Elac/Miracord Turntables....?
leopard
I know this may be a tad bit off topic but I figured if anyone would know
about these it would be here. Is anyone familiar with this line of
Turntables. I am specifically curious about the quality and reliability of
ones from the late 50's to early 60's.
Thanks in advance,
Billy Perry
Dieter Wolbart
during the '50s into the early '70s, who always stayed in the shadow of Dual.
Their consumer product line was decent, though certainly never being
considered high end. Their tts were of similar quality as the Dual line,
though the changer mechanic was more intricate, requiring more maintenance. As
with the early Dual line, it is suffering of the same problems with rumble due
to the idler wheel (Reibrad) design. This is the first thing to replace when
considering taking it into service again.
If you plan to use it as an automatic changer, pay attention to correctly
adjust the linkage, in order to assure the arm rising straight up first,
without having the stylus 'wiping across' the grooves first...
- Dieter
leopard
Hey thanks for the great info. I had never heard of them. A friend of mine
gave me a call and said he had one he was wanting to sell but did not no
model # or exact year. He said it looked real "top of the line" from say
very late 50's or very early 60's. I am going to be looking at it today. I
think he only wants like 20 or 25.00 for it.
Billy P
Dieter Wolbart <dwol...@hkstar.com> wrote in message
news:3968194C...@hkstar.com...
Gene E. McCluney
I purchased a Mirachord PW-50H turntable in about 1966 or '65, and I still
use it some, and it has had zero repairs, even the idler wheel is still
good. Of course I have cleaned it. The Mirachord has a feature of
completey removing the pressure on the idler wheel drive when the turntable
is at rest, so there is no chance of it developing a flat spot. Also, the
50H has removable head shells, so different carts can be swapped easily,
and there is a screw adjustment of ovehang, and an alignment point on the
turntable deck, which makes cart alignment easy. Can be preset for each
cart. The 50H also uses a hysterisys Synchronis motor, multi-pole, very
high quality. It also has a much heavier cast turntable than Dual has. It
was more expensive than the Dual models offered at the time.
Hope this helps. This is experience with my turntable only.
Gene McCluney
In article <ZLT95.289284$MB.48...@news6.giganews.com>, "leopard"
<leo...@olywa.net> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I know this may be a tad bit off topic but I figured if anyone would know
> about these it would be here. Is anyone familiar with this line of
> Turntables. I am specifically curious about the quality and reliability of
> ones from the late 50's to early 60's.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Billy Perry
--
Gene E. McCluney
mccl...@earthlink.net
John Del
mccl...@earthlink.net (Gene E. McCluney) wrote:
>
> I purchased a Mirachord PW-50H turntable in about 1966 or '65, and I
still
> use it some, and it has had zero repairs, even the idler wheel is
still
> good. Of course I have cleaned it. The Mirachord has a feature of
> completey removing the pressure on the idler wheel drive when the
turntable
> is at rest, so there is no chance of it developing a flat spot. Also,
the
> 50H has removable head shells, so different carts can be swapped
easily,
> and there is a screw adjustment of ovehang, and an alignment point on
the
> turntable deck, which makes cart alignment easy. Can be preset for
each
> cart. The 50H also uses a hysterisys Synchronis motor, multi-pole,
very
> high quality. It also has a much heavier cast turntable than Dual
has. It
> was more expensive than the Dual models offered at the time.
>
> Hope this helps. This is experience with my turntable only.
>
> Gene McCluney
Gene, your experience matches mine exactly. Dad bought an ELAC in 62,
along with his Fisher integrated and Viking tape transport. Worked
flawlessly (almost daily) until retired about 82 or so, although the
Fisher remains in daily service now with a CD and Scott tuner. I still
have the ELAC, and it still works perfectly when dragged out for the old
Christmas records. The large arm\headshell assy is rather high mass,
but that's not a problem with flat vinyl. The idler wheel is machined
aluminum, and the tire is a soft,pliable rubber. I remember reading that
there was a version that was belt drive, but I've never seen one.
John
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Dan Marshall
Back in the sixties I bought a new Dual 1019 (still have it and it still
works well). A friend had an Elac/Miracord. There was no comparison.
The Elac was crudely made in comparison to the Dual and had a lot of
rumble, while he Dual had relatively little rumble. The Dual just
seemed to be a superior unit in all respects. The Elac looked old and
clunky, even back then. It may have been very reliable, as others have
commented, but I was not at all impressed with its performance. Perhaps
there were high-end models which I did not see back then, but the one I
did see and hear was not at all impressive.
I was using 12" Tannoy Golds and a HK receiver with Ge output devices
and IT driver transformers back then. It easily walked all over my
friends systems (by a wide margin), one of which was a tube system with
Stephens 12" two-way speakers.
Dan Marshall
Dieter Wolbart wrote:
>
> Elac (Elektroakustik Kiel) was another maker of automatic changers in Germany
> during the '50s into the early '70s, who always stayed in the shadow of Dual.
> Their consumer product line was decent, though certainly never being
> considered high end. Their tts were of similar quality as the Dual line,
> though the changer mechanic was more intricate, requiring more maintenance. As
> with the early Dual line, it is suffering of the same problems with rumble due
> to the idler wheel (Reibrad) design. This is the first thing to replace when
> considering taking it into service again.
>
> If you plan to use it as an automatic changer, pay attention to correctly
> adjust the linkage, in order to assure the arm rising straight up first,
> without having the stylus 'wiping across' the grooves first...
>
> - Dieter
>
Dieter Wolbart
>
> Back in the sixties I bought a new Dual 1019 (still have it and it still
> works well). A friend had an Elac/Miracord. There was no comparison.
> The Elac was crudely made in comparison to the Dual and had a lot of
> rumble, while he Dual had relatively little rumble.
The main problem with the Elacs were their pulley and idler design. The pulley dia.
was too small, so the idler really bit into it, which in turn ate the tire very
fast. Most tires suffered serious pitting and grooving after a short while, leading
to noticeable rumble. Dual was much better in this regard. Their tire's rubber
composition was different too.
> The Dual just
> seemed to be a superior unit in all respects. The Elac looked old and
> clunky, even back then. It may have been very reliable, as others have
> commented, but I was not at all impressed with its performance.
Dual had this ingeniously simple curved wheel design that controlled all of the
various arm and spindle movements. I think it was the best and most reliable system
of its time.
Elac in contrast had too complicated a mechanic and few were able to correctly
adjust the intricate arms and linkages.
> Perhaps
> there were high-end models which I did not see back then, but the one I
> did see and hear was not at all impressive.
There were a few well made quasi high end models with die-cast platter, which of
course was much better than the stamped, skimpy steel platters.
>
>
> I was using 12" Tannoy Golds and a HK receiver with Ge output devices
> and IT driver transformers back then. It easily walked all over my
> friends systems (by a wide margin), one of which was a tube system with
> Stephens 12" two-way speakers.
Well this was indeed a nice sound reproduction chain...
- Dieter
James Addison
every day for 4 years, no rumble &
mechanism worked great. the pabst
shielded outer rotor hysteresis motor
was nice; changer had 4 speeds &
spindle could invert for repeat play.
every dual except belt driven
had weak springs on idler, puny
low torque motors, delicate headshells,
& changer track , molded polystyrene,
which warped. plus the pitch bearings
are trouble, even garrards last longer
than most dual: keep the miracord.
yours truly, jim
leopard
I want to thank everyone for thier responses!! Alot of good information. It
turns out that this TT is a model "10H" (single play). It is in absolutly
imaculate condition, really looks brand new!! The wood base is scratch free
as is the wood and plexiglass lid. It is a little odd that their are no
hinges for the lid, although it is obviously the correct lid as the wood on
the side matches. I turned it on and all the speeds seem to work. The idler
wheel looks like it was stored in the off position away from the platter
(nice heavy "cast" platter) as their are no noticeable "flat spots".
Unfortunatly it will need a new cartridge as the one on it now has had the
needle completly broken off. My friend only wanted 25.00 so given the
appearance (and VERY cool looking to boot), I went ahead and bought it.
I have an Empire 598 that needs the RCA connector that plugs into the bottom
of the tonearm (having a HELL of a time finding this part so if anyone has
any leads......). Once it is complete it will probably replace the elac.
Thanks again to all for the advice, stories and opinions!!
Billy Perry
jfi...@gmail.com
> Hello,
>
> I know this may be a tad bit off topic but I figured if anyone would know
> about these it would be here. Is anyone familiar with this line of
> Turntables. I am specifically curious about the quality and reliability of
> ones from the late 50's to early 60's.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Billy Perry
Peter Wieck
> Hello,
>
> I know this may be a tad bit off topic but I figured if anyone would know
> about these it would be here. Is anyone familiar with this line of
> Turntables. I am specifically curious about the quality and reliability of
> ones from the late 50's to early 60's.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Billy Perry
A very typical German turntable of the era, competing head to head with PE and Dual, less so with Revox, Thorens, and Philips. And like the little girl with the little curl...
There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
With apologies to Longfellow.
And, as with many other German things - they never used one part where three-or-more would do.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
Trevor Wilson
> On Saturday, July 8, 2000 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, leopard wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I know this may be a tad bit off topic but I figured if anyone would know
>> about these it would be here. Is anyone familiar with this line of
>> Turntables. I am specifically curious about the quality and reliability of
>> ones from the late 50's to early 60's.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> Billy Perry
arms were significantly superior, exhibiting lower mass and more secure
cartridge mounting. Ironically, I have a couple of Elacs in for service
right now. Very heavy, well built and quite nice to look at.
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
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