Can you identify this logo (1950s Hi-fi)?

[Eric The Viking]

I've just disassembled an old turntable acquired via freecycle.

Sadly it's beyond saving, but was evidently a no-expense-spared construction - heavy castings and ingenious mechanics, etc. I haven't taken pictures because (a) I've taken it apart now, (b) it was manky and grubby, and (c) a previous owner seems to have painted over all of it with thick, black lacquer, obliterating any transfers, etc.

I think it was 1950s but it had bakelite, thumbscrew terminals for the mains connection(!) and four speeds, I think (only three actually labelled, but there's an appropriate step for 16 on the spindle and the mech would adjust to it, probably). Idler ("rumbler") drive, with a sliding support post and a helically-rotating lever to lift/lower the motor on a heavy yoke below.

Heath Robinson, or even Garrard would've been proud, in their madder moments, but I don't think it owes its design to either! The only identifying mark (there isn't even a data plate on the motor) is this one, cast on the motor's support yoke:

As you can see, it bears a more than passing resemblance to Pye, but I've never seen it before.

Other distinguishing features: Thick aluminium turntable, pickup arm with an SME connector (roughly bolted to the baseplate and doesn't look original), wax insulated resistors.

Can anyone shed any light on it?

Cheers,

E.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Got it!

It's a Sugden (Connoisseur). What threw me was the colour. It was originally brown crackle finish (see lower pics in link below), and I thought they all were grey or black, like this one: http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=181.0. It's a different version, as the speed control is different. but that's the badger, definitely!

RIP big, heavy, rumbly thing...

E.

PS: in case any audiophile thinks I'm biased, that'll be the fourth Sugden turntable in the family. I still have two BD2As (pretty good!) but the only idler one we had rumbled horribly!

 

[woodbloke]

Nope...it's a David Charlesworth horizontal grinding machine :mrgreen: :mrgreen: (hammer) - Rob

 

[Harbo]

Sugdens used to be well regarded - the Strobe used to fascinate me.
Seem to remember that a number of Co. used to offer replacement kits for the main bearing?

Rod

 

[Eric The Viking]

It is built like a tank, but the platter, cast and turned aluminium, rings like a bell.

I may eBay the motor unit, as it's well made, but unless someone spent a small fortune it wouldn't work well ever again.

Still, it'll do for my purpose (photography).

E.

 

[flying haggis]

It is built like a tank, but the platter, cast and turned aluminium, rings like a bell.

I may eBay the motor unit, as it's well made, but unless someone spent a small fortune it wouldn't work well ever again.

Still, it'll do for my purpose (photography).

E.

I used self adhesive sound dampening mats that are intended for the inside of car body panels to stop my turntable platter from resonating

 

[Eric The Viking]

I have a couple of BD2As. The done thing years ago was to glue balsa wood struts under the platter (radially) and fill the segments with Plasticene. I never tried it!

 

[bugbear]

Sugdens used to be well regarded - the Strobe used to fascinate me.
Seem to remember that a number of Co. used to offer replacement kits for the main bearing?

Rod

Trivia - A. R. Sugden (hifi turntables) are unrelated to J. E. Sugden (rather good amplifiers)

BugBear

 

[Eric The Viking]

Now that I didn't know!

Similar vein: Radford (Arthur Radford) amps were unrelated to Radford Hi-Fi, even though both were in Bristol. They eventually got together around the end of the 1980s IIRC, to share marketing activity. I think Radford Hi Fi are still about, although no longer on the Gloucester Road.

 

[bugbear]

... I think (only three actually labelled, but there's an appropriate step for 16 on the spindle and the mech would adjust to it, probably). Idler ("rumbler") drive, with a sliding support post and a helically-rotating lever to lift/lower the motor on a heavy yoke below.

Heath Robinson, or even Garrard would've been proud, in their madder moments, but I don't think it owes its design to either!

I used to own a (decent sounding) Pickering turntable, belt drive, where the speed change was essentially identical to a bicycle derailleur gear.

BugBear

 

[Eric The Viking]

Pickering were good.

The speed change sounds similar to the one on the Connoisseur BD2 / 2a - a lever to flick the drive belt between pulleys. There was also a pawl in the synchronous motor to stop it going backwards, but this used to make a 'tick, tick' noise when it was playing, so I stripped the motor down on mine and removed it. Every so often it would start in reverse after that, but it was silent when playing. You just had to be careful you didn't drop the stylus onto a disc going anti-clockwise!

That said, the Beeb had these:

They were designed to run backwards, and to a specific point on the disc.

You could time an intro or a sound effect, read it straight off the counter on the deck, start the turntable running backwards to zero and it would be re-cued (slight adjustment required for exactness). This worked really well, with one not-so-minor snag: stopping and reversing a spherical stylus tracking at 5 grammes (yup, really!), didn't do the groove walls much good, and there was usually damage in the form of an audible click left behind. It was dead useful when you were playing loads of sound effects into something. It wasn't unknown to have five turntables running simultaneously, and keeping track could be 'interesting' if there was a retake for some reason.

I wish I could afford one now - the EMT 950 was probably the best turntable ever made.

Sigh!

E.