they could chew by grabbing the "Big Daddy Of Them All", EMI, rightful and sole owners of the *His Master's Voice* trademark(Dog & Gramophone). America's Anti-Trust laws are utterly useless as they failed to stop MCA's gobbling up of other companies. Record companies of all scales(small local outfits, like Dover of New Orleans to giant outfits like Motown should be able to operate *WITHOUT* the threat of being "gobbled up" by greedy conglomerates like MCA). 14:11

[@HD7100]

This is a very nice find. I like that player.

[@tomtke7351]

I'd hope you'd put a notice inside the cabinet lid to warn others that line voltage might be present on the tone arm. Just in case the LORD might call you home quick someday.

[@wfukfm]

If we play black gospel records on it - do we max out the gain for that authentic 1390 am sound ?

[@briang.7206]

That would be dangerous if you touched a Water pipe or radiator. I remember my school had those old style steam radiators.

[@markusallport1276]

I love that! What A find!

[@neilmansfield8329]

This is a great record player

[@howtobebasic2122]

Happy Halloween Radiotvphononut i hope you get your new camera soon so we can finally watch your videos in HD.

[@mestredigital2]

What year is this turntable?

[@xaenon]

The cartridge was dated 1940; I'm guessing that's pretty close to the player's manufacture date.

[@markanderson350]

We all used to use widow maker death trap designs. Yes cheap and dirty. Amazing it works. Was the line cord cheaper than a resistor?

[@andydelle4509]

One benefit of a resistance power cord was to distribute the heat over the entire cord length. You can dissipate a lot more power this way where as a typical power resistor would get very hot.

[@Jammerk40]

Very neat they had bluetooth back in the ole days! LOl

[@channelsixtysix066]

Bryan, I think it's more important the player is made safe, even if you do intend to keep it. One day it will end up in someone else's possession. Putting in an isolation transformer won't detract from its integrity.

[@jhonwask]

Sounds almost as good as bluetooth. LOL. It would be fun to make it a Hi-Fi AM transmitter.

[@radio-ged4626]

I definitely want one !!! :)

[@bjthedjdutchdude1992]

Will it work on radios with digital AM tuners?

[@westelaudio943]

Why not? In my experience digital tuners for analog radio are generally worse, but standing right next to it there should be no problem.

[@ericstevenson1903]

Time to call Ripley's Believe It or Not About That cartridge

[@gordonwelcher9598]

The rabbit ate all the mushrooms

[@ernestmccollum2397]

Early Bluetooth!

[@xaenon]

They say that no invention is truly new.

[@ernestmccollum2397]

@@xaenon Exactly. Everything we have now has been refined over the years.

[@manFromPeterborough]

Better than digital BT

[@johnfranklin5277]

1st off. I thought it sounded good thru that little pocket radio, of course being a ZENITH. IM NOT SURPRISED! Certainly going to a bigger radio it must sound even better. And I thought BLUETOOTH was a new idea.....

[@wintersbattleofbands1144]

OUCH! Bad needle information! That cartridge was desigend for Osmium needles, 25-50 hours each! You're putting gramophone/mechanical reproducer needles in which indeed would need to be changed every 1-10 records. They are NOT the same.

[@bigalsmallengines]

That's cooooool!

[@rogertyler3237]

If I Wh'er You I'd Switch That Power cord Around. Cause Leaving The Hotside On The Chasie You Can Get Shaaked. I Switch The Hotside Of The Power cord To The Power Switch.& The Ground On The Chasie