Music: New Record Changer

RCA Victor last week made the biggest phonographic news of the year by putting out a machine that could play both sides of a record without flipping it over. Up to now, record changers have been of two types: 1) the “drop” type, which plays a stack of records butter-side up only; 2) the Capehart, which flips records like flapjacks on a griddle. Drawback of the drop type: it cannot play alternate sides in sequence. Drawback of the Capehart: it is expensive.

The new record changer has a double tone arm, shaped like a big tuning fork, whose prongs, each equipped with a needle and pickup, swing out over both sides of the record at once. Records are dropped from the stack on to a miniature turntable which leaves the grooved surface of both sides exposed. The upper side of the record is played by the upper prong. Then the record automatically begins to turn backward, and the lower prong plays the lower side. Then the record slips down a chute, and No. 2 drops into place.

A special feature of the new phonograph is the pickup mechanism of the two prongs, so light that it exerts less pressure (1 oz.) than the weight of the record. Like the Capehart, RCA Victor’s new phonograph is expensive ($450). But with both on the market, competition may do a little price regulating.