Arthur Lyman Q for Steve (and Zenith Cobra-Matic tonearm)

Arthur Lyman Q for Steve

Steve, on the Lyman disc Taboo starts out with some kind of 'shell horn'? This isn't on the original lp, and I was wondering what the source of that was. I also find those recordings to be incredibly clean for the era, my original Hi Fi pressings sound surprisingly wonderful

 

thanks Steve....I love the Lyman stuff too, my grandmother played it on our 1959 Zenith console (with the Cobra-matic arm ) when I was still in my playpen, circa 1960.
I loved the jungle sounds. Have you seen the cover of Taboo 2? Shrunken heads! For many years as a young child I was captivated by all that...along with the Cobra arm turntable, of course...the stylus looked just like a forked toungue!

 

Cobra-matic? Can you educate the ignorant(or forgetful; sometimes hard to tell one from the other)

ED

 

W O W ! ! Cool is an understatement....nifty looking, like the ol' Chevy with the fins....looks like it was made to last more than a lifetime.

I am now educated...and envious. The earliest tone arm I can remember was in an old console; the 33/45 needle could be flipped to a 78 stylus by twisting a little black knob on the front of the arm...crude but effective...though not good for the vinyl, probably.

ED

 

Looks nice, but I wouldn't want that needle and arm within 50 feet of my vinyl!

 

Yeah Luke, STYLUS CARNIVEROUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

the records back then could take it!

 

Likewise. Even picked up the guy's Christmas album 2 years ago.

Geez, a tropical-sounding Christmas. It's different...

 

I have 4 models with the cobra matic arm, all different! I have the brown tabletop model in steve's photo, a 1946 model that has 2 FM bands (!) and the TT slides out from inside the cabinet, this has a black cobra and only plays 78's. I have the stereo console that has the White cobra arm, and another console that has a grey cobra arm! The '46 player is always a showoff piece, this heavy duty motor opens the side door so the TT can roll out and you can stack up your 78's without having to leave your chair! (I believe they were called 'chair side' for just that reason). I wouldn't suggest them for audiophile records, but if you have lesser copies of just-ok-stuff, these players are fine. You can also adjust the tonearm weight, the skate on these is ok, a modern cartridge would make it (almost) acceptable for just about anything! Oh, and did I mention that the console models sound pretty awesome? Huge speakers, nice bass/mid/treble controls, conection for rear speakers and all on a 1959 unit! It had the b&w tv in the middle and cost the folks $700 which wasn't no tiny amount in '59!

 

y'know Steve, as much as I enjoy high end m/ch and stereo, these consoles were what I first heard my records on. At that time, I thought it was the most phenom sound in the world. Actually, it was far better than all those suit case phonos that everyone else seemed to have. For their era, I think they were quite audiophile for that ultra early stereo market. It's interesting how many of the early stereo demo records were payed close attention to...indeed, most all but the cheapest budget lps were guarded with rather strict quality control so what you bought was a quality product. Of course, today we can examine every nuance and speck dust through our modern hi-tech cartridges, but back when 'just the sound' mattered, those cool visual phonos were hard to beat!