Philips Record Player 347

[Johnny94]

Hey Folks,

Nice to see people still use hifi. I'm new here. Hope this is in the right thread. I'm trying to get my system back to something nice. I just recently purchased a Philips 347 turntable. My first was a Monarch from the same period but the sound is just awful. Don't understand why. The 347 seems to have potential. The first thing to fix on my list is the process of stacking 45s. My idea is to have a dedicated 45 machine. For the moment though, the tone arm doesn't swing over when the the arm that holds the other 45s in place is over the center. When it's not being used the tonearm swings over fine. My second issue is in 33 mode I noticed the tone arm still thinks it's in 45 mode. ? Otherwise assuming the diamond wasn't changed what kind of stylus is it actually? Sound seems very clean considering the years...

To my first thread with you all

[Audio1950]

In order for the arm to come across, the overarm ("the other arm") must be raised. i.e resting on one or more records waiting to drop. If it is in the lowest position, that will tell the mechanism that there are no more records to play, and it will switch off. We need to know what stylus is fitted in order to advise on a replacement. Can you post pictures of both the changer and the stylus?

[ben]

That model number makes no sense, philips decks usually began with a AG or GF. Is there a label on the back or the underside?

[ms660]

https://archives.doctsf.com/document...0363&ref=29691

https://www.service-data.com/section...4685/1/22gc047

?

Lawrence.

[ben]

If the links provided by Lawrence are relevant to the OP, the deck is a 22GC047 used in a number of Philips Radiola and Boots badged equipment. There will be hardened grease to remove. The rubber idler will likely need roughening with fine sandpaper.

To the OP: the arm on these decks will, on 'auto', rise and touch the side of the disc on the stack spindle before it drops. This is how it 'knows' if it's a 7" or 12" disc. Does yours do this?

The stylus on the original heads can be AG3306, the single point GP205 can be used.
Later heads may be fitted with the GP215.
We need photos!

[Johnny94]

Thanks everyone!
Since my last post I found the correct stylus. It's in and ready to sing. You all are beautiful. Thank you for the help. I understand now about the overarm. And those diagrams will surely come in handy. Upon lifting off the top I was very pleasantly surprised that she's a direct drive. Everything seems clean and normal, well organized apart from a few lonely cobwebs. I'd really like to get the correct spindle to stack my 45s. I have no idea yet which one I need. I'm waiting for the cable adapter to arrive allowing me to use RCA right and left outputs. I still don't understand why the tone arm won't go into 33 mode when I press the auto play button. The arm doesn't bump into the record before sitting down. It swings over, stops, then swings over a little more and then sits down. Here are the pics!

I'm also confused as to why when in automatic mode with 45s stacked none seem to drop. I'm currently using a BSR plastic changer/stacker. I'm starting to think that this machine might only work correctly with the appropriate centre spindle.

Any ideas?

Cheers regardless

[Analogue man]

That turntable is not a direct drive but is in fact rim driven via an idler wheel, unusually here it drives the outside of the turntable rim rather than the more common inside. I'd be surprised if a BSR spindle would work with this deck.

[ben]

Look at this video from about 50 seconds, this is how your unit should operate. You will 100% need the original Philips centre stacking spindle.

[Johnny94]

Thanks! I did see the rim driven part. Is that good or bad? I guess now I need to find the center spindle? Any one have one? Know where I can get one?
Cheers,
Jon

[Johnny94]

Hey So I think I found the right pieces to stack 45s and 33s(!!!) but for some reason it won't work. Is there a piece missing? Maybe I'm not using the stacker right? I just put it in the center and prayed. Suggestions? Go ahead. I can take it. 😭😭😭

[hayerjoe]

Originally Posted by Johnny94

Hey So I think I found the right pieces to stack 45s and 33s(!!!) but for some reason it won't work. Is there a piece missing? Maybe I'm not using the stacker right? I just put it in the center and prayed. Suggestions? Go ahead. I can take it. 😭😭😭

I see no spindle at all! see attached the correct spindle and how it should look from below when inserted

[ben]

I think that might be a BSR spindle. It doesn't look like Philips, they tend to have a more visible 'step'

[nicam49]

This is a spindle from a Philips GF13829....
looks about the same as Joe's...

[hayerjoe]

I agree Ben it does like very BSR in the photos, bizarrely less so in real life. I'm sure it's the right one but Ive never seen this deck work (looking after it for a friend) so maybe I'll balance a record and give it a spin

[hayerjoe]

I can now confirm that that is the correct spindle. it looks very much like a BSR spindle but is quite a bit bigger all round.

was quite a palaver getting the Philips to go through its cycle without power, spinning the platter does nothing as it's not connected to the cycle cam mechanism, after a fair few minutes I worked out how to do it manually but it is very awkward and not very intuitive... then I saw the magic words "made in germany", I really should have known it was gonna be unnecessarily complex, and brought a chair and notepad!

[ben]

Good to see that spindle works, perhaps I was thinking of the generation of decks that came out just before that one. I actually have the Boots- badged version of this player, will take a look at the spindle next time I get it out.

[hayerjoe]

I'm not really very familiar with this deck, and i expect other forum members feel the same, so Ive included some photos

it's interesting as I believe it came out in 1969, so it was way ahead of its time predicting the sad move in to all plastic decks of the late 70s. quite a stylish deck despite being plastic though, but it does feel quite flimsy. It does that testing of the loaded record's size by bumping it with the tonearm, quite a thing to see!

you'll also note the idler wheel works against the outside of the platter rim not on the inside like most other idler decks. and you can see in the photo the idler and stepped drive spindle, but that drive spindle also drives that larger rubber edged wheel below the stepped part, and that large wheel is what drives the cycle cam mechanism

I'm not really sure how many variations Philips made of this deck, for example is the Boots branded one different in some functional way? I may do some more research!

Hope this was of interest

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by hayerjoe

it's interesting as I believe it came out in 1969, so it was way ahead of its time predicting the sad move in to all plastic decks of the late 70s.

Philips were always way ahead with their use of plastic. Even their top-end record decks like the GF-312 had a lot of plasticy bits, and their tape machines seemed to have almost no metal parts long before their competitors'. Not a problem when new, but lots of Philips cassette machines from the late 1970s/early 1980s are now beyond repair because the plastic has degraded.

[nicam49]

Being all plastic tho', the record deck presumably doesn't suffer from the dried grease gumming everything up problem, unlike the BSR ones.... 🤔

[Nickthedentist]

...though the plastic platters on the BSRs are the worst for irrevocably binding.