What type of records does a victrola play

Victor, Columbia, Regal, Paramount, Banner, Aeolian, and a host of other brands will all play correctly. The reader is warned that playing 78's made after on a Victrola will cause the record to wear very quickly, as these records were designed for the lighter tonearms that were used on later electric phonographs.

And why were they chosen in the first place? Records were the second generation of voice recording technology. Their precursor was the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison in The cylinder used to record this at the time was large and inefficient. About ten years later in , Emile Berliner improved upon the technology by creating recordings on flat discs, using his patented gramophone.

These discs were initially made of glass and were later switched to zinc and eventually plastic. Around the turn of the century, record companies or soon-to-be record companies were trying to design the perfect material to produce these new sound recordings on.

Enter, the female lac bug. Lac bugs, or kerria lacca , are scaly bugs that secrete lac onto trees. This resin can be scraped off, dissolved in alcohol, and reformed into liquid shellac. Shellac is easier to scratch than metal, and it resists moisture, making it an ideal candidate for music records.

Despite this one fatal flaw, shellac was the main material source until vinyl came around in the s. A lot happened over that time period, and it all began in with the first ten-inch shellac record, spun at 78 revolutions per minute. This is due to the modern engines at the time that would create these discs.

A rpm motor running with a standard tooth gear, do the math and you get roughly 78 revolutions per minute. The length of each record was barely able to fit an entire song, and some songs had to be finished by flipping the record to the other side.

For almost fifty years, 78s were the go-to record speed. These new records could hold a mind-boggling twenty minutes per side. During this time, new materials developed, and recording processes advanced. Some notable progressions were:. Suddenly in , the public was hit with records that contained full-length albums. By increasing the weight of the disk, the thicker grooves will deteriorate more slowly than the standard thin vinyl pressing.

This also means that the vinyl will be able to tolerate more uses than before. Remember that no matter how thick the vinyl, the grooves degrade little by little no matter how well you take care of it.

With a thicker record, you can play your favorite songs more often without sacrificing as much sound quality. Taking good care of your vinyl records is just as important, if not more so, as maintaining the health of your record player. If the disks are clean and free of dust or grime, they will play with substantially fewer pops and clicks.

Should you find yourself with a smudged vinyl, it is relatively easy to clean and restore your disk to its proper quality. If you neglect your records or fail to take care of issues right when you notice them, they can warp.

The disk will look bent or melted out of shape in some places. Severe warping can occur if a record is exposed to direct sunlight for a significant amount of time or intense heat for any amount of time. There are dozens of products available on the market, either in your local record store or online, that claim to be the best solution to dirty records.

You can even use a soft, microfiber towel and a cleaning solution that sloughs away grime without breaking down the fragile plastic. The world of vinyl is unique, complex, and extremely rewarding. We hope this guide helped you wrap your head around vinyl disc record sizes!

If you are interested in buying vinyl records, visit our online record store today! Origin of the Record Player None other than Thomas Edison, the most electric inventor in American history, invented the very first phonograph. How Does a Vinyl Work? Repeat Plays The less you play the record, the better it sounds. Analog vs Digital Despite what many vinyl enthusiasts proclaim, very few untrained ears can discern the difference between analog and digital sound, or the music produced by a record as opposed to the music produced by a CD or some other high-quality digital style.

Record Speeds The science behind record sizes and speeds is fairly simple to understand. I heard little else but vocals and guitars when I played albums from Bob Dylan, R. The Plaza was a different story. From the standpoint of audio performance, a good, comparably priced portable Bluetooth speaker is likely to have clearer, punchier sound, but I still enjoyed listening to the Plaza, and I kept using it long after I finished my testing. Unfortunately, as with the Cruiser, the Plaza produced motor noise that leaked into the stylus, the sound was neither lively nor detailed, and there was no real stereo effect.

I had originally intended to judge these record players purely by the emotional experience of using them. But after realizing how much I liked the Victrola Plaza, and how much I disliked the portable Crosley Cruiser, I decided to define the differences by doing some technical tests with my Audiomatica Clio audio analyzer.

Neither came close to the quality of the speakers featured in our best bookshelf speakers guide, but the Victrola had a much flatter response than the Crosley.