440 Hz didn't become the international standard concert pitch until 1939. Prior to then the standard for most of continental Europe was 435 Hz, as first enacted by the French government in 1859 to try to put an end to the trend of pitch inflation. Britain meanwhile had two standards, "low pitch" (439 Hz) and "high pitch" (452 Hz). And then there's the modern quack advocacy for 432 Hz pitch because it's supposedly more "natural" and is "tuned to the resonance of the human body":
Made some moves on a 78rpm system over the long weekend. I bought a Technis SL-D3 for $200 shipped - that was low enough that I may not have to sell my Thorens 318, thought keeping it would turn me into a three-turntable guy, something I was hoping I wouldn't become. I also purchased the resistor and switch needed to give it a 78rpm function - actually looking forward to getting my soldering iron out for an easy DIY project. I know the SL-D3 isn't as heavy-duty as the SL-1200 series. But given that this is my secondary listening system, I was starting to think that the SL-1200 may have been overkill, especially if I would have had to pay KAB another $175 plus two-way shipping to mod it to play 78s. I sold my Lounge Mkiii phono amp and put the money into a used Parks Audio Puffin preamp, which has adjustable RIAA (or no RIAA) options. I had considered keeping the Lounge and just buying that ~$70 Technolink preamp to pop out when I play 78s, but frankly the idea of all that messing with cables etc didn't turn me on. Hopefully the Puffin sounds as good as the Lounge did, given that it also has some diagnostic functions that sound really intriguing. Finally, I bought a used Stanton 500 off the auction site. In another paycheck or two I'll buy a 78rpm stylus and new "regular" stylus for it from KAB. Thanks for all the help with this, everyone. Now - anyone have any recommendations for where to buy 78rpm records?
If you bought a Stanton 500, I would strongly recommend getting one of the Rek-o-kut stylus kits I reviewed here: [TNT-Audio Vintage column] Review of the Rek-o-Kut Archival Elliptical Stylus Kit for Stanton 500 and Pickering V-15
I bought my D3 new ~40 years ago and it still works perfectly. (It's not what I use as #1 now...) (Not 78 modified) For a fast 78 start you can get a 4604-D3 or 4820-D3 Pfanstiehl stylus, cheap and ok for a start - you could get the 4604 type to distinguish from the Stanton mount types you may get later - they both fit a 500 perfectly and are the same stylus: 604 Product Detail 820 Product Detail
The Lounge is non-linear with FR that varies with input level, and rather high distortion. I’d expect them to sound quite different.
There's a loooong thread on the Puffin, with more than a few folks who said they thought the Puffin sounded at least as good as the Lounge if not better. So I'm not too worried. And again, this is for a secondary system so I don't need the absolute best sound, just something I can listen to while working. The Technics arrived yesterday. Had a little bad news-good news. The bad news was the seller didn't do a very good job on shipping a turntable - the tonearm wasn't tied down to the tonearm rest and was flopping around during shipping and the stylus broke off the cartridge they sent. The good news is that I didn't want that cartridge anyway and the seller agreed to refund me $60 for the damage. So I'm down to $140 on this table. Otherwise the table seems to work - I powered it on briefly and gave it a short whirl. Having said that, I forgot how soul-sucking-dead the "Technics gray" color can be.
I can vote for Technics SP15 (when it's working properly) When you see a post about an SP15 failing on audio forums people are quick to say its lubrication or platter is rubbing on something. It's more often a power supply/calibration issue. Just replace the main power supply cap (the 250V 100uF) and maybe the 2 22uF 100V and make some adjustments to VR301 and VR201 and the 78RPM clackety clank sound will go away and it will spin up to 78 and hold stable.
I have 2 suggestions for buying 78s, "junk & second hand stores" & 78-C 78-C groups.io Group Good luck!
About 10 years ago I had the Dual 1219 I bought in 1972 refurbed so that I could dedicate it to 78s; I have a Shure V-15 for a cart, with a 78 stylus, another hold over from the '72 purchase.
Just FYI, for both regular LPs and 78s you would be hard pressed to find a better mid-price unit than the Technics SL-1200G. It sounds absolutely wonderful with 78s and a proper cartridge for 78 RPM. The Audio Technica cartridges with easily swapped styli are great for this, like this one, complete with headshell: AT-VM95SP/HVM95 series 78rpm SP cartridge on AT-HS6 Headshell
