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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment.

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Old 19th Jan 2020, 2:27 pm   #1
John1067
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Default Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Can anyone help me out in identifying the age range of the record player attached photo? It has been in my loft for many years but is still in working order.
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Old 19th Jan 2020, 3:07 pm   #2
ms660
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

There's some info about the company here if that's any use:

https://www.supersound.org.uk/turntables.html

Lawrence.
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Old 19th Jan 2020, 9:11 pm   #3
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Thank you. Will have a look
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 9:43 am   #4
Edward Huggins
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

The twin BSR record decks fitted to your unit were the successor to the BSR TU9 turntable first introduced in late 1956/ealy1957. Therefore I would date your decks at c.1959/1960. It's the earliest 4 speed "Pre-Disco" unit I've ever seen.
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 3:19 pm   #5
John1067
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Thanks for your response Edward. I am trying to find out as much about it as I can. Do you know where I could get an original speaker/ amplifier for it?
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 6:04 pm   #6
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Those turntables and pick up arms are exactly the same as the one that was in my Dansette Popular I had for my 10th birthday which was in 1963.

Steve
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 6:10 pm   #7
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

What a lovely bit of kit. There can't be too many of those about. Are those mixing controls I can see?

Aub
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 7:16 pm   #8
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

It appears to be a very early mobile disco setup, though it wouldn't have been called that at the time. Are there any electronics inside, or are the faders on the front just passive?
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Old 20th Jan 2020, 8:44 pm   #9
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Thanks for the comments all. Yes they are faders. The decks are working fine and I am looking for an amplifier
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 11:43 am   #10
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

I would suspect that these were designed to be used with any (valved) PA amplifier of the day. I can't quite see what type of cartridges are fitted. Are they BSR TC8Ms?
Please do advise. I expect they will be a crystal type with a medium ouptut of c.250 mV.
Best used with an ampilfier from the same period.
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 3:49 pm   #11
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

The link that Lawrence posted suggests that they were designed for film soundtrack use. The company manufactured a range of accessories for this.
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 4:20 pm   #12
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

I suspect they were trying to sell it into a number of markets. The promotional material seems to imply it was to be used by people showing silent home movies to add music and sound effects. It must have been very difficult to use though, as there are no prefade cueing arrangements. I wouldn't fancy using slipmats with those small turntables either. It's not the sort of professional kit that would be used by the BBC or the film industry.
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 5:00 pm   #13
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

I had one of those BSR decks many years ago but it suffered badly from wow. By that I don't mean wow factor !!
Were they all that way inclined ? I believe the motor was rather under powered when 12" discs were played. Not so bad on 45's.

Mike.
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 6:10 pm   #14
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Yes, it's an effects deck for film use. It's illustrated as such in Tape Recorder around 1965, with the helpful comment that the central arm can be used on either turntable. That really would do wonders for the wow...
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Old 21st Jan 2020, 6:27 pm   #15
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

Was a later version on ebay end of last year, think the seller then split it up but found a image of what the decks were online
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Old 22nd Jan 2020, 12:59 am   #16
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Default Re: Vintage Supersound Twin deck record player

As said, it's for putting music to either home movies or films/slides to audiences in small venues. I'm surprised that there wasn't an old Eumig or similar projector up in the loft with it.

It would have been designed for any simple amplifier due to it having fairly cheap decks fitted with high output crystal cartridges.

Those cartridges will be dud by now, in that they'll have no output due to the salt crystal absorbing moisture from the atmosphere over the years of storage in the loft and disintegrating. Even if they work, they wouldn't be suitable for playing records later than around 1970 and they're really only fit for playing old 45 singles.

'Wow' isn't actually too bad on those decks if they're working properly, but you must make sure that the speed selector is ALWAYS set to the neutral position when not in use and NOT left on any of the speed settings as it'll ruin the idler wheel.

It's certainly a rare and unusual item, but not particularly sought after or valuable.
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