JSngry Posted July 20, 2012 Report Posted July 20, 2012 (edited) Just on a whim wondered if I could find anything about the record player I grew up with/on, from 1955 (pretty sure, might have started in 1956) - 1969. And sure enough... The Silvertone 8041. Four speeds, two speakers, tubes, CONELRAD markings on the radio (which was pretty damn good at pulling in distant signals, iirc), a thing that came out of the changer mechanism(?) that looked like a collar stay, and a RCA-style 45 adapter that clipped on the inside lid (see the empty clip above) and looked like the one on this one (the 7041), two-tone, black and gray: The thing always smelled like new when you lifted the lid, up to and including the last time I saw it, which was somewhere in the early 2000s. We got something better right before I got into jazz, but this is the record player on which I listened to endless hours of Goodman (the Texaco LP), Miller the AAF box + the mono Decca soundtrack LP w/those two killer Pops cuts), Hendrix, Beatles, Frankie Carle (well, my dad did..Ames Brothers too), Bing (at Christmas), Otis Redding, 45s. 33 1/3s, 78s, and, during the Paul Id Dead craze, 45s & 33 1/3s played at 16 2/3. Probably had a tracking force of 2 lbs (at least!), but that just sunk the memories in harder. The Sears Silvertone 8041, The Machine That Ate My Mind And Turned Me Out (While I Turned 'Em Over). Well done, Sears, Well done! Well done! Edited July 20, 2012 by JSngry Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 20, 2012 Report Posted July 20, 2012 In Britain, it was And now for a list of albums you can't find on the Internet Nanou Coul - La revelation de la chanson Malienne - Maikano Damba Kate - Tosogue - DSV (Diane Sanoussy Vibration) Amazing! Looking for an obscure item, found a link to Lampe Fall - a shop in Paris where I've often got a heap of K7s and CDs. Must explore. MG Quote
Hot Ptah Posted July 20, 2012 Report Posted July 20, 2012 I grew up with a Magnovox Astrosonic console stereo in my parents' living room. Quote
JSngry Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Posted July 20, 2012 Your family must have been rich! Quote
ejp626 Posted July 20, 2012 Report Posted July 20, 2012 I grew up with a Magnovox Astrosonic console stereo in my parents' living room. I think my mother-in-law has that exact console still. Just uses it as a sideboard now. Quote
robertoart Posted July 20, 2012 Report Posted July 20, 2012 (edited) Astor 3in1 TV, Stereo and Radio. In service to the family until 1980. 5 years after the advent of colour TV here. For my own private obsessive record listening, I made do with various little suitcase record players, and 'toy stereo's, until I got a 'real' hand me down Hi-Fi record player when I was about 15. Which I then proceeded to lumber around with me through every student crash-pad, glorified squat and makeshift abode I could find when I moved to the 'big city'. Edited July 20, 2012 by freelancer Quote
JSngry Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Posted July 20, 2012 We skipped the whole stereo-as-furniture thing and went from the Silvertone to the Sony HP-188, which I still have in my garage, and whose speakers are occaisonally pulled into oddball/emergency uses: This is the one that the jazz got discovered on, the one that went to college with me, and the one that went back into service after my fancy "audiophile" system got ripped off outta my apartment. McShann w/Bird & Basie w/Prez 78s got played here, as did Mingus & Ornette Atlantic 45s, and sooooo many LPs that count has long since been lost. And also - solos transcribed at 16 2/3. More than a few. Think I'll go out to the garage right now and spend a few seconds of gratitude. Well done, Sony. Well Done. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.