
"is not possible to construct a 45 rpm ring at 50 Hz". According to that Wikipedia article, a strobo disc for 50Hz has to "cheat" with 44.77, because: Strobe spots are physical and don't have quantisation, so any speed can be drawn with it.
33 rpm record player generator#
Most direct-drive turntables have a Quartz generator for the motor and for the strobe light, so it's not depending on a perfect power supply.ġ6rpm Actually it's 16 and 2/3 -but I don't have any "16RPM" discs, and I've only ever seen one turntable in real life with 16/33/45/78 speeds.Įven the KAB "Broadcast Standard" update for the Technics 1200/1210 just adds 78RPM.Ĥ5rpm is actually about 44.77 Dr.SultanAszazin The flicker of your power grid's 50/60 Hz Careful if you rely on that: my wall sockets are giving me 49.9 Hz right now, and many utility companies won't guarantee an exact 50 or 60 hertz AC supply. says it was 78.26 or 77.92 RPM, depending on the power being 60Hz or 50Hz. It got much easier to standardise when electricity was commonly available. There wasn't really a standard RPM, and gramophones had a constantly variable speed control with 78RPM somewhere in the middle of the range.ħ8RPM was one of the first attempts at a standard, in 1925. Prior to electrical playback, turntables were either hand-cranked or turned by a spring and clockwork. Prior to 45RPM and 33.33333RPM being standardised, there wasn't really a standard speed. (but be sure to use a 50Hz version in Europe, and a 60Hz version in the USA) To adjust speed to the correct rpm -> either use the light&spots at the side of the platter so that the spots appear to stand still, or either use a speed adjustment plate (with stripes for every speed) and use it under electric (non-electronic or natural) light in the same way. Most probably, like with film (pelicule) in the early days there where also some exotic formats & speed which just never made it to a standard. Only 78rpm knows variations, such as 80rpm which also occurs sometimes. the difference is just too small (you will notice if you have to tune instruments to sounds on a record only) No record is cut at 33,000rpm (except if there are either errors, or it's either some special arty-farty decission that no one will ever notice. The time of wax cylinders also had to reach a dead-end because as technology started to build around Phonograph, improvements and ideas poured into other scientists’ brains and that led to the birth of devices with different parts and later on different technologies.I always thought "33RPM" was just shorthand for 33 and 1/3 RPM.ġ6rpm (mostly used for speech only, like discs to learn language for instanceģ3 1/3rpm (as we know it from the majority of LP's)Ĥ5rpm (as we know it from the majority of 7" singles)ħ8rpm (as we know it from the great majority of shellacs)

Also, his marketing strategy for selling his machine was not effective as the target audience for the Phonograph were two – people who were wealthy enough to indulge in such a novelty and the scientists who were interested in the technology behind it. The tinfoil used was delicate which meant that it can only be used twice or thrice and couldn’t be stored for a long enough period. But things weren’t going as smooth as everybody thought they would.

Here the sound vibrates a needle that etches grooves onto a cylinder made of tinfoil or wax.

While at that time other inventors had their magic machines only producing sound, Edison’s Phonograph reproduced sound! The phonograph works in three different stages.

Okay, so why do records spin at 33 ½ rpm? The answer to this simple question dates back to when Thomas Edison recorded sound in his Phonograph and later on, wax cylinder in 1877.
