I got a GP 3 when they were re-released in the 90's, it cost me an arm and a leg. The main reason that they were such a popular model back then was that they were used by DJ/vinyl diggers/beat makers so they could listen to records anywhere while sourcing/shopping for second hand records. At the time it was the only portable battery powered record player in production(except the very limited vacuum). Otherwise we had to use vintage portable players that were very scarce and already heavily in demand. The first couple of releases sold out very quickly due to the demand. We used to use a split adapter so both ears worked. The quality wasn't great, but it was enough to know if a tune was good or not, so played a very important role.
That's what I was thinking was the reason for their popularity, handy for diggers. I wonder how this stacks up against the dedicated portable scratch turntables like the Reloop Spin and Numark PT01. The Reloop has all the features Mat would have liked, bluetooth in and out, RCA out, also USB recording. Also powered by lithium battery or USB. But it's a lot more expensive. The Numark is a little more basic than the Reloop, no bluetooth, but looks great otherwise, and is I think cheaper than this.
There was also a DJ mixer designed to go between two of these. A novelty item and very basic (and obviously still only mono), but I'm sure people had fun with them.
@@tarstarkusz I used to be able to get about 8 hours listening out of the batteries. By listening I mean with the headphones and constantly stop/starting the player
I have to say it's kind of alluring...think about it: you spend saturday with a friend at a 2nd hand store buying a few used records for 1-2 £/€ and then you sit down in a park or at the beach and listen to them on your portable record player, mabye go for a quick swim in between. Sure you could also listen to some tunes from your phone but the experience would be completely different!
That's one of the (many) things I like about this channel: you can always rely on Mat being as fair and objective as humanly possible. Also, this record player took me quite by surprise, given that it's made like a toy.
I live in LA and Collect records I have seen many Japanese tourists with these record players in used record stores over the years testing records before purchasing them in seem like it would be a good tool for that
That would be an especially good idea for digging when you can't read or type the language to look it up otherwise. I was buying Japanese records online for years, and even with the internet at my disposal, it was damn near impossible to find any online existence of a lot of Japanese records at all, let alone audio clips. It would be even tougher in person. Wouldn't have been so bad 5+ years ago, but prices are insane now, so you can't risk taking a gamble on something that might be decent. Records I used to buy on a whim online for $5-10 are now like $30. So I'd definitely want a portable turntable like this if I were digging physically.
I love the image of some grizzled veteran customs officer at LAX explaining to the new kid why all these Japanese folks are bringing portable phonographs with them in the year 2021 (since if it happens that often, they must be used to it by now). :)
If I were a record store owner, I'd probably be not too happy if a bunch of people going through my stock with a record player with 8g tracking force...
I'm listening to this on a decent pair of earbuds, and I really must say that when you plugged it into the camera directly, I was *VERY* pleasantly surprised by the audio quality! Certainly far better than any toy record-player I ever had when I was a kid, that's for sure! I mean, it's not professional quality, to be sure, but *really* darn good for what it is! I was very pleased.
@@davidgover565 Not quite imagination, but listening to some of this musician's stuff on his bandcamp, that seems to actually be part of the master recording, part of his style, this is how it's supposed to sound like. Maybe not the most fortunate record to test with? As measured, 0.6% and 0.9% wow&flutter on this player puts it firmly into not-HiFi territory, values above 0.1% are considered audible, but on the other hand it's less than 1/6th of a semitone, so it shouldn't be too apparent when listening in isolation either.
@@davidgover565 I did not notice. The W&F number he got on his phone was too high, probably because phone on the turntable is not as balanced as a record.
Not too surprising. If you have a decent cartridge and phono level converter, you're pretty much good. It's the amplification and speakers where low price tends to show through.
@@Pentium100MHz On the other hand, it adds to the flywheel effect, phones are heavy nowadays, often over 200g, which can help stabilise the speed. I also don't necessarily see why the added unbalance would be an issue, since it's the same at every angle of rotation, the platter is always tilted towards the phone, which is measuring acceleration. Also by all reason, if balance was the primary issue, 45rpm mode should have read worse than 30rpm, shouldn't it? I'm honestly not sure. But the opposite was the case. It's not a very accurate test, but it's debatable what direction the result is distorted in, and potentially by how much. I don't think you should be expecting HiFi results from this player to begin with, it is a novelty player after all, a bit of a toy, even if not entirely cheap. Starting with super lightweight plastic shell and unweighted platter.
@@SianaGearz Unless the turntable was perfectly level with respect to gravity, the phone moved not only around the spindle, but also up and down. A small motor without much of a flywheel would slow down when trying to move the phone up and speed up when the phone was moving down. Even if it was perfectly level (with no phone), it looks like the mechanism is on springs. The phone may cause the springs to compress unevenly resulting in a tilted turntable, which would not be tilted the same amount in all directions. Techmoan should have at least put some kind of counterbalance or just use a test record and the W&F meter (the one he uses with tape recorders).
@@Techmoan hahah accept it your a bit of a UA-cam icon. It’s gonna be writing scripts in Starbucks for you soon 😂. No but serious don’t underestimate your ability to make great videos!
What a superb transformation of sound quality there was, when you connected the audio directly to the Camera. It went from just 'ordinary' to 'high fidelity stereo' !
Agreed the lack of RCA outputs is odd, I guess that plays into the portable nature of the design. Just too bad it requires D cell batteries and no rechargeable option for portable operation. Doubtful many will use it in place of a Bluetooth speaker and Spotify via cell phone, so that’s understandable. Great vid as always, happy to be a Patron 👌
I have some EBL AA to D cell adapters. I can insert a AA into them which converts them to D-cell size. They won't last as long, but AA rechargeables are cheap and plentiful to swap out earlier. It would reduce the weight too, for short trips outside.
I think I ordered one! I probably shouldn’t have, but a neat little portable record player was too cool to pass up. Now I can listen to records in my room without driving my father insane.
Man, I'm a 46 year old American who grew up middle class drooling over Crutchfield catalogs and spending way too much time in Circuit City. Your channel scratches a specific itch that no other does. I hope you're enjoying making these videos as much as I am watching them.
I have seen this for sale at Tower Vinyl in Tokyo. But I thought it was just a toy, but it turned out to be a half-decent record player, which is better than Crosley Cruisers in my humble opinion.
personally I'd probably glue a washer, penny, or whatever on the back of the tonearm to reduce that tracking force into the 2-3 gram range to increase the life of and minimize the wear on the stylus (and your records). Other than that, seems like a neat little machine for use out in the garden on a sunny day.
Don't go bellow 2.5 tho. People think that lower tracking force means higher lifetime for cartrige and record, however when you are in range recomended for the cartridge, difference is mostly in sound. Too little tracking can cause skips and may send your stylus across the record, damaging it.
@@BertGrink Yeah, I would not bother and just use proper turntable when at home. This is perfect portable record player as it is, and higher tracking force would mitigate some vibrations and bumps.
I was actually really excited because I fell in love with the design of the machine when you introduced me to it. And then you said it costs about $200
Just like to say I am glad I've stumbled and subscribed to your channel. You have something about your show format that is enthralling. You take something completely unknown to most, and are able to keep the attention and make one want to sit through the entire video. You are a very pleasant lot, and I look forward to your future videos!
Was not expecting this to be that decent! Added to my list of "things I probably don't need but now would love to have". That record in the sun looked beautiful!
It's always wonderful when something like this surprises you by being much better than you imagined it would be. By the way, didn't the record look great reflecting in the sunlight! Wonderful!
I recently purchased one of these as a compact player for the small space I recently moved into. It sounds fantastic for it's size and does everything that I need. 10/10 for the price I was able to pick one up at.
Until I realized it was the 45-rpm spindle adapter, I thought the picture on the box showed that the player had a radiation symbol on it for some reason. Which, since it comes from the land of random, whimsical iconography, didn't seem that weird. :)
I have no use for this product and will probably never buy it... But still I really like it. The overall design and (well thought out) simplicity are blending perfectly together. Greetings from Germany! :-)
OK, you got me! I'm something of a snob when it comes to vinyl playback, and I was immediately put off by the looks of this thing from the start. But I have to say, hearing the direct feed from the unit, it is actually quite sweet sounding. Gorgeous detail in fact...
Oh Magoo, you've done it again! Amazingly good sound for a toy when using line out. Very unusual for a remake to be of quality this good! Great vid as always, also happy to be a Patron.
the wife bought a beautiful old cabinet console player, for $5 @ yard sale. so i tossed the radio part and kept the garrard changer in it. which plays really well. wired it into a sony mini hifi, and put the sony sub and speakers inside the console thru out the old ones and it sounds great. its ceramic cartridge sounds amazingly good.
I just ordered a vintage Nikon camera lens from Japan, and it made it to to the US in 3 days with standard shipping!! Japan has their logistics system dialed in!
This looks like the sort of thing that would be great to take crate digging or to the flea market to have a test listen. I remember Numark and Vestax had some units similar to this but it seems like it's something that's no longer desiable (probably due to the dreaded tracking force like you mentioned). Would be cool to see a bunch of similar units all tested against one another though.
True, but then that's kind of getting away from the whole purpose of this which is nostalgia. It's supposed to be an accurate recreation of a classic record player so adding things like modern battery packs, bluetooth, RCA, etc. would be changing the original design a bit too much I think.
@Clarissa 1986 you can get packs made of 18650s in pretty standard form factors, which are rechargeable or user replaceable. These are available on eBay and other places. But I take other peoples point about it adding complication and potentially detracting from the experience
this has a DC input so all you need to do internally is fit a resistor and say a germanium diode across the cut off switch on the socket so the adaptor will trickle charge rechargeable D cells. I used to do this a lot back in the 80's with portable players.
@Clarissa 1986 they are really common online. And those packs can be bought from eBay or Ali express if you really wanted to. Of course standard batteries are easier to come by, and the rechargeable D cells as someone else said would do the job. It was only an option at the end of the day and I’ve said all I want to on the matter. No one is benefitting from further discussion on it.
Has Techmoan ever done a video on the Quadrophonic formats which were expected to take over audio in the 1970s ? It would be interesting but might not come across on UA-cam very well.
I’ve got a load of quad stuff, but I’ve been struggling to find the space to set it up. I was planning on temporarily taking over a room in the house - but then _The Event_ happened and that room has been commandeered as an office for the foreseeable.
@@Techmoan quad is nice, especially if you have a proper quadraphonic cartridge/stylus. They apparently make excellent players for even normal stereo records, or using a quad cartridge on a normal stereo turntable, due to their expanded frequency range sensitivity (5Hz to 50kHz) as compared to average standard turntable cartridges (anywhere between 10Hz-30kHz) as seen on this example Empire brochure that shows both their quad and stereo cartridges: 33audio.com/enter/pics/Empire2000brochure.jpg , not even wanky $1000+ cartridges, i.e. Clear Audio, go that high (or low) in freq response (20Hz-20kHz).
@@Techmoan A shame. Quadrophonic stuff is really interesting just in general, but I know that discrete quad especially (the CD-4 format, I think it's called?) is an absolute nightmare to set up. I mean, that's probably pretty understandable, but really didn't help its case much.
I have a quad LP that is fully compatible with stereo. Excellent production values in my stereo system. But I guess they had to be really careful in all stages of the mastering and pressing process.
The more I see reviews on this Anabas portable, the more I want to buy one. Truly, the sound from the headphone out is impressive for a retro suitcase turntable. It actually brings a sense of fun with it. Sometimes as a music fan, there is such sense of taking the gear part too seriously. In a way, this little turntable takes all of that OCD/ audiophile tendency as a record collector and brings me back to just wanting to enjoy listening to music. I dig it! Got here from watching Fran's video. You have some cool content here. Subscribing now. :-)
Yes, reminded me of these also. I remeber them in the 70s. Although, I don't think they played normal records. The records had bumps a bit like a musical box I think.
@@Steve-GM0HUU I had one at around the same time that did play normal 45s, but I can't swear it was by Fisher-Price. It definitely had that sort of aesthetic, though. (Edit: A quick snout around suggests that F-P made both the music-box type and regular phonographs in the '70s.)
@@Steve-GM0HUU Yes. They had a music-box style arrangement and the music was encoded into the disc. The new ones just have the number of the song encoded and the music is played electronically. Very much a downgrade.
man, hearing Techmoan mention Cornelius & THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT is wild-they both kick so much ass I'm forever jealous of that Skelton Ape turntable, I'd love to play my copy of Fantasma on one-regardless of the sound quality ...now I wanna go blare Smokin' Billy & Free Fall
That cartridge really gets around. There is a post on AudioKarma that does nothing but rave on it. This cart has been mounted (and enjoyed!) on turntables costing many thousands of dollars, mine included. That cartridge is probably the best bargain in audio, hands down.
Would like to see a video compairing some modern portable turn tables like the Reloop Spin and the numark one. Put it together with wireless mixer and speakers. Do a block partyyy
I'm not a huge vinyl fan or anything but just seeing physical media reproducing sound like this is really amazing. I think I might be starting to understand the appeal :) Thank you as always Mat, Happy Saturday everyone! 👍
11:18 Actually, you CAN alter the tracking-force on a spring-loaded tonearm by either taping a coin or small washer onto the tonearm for added weight (re-position the coin along the tonearm's length --- i.e., nearer to or farther from the cartridge --- to vary how much additional tracking-force is applied to the needle), or by installing a shorter/tauter tesnion-spring for less weight. Or if you want to "go all high-tech", you can remove the tension-spring entirely, hot-glue a couple of small square-sided nuts spaced in a line about an inch apart at the back of the tonearm over the pivot-assembly, string an appropriate number of washers (more or fewer washers depending on how much opposing force you need to counter-balance the combined weight of the tonearm and cartridge) and two clamping-nuts (one for securing the washers in place on the head-end of the bolt, and one for tightening against the tonearm's "rear" glued-on nut once the bolt is positioned where you want it) onto a long full-threaded bolt to form a counterweight, thread the bolt in through the nuts on the tonearm, carefully screw the bolt in and out to adjust the needle's tracking-force to where you want it (start with a very light force and then gradually work the bolt inwards till any "fuzziness" is removed from the sound, then turn the bolt slightly further inwards to add a bit more force before securing the clamping-nut; this ensures that the needle will have enough downward pressure to satisfactorily play lower-quality or somewhat-worn records that would not sound good with just "normal" or "minimum" tracking-force), and then secure that "setting" with the second clamping-nut. I've outfitted several "el-cheapo" turntables this way, and been pleased with the result.
The plastic with all those slots for the speaker and the cover reminds me of those small pet bins with the handles and bright plastic lids for insects or smaller critters.
This has taken me back to 1971 and the second ship i was on . Another member of the crew had a portable record player , cant remember the make . He only had a few records but ''Bye Bye miss American pie '' got played to death ))) Problem was batteries , it ate them ))
I'm impressed, too! When you record the earphone output into a camera, upload the video to You Tube, and then play the video back through a high-power THX-certified surround sound system, it sounds really good!!!
One of my school mates had something very similar in the late 70s. It was made by Tandy and he had to blu-tac a half pence coin to the headshell to get it to track properly. It didn't have anything as sophisticated as an AT cartridge and it sounded utterly crap. Yours sounds surprisingly good through the stereo output.
We had childrens toy record players that looked exactly like this in the USA. They played tiny plastic discs with pins on them, basically a music box with 3 or 4 songs activated by the pins on the little "record" discs.
This would be so easy to add RCA plugs and Bluetooth. This is actually a good starter project for learning to solder. You can get the RCA jacks from an old stereo system and the BT module can be found on eBay. You will also need a power regulator to convert to 5V.
Hi, tried the Numark PT01, I’d be interested to hear how the quality of the two compares. It’s available on Amazon UK, so no need to import it or to use a stepdown transformer. The scratch version I believe has a moving magnet cartridge too, but the standard version uses a ceramic. This is a battery record player that will also play 78s. It will also play vertically so you can carry it around and so on! I believe it also has RCA outputs. I had a Fidelity battery record player with a built-in radio in the mid to late 70s. It worked alright until I dropped it on one occasion. It was all plastic so it didn’t last long!
In spring-loaded arms, the tracking force is higher the higher position it is. So the thickness of the scale is probably adding 0.2 to 0.5 grams, meaning it should be within spec.
I got a GP 3 when they were re-released in the 90's, it cost me an arm and a leg. The main reason that they were such a popular model back then was that they were used by DJ/vinyl diggers/beat makers so they could listen to records anywhere while sourcing/shopping for second hand records. At the time it was the only portable battery powered record player in production(except the very limited vacuum). Otherwise we had to use vintage portable players that were very scarce and already heavily in demand. The first couple of releases sold out very quickly due to the demand. We used to use a split adapter so both ears worked. The quality wasn't great, but it was enough to know if a tune was good or not, so played a very important role.
That's what I was thinking was the reason for their popularity, handy for diggers. I wonder how this stacks up against the dedicated portable scratch turntables like the Reloop Spin and Numark PT01. The Reloop has all the features Mat would have liked, bluetooth in and out, RCA out, also USB recording. Also powered by lithium battery or USB. But it's a lot more expensive. The Numark is a little more basic than the Reloop, no bluetooth, but looks great otherwise, and is I think cheaper than this.
There was also a DJ mixer designed to go between two of these. A novelty item and very basic (and obviously still only mono), but I'm sure people had fun with them.
@@AfferbeckBeats it looks like the Numark has durability issues with the motor and potentiometer . But it was a solid option for a portable
I saw Vestax HandyTracks used like that. They are still around 80-100 pounds, and they made them until 2000s.
@@tarstarkusz I used to be able to get about 8 hours listening out of the batteries. By listening I mean with the headphones and constantly stop/starting the player
I like the effect of the records reflective bits shining in the sunlight.
Yeah it's mesmerising
I thought the light show with the music was a nice touch.
I thought the same thing
@@MadScientist267 you can't see a CD while it's playing tho
I had a big hit back in the 70's called... "Vinyl in the Sunlight" :)
That shiny record in the sun was looking amazing. All the light reflections on the arms and stuff. Really cool 👌🏻
@Duke Hugh Johnson You're the shiny record? 😮
AstroTurf !
💩
Back in the late 70's I had a battery record player, I would sit in the sun playing records, and slowly they would start to warp. LOL.
They still do that! :|
Thank you friend, you bring company to the homes of those living alone 🙏🏾
I have to say it's kind of alluring...think about it: you spend saturday with a friend at a 2nd hand store buying a few used records for 1-2 £/€ and then you sit down in a park or at the beach and listen to them on your portable record player, mabye go for a quick swim in between.
Sure you could also listen to some tunes from your phone but the experience would be completely different!
😬cringe😬
@@micuna5743 You must be fun at parties.
That's what we did in the 80s.
The reflex effect on that Richard Houghton record looks really cool in the sunshine.
That's one of the (many) things I like about this channel: you can always rely on Mat being as fair and objective as humanly possible.
Also, this record player took me quite by surprise, given that it's made like a toy.
It's nice to see a decades-later re-release of a classic electro-mechanical product which is significantly improved over the original.
Now, if only we could see that same sorta thing come from the likes of SEGA or Nintendo this E3...
Price
Every time you review an audio product, you get me all wowed and fluttered.
Ha!
I live in LA and Collect records I have seen many Japanese tourists with these record players in used record stores over the years testing records before purchasing them in seem like it would be a good tool for that
That would be an especially good idea for digging when you can't read or type the language to look it up otherwise. I was buying Japanese records online for years, and even with the internet at my disposal, it was damn near impossible to find any online existence of a lot of Japanese records at all, let alone audio clips. It would be even tougher in person. Wouldn't have been so bad 5+ years ago, but prices are insane now, so you can't risk taking a gamble on something that might be decent. Records I used to buy on a whim online for $5-10 are now like $30. So I'd definitely want a portable turntable like this if I were digging physically.
I live in LA too! What record store do you visit list often?
I love the image of some grizzled veteran customs officer at LAX explaining to the new kid why all these Japanese folks are bringing portable phonographs with them in the year 2021 (since if it happens that often, they must be used to it by now). :)
If I were a record store owner, I'd probably be not too happy if a bunch of people going through my stock with a record player with 8g tracking force...
Good thing that the tracking force is 4.6g then, isn't it?
I'm listening to this on a decent pair of earbuds, and I really must say that when you plugged it into the camera directly, I was *VERY* pleasantly surprised by the audio quality! Certainly far better than any toy record-player I ever had when I was a kid, that's for sure! I mean, it's not professional quality, to be sure, but *really* darn good for what it is! I was very pleased.
@@davidgover565 Not quite imagination, but listening to some of this musician's stuff on his bandcamp, that seems to actually be part of the master recording, part of his style, this is how it's supposed to sound like. Maybe not the most fortunate record to test with?
As measured, 0.6% and 0.9% wow&flutter on this player puts it firmly into not-HiFi territory, values above 0.1% are considered audible, but on the other hand it's less than 1/6th of a semitone, so it shouldn't be too apparent when listening in isolation either.
@@davidgover565 I did not notice. The W&F number he got on his phone was too high, probably because phone on the turntable is not as balanced as a record.
Not too surprising. If you have a decent cartridge and phono level converter, you're pretty much good. It's the amplification and speakers where low price tends to show through.
@@Pentium100MHz On the other hand, it adds to the flywheel effect, phones are heavy nowadays, often over 200g, which can help stabilise the speed. I also don't necessarily see why the added unbalance would be an issue, since it's the same at every angle of rotation, the platter is always tilted towards the phone, which is measuring acceleration. Also by all reason, if balance was the primary issue, 45rpm mode should have read worse than 30rpm, shouldn't it? I'm honestly not sure. But the opposite was the case. It's not a very accurate test, but it's debatable what direction the result is distorted in, and potentially by how much.
I don't think you should be expecting HiFi results from this player to begin with, it is a novelty player after all, a bit of a toy, even if not entirely cheap. Starting with super lightweight plastic shell and unweighted platter.
@@SianaGearz Unless the turntable was perfectly level with respect to gravity, the phone moved not only around the spindle, but also up and down. A small motor without much of a flywheel would slow down when trying to move the phone up and speed up when the phone was moving down.
Even if it was perfectly level (with no phone), it looks like the mechanism is on springs. The phone may cause the springs to compress unevenly resulting in a tilted turntable, which would not be tilted the same amount in all directions.
Techmoan should have at least put some kind of counterbalance or just use a test record and the W&F meter (the one he uses with tape recorders).
Mat, the quality of your videos keeps going up and up. Really impressive!! Proud to be a (small) Patreon of yours!
A bit of sun always helps to liven things up.
@@Techmoan hahah accept it your a bit of a UA-cam icon. It’s gonna be writing scripts in Starbucks for you soon 😂. No but serious don’t underestimate your ability to make great videos!
@@MelsvanWees Agreed!
one of the few that just a guy and his recording equipment talking about things hes passionate about. as youtube should be
What a superb transformation of sound quality there was, when you connected the audio directly to the Camera. It went from just 'ordinary' to 'high fidelity stereo' !
Agreed the lack of RCA outputs is odd, I guess that plays into the portable nature of the design. Just too bad it requires D cell batteries and no rechargeable option for portable operation. Doubtful many will use it in place of a Bluetooth speaker and Spotify via cell phone, so that’s understandable. Great vid as always, happy to be a Patron 👌
I have some EBL AA to D cell adapters. I can insert a AA into them which converts them to D-cell size. They won't last as long, but AA rechargeables are cheap and plentiful to swap out earlier. It would reduce the weight too, for short trips outside.
This would be perfect to take crate digging.
It wouldn't be hard to modify it & install your own RCA outputs.
That isn't D cells it's C cell batteries.
@@CruelQuertos those are 6 D cells
1:53 "...not classic in the sense of "it was any good." Love the gentle snark!
I think I ordered one! I probably shouldn’t have, but a neat little portable record player was too cool to pass up. Now I can listen to records in my room without driving my father insane.
Man, I'm a 46 year old American who grew up middle class drooling over Crutchfield catalogs and spending way too much time in Circuit City. Your channel scratches a specific itch that no other does. I hope you're enjoying making these videos as much as I am watching them.
I have seen this for sale at Tower Vinyl in Tokyo. But I thought it was just a toy, but it turned out to be a half-decent record player, which is better than Crosley Cruisers in my humble opinion.
An Edison Phonograph Cylinder sounds better than a Crosley Cruiser.
Crosley are crap. Just so cheap
@@narabdela 😂
personally I'd probably glue a washer, penny, or whatever on the back of the tonearm to reduce that tracking force into the 2-3 gram range to increase the life of and minimize the wear on the stylus (and your records). Other than that, seems like a neat little machine for use out in the garden on a sunny day.
Don't go bellow 2.5 tho. People think that lower tracking force means higher lifetime for cartrige and record, however when you are in range recomended for the cartridge, difference is mostly in sound. Too little tracking can cause skips and may send your stylus across the record, damaging it.
I wouldn't use this player in the upright position if the tracking force was reduced, though.
@@BertGrink Yeah, I would not bother and just use proper turntable when at home. This is perfect portable record player as it is, and higher tracking force would mitigate some vibrations and bumps.
The general recommended for the AT3600 is recommended around 3 to 3.5, 2.5 would be far too low
You can run at3600 at 3 grams, but not well. It skips. It needs the recommended range and with that plastique tonearm, you better just leave it alone.
At Amazon that Packing method is called SIOC= Ship In Own Container.
the record was the star of the show for me, can honestly say i have never seen a record like that before.
Try Split Enz “True Colors”. Great music and cool refractive effects. 👍
I can't believe I just signed up for an Amazon Japan account and bought this. Came to $201 after shipping.
They had these out in the early 60’s because I got one for Christmas!
I was genuinely impressed with the audio quality from this player, couldn’t quite believe it when it was played through the camera 👍🏻
The Techmoan theme sting is the sound of my Saturday, tragically.
It's usually the start of my Saturday.
Nothing wrong with that! Breakfast and a Techmoan video is the best way to start your Saturday!
@@caitthenerd7470 agreed!
@@MikehMike01 And yet, here we all are.
Theme sting?
The blue vinyl with the reflective pattern! 😍😍😍😍😍
We do love your videos in Patagonia Argentina. We admire your efforts todo. Cheers.😊
A friend of mine had one similar to this one back in the late 60's, it also had an A.M. radio.
I live in the states and that is the record player I had as a kid in the early 80’s.
I immediately had to go look up that song Amigos and now I’m quite glad that I did
I was actually really excited because I fell in love with the design of the machine when you introduced me to it.
And then you said it costs about $200
It's more than perfect for record digging.
Just like to say I am glad I've stumbled and subscribed to your channel. You have something about your show format that is enthralling. You take something completely unknown to most, and are able to keep the attention and make one want to sit through the entire video. You are a very pleasant lot, and I look forward to your future videos!
Very pleased with the Cornelius appearance! Incredible artist.
For a quick second I thought that 45 was a Richie Hawtin.
Technomoan, perhaps.
Decided to buy one off the back of this video, I'm absolutely in love with it, it's fantastic!
Thanks for your thoughts. Retro recreations has long been an earmark of the electronics industry.
Was not expecting this to be that decent! Added to my list of "things I probably don't need but now would love to have".
That record in the sun looked beautiful!
damn been watching you for years never been this early love your stuff man
It's always wonderful when something like this surprises you by being much better than you imagined it would be. By the way, didn't the record look great reflecting in the sunlight! Wonderful!
I like the reflection on your record from the sun
I recently purchased one of these as a compact player for the small space I recently moved into. It sounds fantastic for it's size and does everything that I need. 10/10 for the price I was able to pick one up at.
Until I realized it was the 45-rpm spindle adapter, I thought the picture on the box showed that the player had a radiation symbol on it for some reason. Which, since it comes from the land of random, whimsical iconography, didn't seem that weird. :)
Nuclear power would probably be more environmentally friendly than six disposable D cell batteries :^)
I have no use for this product and will probably never buy it... But still I really like it. The overall design and (well thought out) simplicity are blending perfectly together.
Greetings from Germany! :-)
Love that speed and wow app! Brilliant.
Was waiting for my Saturday morning coffee and Technoan vid
Same saturday morning here ☕
Yes, I drink coffee at this moment too!
My thoughts exactly
OK, you got me! I'm something of a snob when it comes to vinyl playback, and I was immediately put off by the looks of this thing from the start. But I have to say, hearing the direct feed from the unit, it is actually quite sweet sounding. Gorgeous detail in fact...
Oh Magoo, you've done it again! Amazingly good sound for a toy when using line out. Very unusual for a remake to be of quality this good! Great vid as always, also happy to be a Patron.
the wife bought a beautiful old cabinet console player, for $5 @ yard sale. so i tossed the radio part and kept the garrard changer in it. which plays really well. wired it into a sony mini hifi, and put the sony sub and speakers inside the console thru out the old ones and it sounds great. its ceramic cartridge sounds amazingly good.
Love spending my Sunday afternoons watching Techmoan videos..
Thank you sir!🤝
I didn’t expect much from this device and was pleasantly surprised!
I live in the desert.. how fun to play my records outside and watch them warp at the same time :)
I just ordered a vintage Nikon camera lens from Japan, and it made it to to the US in 3 days with standard shipping!! Japan has their logistics system dialed in!
Love it! Surprisingly good sound through the headphone socket.
This looks like the sort of thing that would be great to take crate digging or to the flea market to have a test listen. I remember Numark and Vestax had some units similar to this but it seems like it's something that's no longer desiable (probably due to the dreaded tracking force like you mentioned). Would be cool to see a bunch of similar units all tested against one another though.
Matt playing vinyl in the garden or park, what a retro flex! Love it.
Oh baby is my favourite part of Saturday's 👌👌👌
Always a excellent experience watching your videos
I think a good improvement would be a battery pack instead of D cells.
True, but then that's kind of getting away from the whole purpose of this which is nostalgia. It's supposed to be an accurate recreation of a classic record player so adding things like modern battery packs, bluetooth, RCA, etc. would be changing the original design a bit too much I think.
@Clarissa 1986 you can get packs made of 18650s in pretty standard form factors, which are rechargeable or user replaceable. These are available on eBay and other places. But I take other peoples point about it adding complication and potentially detracting from the experience
this has a DC input so all you need to do internally is fit a resistor and say a germanium diode across the cut off switch on the socket so the adaptor will trickle charge rechargeable D cells. I used to do this a lot back in the 80's with portable players.
@Clarissa 1986 they are really common online. And those packs can be bought from eBay or Ali express if you really wanted to. Of course standard batteries are easier to come by, and the rechargeable D cells as someone else said would do the job. It was only an option at the end of the day and I’ve said all I want to on the matter. No one is benefitting from further discussion on it.
2:57 I'm going for 5.1 surround sound vinyl! ^_^
Has Techmoan ever done a video on the Quadrophonic formats which were expected to take over audio in the 1970s ? It would be interesting but might not come across on UA-cam very well.
I’ve got a load of quad stuff, but I’ve been struggling to find the space to set it up. I was planning on temporarily taking over a room in the house - but then _The Event_ happened and that room has been commandeered as an office for the foreseeable.
@@Techmoan quad is nice, especially if you have a proper quadraphonic cartridge/stylus. They apparently make excellent players for even normal stereo records, or using a quad cartridge on a normal stereo turntable, due to their expanded frequency range sensitivity (5Hz to 50kHz) as compared to average standard turntable cartridges (anywhere between 10Hz-30kHz) as seen on this example Empire brochure that shows both their quad and stereo cartridges: 33audio.com/enter/pics/Empire2000brochure.jpg , not even wanky $1000+ cartridges, i.e. Clear Audio, go that high (or low) in freq response (20Hz-20kHz).
@@Techmoan A shame. Quadrophonic stuff is really interesting just in general, but I know that discrete quad especially (the CD-4 format, I think it's called?) is an absolute nightmare to set up. I mean, that's probably pretty understandable, but really didn't help its case much.
I have a quad LP that is fully compatible with stereo. Excellent production values in my stereo system. But I guess they had to be really careful in all stages of the mastering and pressing process.
Wow! Difference of night and day when you put line input to the camera.
The more I see reviews on this Anabas portable, the more I want to buy one. Truly, the sound from the headphone out is impressive for a retro suitcase turntable. It actually brings a sense of fun with it. Sometimes as a music fan, there is such sense of taking the gear part too seriously. In a way, this little turntable takes all of that OCD/ audiophile tendency as a record collector and brings me back to just wanting to enjoy listening to music. I dig it! Got here from watching Fran's video. You have some cool content here. Subscribing now. :-)
9:36 - Vinyl-Meditation segment. Lovely moments and cinematography.
The colour scheme reminded me of a Fisher Price toy record player I had when I was little 🙂
They're selling something similar now but they really cocked up the design and it's a pale imitation.
Yes, reminded me of these also. I remeber them in the 70s. Although, I don't think they played normal records. The records had bumps a bit like a musical box I think.
@@Steve-GM0HUU I had one at around the same time that did play normal 45s, but I can't swear it was by Fisher-Price. It definitely had that sort of aesthetic, though.
(Edit: A quick snout around suggests that F-P made both the music-box type and regular phonographs in the '70s.)
@@Steve-GM0HUU Yes. They had a music-box style arrangement and the music was encoded into the disc. The new ones just have the number of the song encoded and the music is played electronically. Very much a downgrade.
Mine was blue, yellow and beige.
I recall owning a Panasonic model very similar to that in the '70s and it played great with a really bold sound.
I collect a few of those small 7 inch players. Got a Grundig phonoboy in mustard color.
Nice surprise with the sound quality for what it is!
man, hearing Techmoan mention Cornelius & THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT is wild-they both kick so much ass
I'm forever jealous of that Skelton Ape turntable, I'd love to play my copy of Fantasma on one-regardless of the sound quality
...now I wanna go blare Smokin' Billy & Free Fall
Great demonstration, Mat. I really enjoyed it!
That cartridge really gets around. There is a post on AudioKarma that does nothing but rave on it. This cart has been mounted (and enjoyed!) on turntables costing many thousands of dollars, mine included. That cartridge is probably the best bargain in audio, hands down.
Would like to see a video compairing some modern portable turn tables like the Reloop Spin and the numark one. Put it together with wireless mixer and speakers. Do a block partyyy
I was thinking the same. The whole portablism history. Vestax Handy Trax, Numark PT01 to the new models.
Finally, something with replaceable batteries
I'm not a huge vinyl fan or anything but just seeing physical media reproducing sound like this is really amazing. I think I might be starting to understand the appeal :) Thank you as always Mat, Happy Saturday everyone! 👍
Always great work with your uploads 🙂☘️🇮🇪
11:18 Actually, you CAN alter the tracking-force on a spring-loaded tonearm by either taping a coin or small washer onto the tonearm for added weight (re-position the coin along the tonearm's length --- i.e., nearer to or farther from the cartridge --- to vary how much additional tracking-force is applied to the needle), or by installing a shorter/tauter tesnion-spring for less weight. Or if you want to "go all high-tech", you can remove the tension-spring entirely, hot-glue a couple of small square-sided nuts spaced in a line about an inch apart at the back of the tonearm over the pivot-assembly, string an appropriate number of washers (more or fewer washers depending on how much opposing force you need to counter-balance the combined weight of the tonearm and cartridge) and two clamping-nuts (one for securing the washers in place on the head-end of the bolt, and one for tightening against the tonearm's "rear" glued-on nut once the bolt is positioned where you want it) onto a long full-threaded bolt to form a counterweight, thread the bolt in through the nuts on the tonearm, carefully screw the bolt in and out to adjust the needle's tracking-force to where you want it (start with a very light force and then gradually work the bolt inwards till any "fuzziness" is removed from the sound, then turn the bolt slightly further inwards to add a bit more force before securing the clamping-nut; this ensures that the needle will have enough downward pressure to satisfactorily play lower-quality or somewhat-worn records that would not sound good with just "normal" or "minimum" tracking-force), and then secure that "setting" with the second clamping-nut. I've outfitted several "el-cheapo" turntables this way, and been pleased with the result.
What a lovely little kit. I would love to set my teaths in it and start modding it.
Welcome back old friend!
From the thumbnail i assumed TM was finally reviewing the Fisher Price record player we al had as kids!
The laser etching on the record looks terrific out in the sun!
The plastic with all those slots for the speaker and the cover reminds me of those small pet bins with the handles and bright plastic lids for insects or smaller critters.
This has taken me back to 1971 and the second ship i was on . Another member of the crew had a portable record player , cant remember the make . He only had a few records but ''Bye Bye miss American pie '' got played to death )))
Problem was batteries , it ate them ))
Play your records outside to risk warping them. Great idea!
Here in norway we had the philips suitcase player. had tons of them as a kid as it was everywhere.
I'm impressed, too!
When you record the earphone output into a camera, upload the video to You Tube, and then play the video back through a high-power THX-certified surround sound system, it sounds really good!!!
One of my school mates had something very similar in the late 70s. It was made by Tandy and he had to blu-tac a half pence coin to the headshell to get it to track properly. It didn't have anything as sophisticated as an AT cartridge and it sounded utterly crap. Yours sounds surprisingly good through the stereo output.
What a charming little portable record player! And with an AT cartridge. Terrific!
Great video Mat, as always, thank you.
I love watching your videos, keep it up, 👍
Mat, during the outdoor test I had visions of a dragonfly lighting on the disc and wreaking all sorts of havoc. 😎
We had childrens toy record players that looked exactly like this in the USA. They played tiny plastic discs with pins on them, basically a music box with 3 or 4 songs activated by the pins on the little "record" discs.
i notice the mounting holes on the bottom for hanging it on a wall .....Nice touch !!
This would be so easy to add RCA plugs and Bluetooth. This is actually a good starter project for learning to solder. You can get the RCA jacks from an old stereo system and the BT module can be found on eBay. You will also need a power regulator to convert to 5V.
Really love the style of this turntable. 👍
That record out in the sun sure was cool looking.
thank you for that hustle recording. that was awesome. yep, stereo works. the base on that is AF! good thing i got my arctis on.
Hi, tried the Numark PT01, I’d be interested to hear how the quality of the two compares. It’s available on Amazon UK, so no need to import it or to use a stepdown transformer. The scratch version I believe has a moving magnet cartridge too, but the standard version uses a ceramic. This is a battery record player that will also play 78s. It will also play vertically so you can carry it around and so on! I believe it also has RCA outputs. I had a Fidelity battery record player with a built-in radio in the mid to late 70s. It worked alright until I dropped it on one occasion. It was all plastic so it didn’t last long!
Just the look of the back of this reminds me a lot of an old Ross 8-track players used to have, very 1970s.
In spring-loaded arms, the tracking force is higher the higher position it is. So the thickness of the scale is probably adding 0.2 to 0.5 grams, meaning it should be within spec.
there was one of those in my sunday school class when i was little. always sounded terrible but it wasa fun to watch spin around